I was reading a discussion over at Digital Point Forums today regarding the maturity of the directory maket.
I don’t think the directory market has reached “maturity” as much as it has attained saturation, especially within the webmaster/seo community. The majority of web directories I’m familiar with are relatively unknown outside of these small circles. It’s not surprising, given that the majority of those directories are targeting webmasters/seo’s within such communities.
It’s likely that there could be a downside if directory owners don’t remove their blinders and get outside the box.
I’m willing to guess that the majority of those directories share a common footprint that may be easily distinguishable to SE’s. Free script, free template, free category dump – you’ve struck out your first at bat.
Add to that forum announcements as the primary extent of promotion which leads to a database that’s all too common with those preceding it. Think about how many directories you’ve submitted to where you see the same listings over and over again. The majority of these directories rely exclusively on user submissions and to me, it’s doubtful that these indexes will provide any useful benefit to those listed or for their real visitors, if any.
It’s not surprising that some SEOs consider directories to be crap or find directory marketing to be boring. The future of directories is still not that bright for most.
As a web directory owner, I guess it’s helpful for me to keep in mind that reputation and trust are earned, not mimiced.