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DirectoryContest.com is a unique contest set up to determine the strength of general web directories. Started by Mike Dammann, the final rankings will be determined by Google’s search results for the search term directorycontest.com on on February 6th 2007, 10 AM PST.
Web directory owners can participate in this contest by simply adding a link to the DirectoryContest.com blog as a Standard or Featured listing. The link can’t be a site-wide link, or located on the homepage of the directory.
The listing should not appear in a new category named for the contest, and the title should be one of the three titles below:
Directory Contest
DirectoryContest.com
Directory Contest - DirectoryContest.com
The top 10 directories will win prizes, and cash prizes will be awarded to the top 3 directories.
Good luck to all the participants!
You tell me. 
Directory Ranking is supposedly an attempt to rank or grade the quality or importance of links from general web directories based on advanced search operator results (back link commands) at the primary search engines; Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
In the opening post on a popular webmaster forum where this project was announced, it’s stated that participating directories should list this neutral site as they would any other normal listing:
“Every directory that participates must list this site as they would do for normal listings. Then using these backlink commands at google, yahoo and msn we sort the links ordered by descending link power.
If you do not agree with any of this metrics you can use your own, the objective of this site is to create a neutral resource that enables you to do that.”
At best, this appears to be classic link bait to transfer link juice to their main site; which, predictably, is a web directory. Why else would you need to link from the neutral resource back to your own directory which is participating?
“If you have a directory you only have to list this site as you would list a regular submission using this information, ideally the listing will be at level 2 and 1 click of the homepage, if you have more than one page ideally the listing would be featured to insure you don’t lose ranking.”
I like this next one.
“If there is more than one page of listings in your directory category, it’s suggested that you list this neutral resource as a Featured Listing so that you don’t lose ranking.”
If there’s more than one page of listings, adding this site as a Featured Listing would place it on multiple pages - and it’s no longer listed as other normal listings.
Are we participating? We have an interest in seeing how the search engines currently index and score nofollow links, so we added a nofollow listing to DirectoryRanking.com in the Web Directories category at eWebPages Directory to see for ourselves.
Ever wonder what the future holds for general web directories? First and second tier directories will always have a place on the net, but what about the smaller, general web directories?
Consider that the average new directory utilizes a popular free script, the default or free template and a readily available category DB, I’m convinced that the future is not so bright that I’ll need my shades.
Add that these new directories are launched on the same webmaster forums and likely receive the same submissions from the folks that frequent these forums just like the directory before it and the picture becomes just a bit clearer. Ever notice the same listings in the same categories over and over again?
What is there to separate one new directory from those preceding it? If you’re reading this blog, I’m sure that you’re familiar with the term duplicate content; and you can guess where I’m heading from here.
The Quick Buck Crew (thanks an0n for the term) offer cheap Featured Listings in multiple directories hosted on the same servers and approve the same crappy submissions as their last gallant effort - which lasted until the flood of new submissions died down when their announcement thread fell off of the first page.
If you start comparing these directories, you’ll soon see the similarities and realize that few of them really have the potential to amount to much, or become a presence on the web. Little if any promotion is being done; the majority of it amounts to submitting listings in all of the free directories and foolishly interlinking their own sites to excess.
Utilizing the same script, template and data base repeatedly is slowly creating a target, and with each new directory launch, the bulls-eye is increasing in size. Relying on submissions for their content, these directories exist primarily for other webmasters and offer real users little in the way of quality content.
I wonder if these directory owners recall what happened to guestbooks, or if they realize that they’re likely headed down the same path?