Search Engine Forums, SEO Forum

Most of the directories are very general in scope and list websites across a wide range of categories, regions and languages. But there are also some niche directories which focus on restricted regions, single languages, or specialist sectors. One type of niche directory with a large number of sites in existence, is the shopping directory for example. Shopping directories specialize in the listing of retail e-commerce sites.
Examples of well known, general, web directories are Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory Project (ODP). ODP is significant due to its extensive categorization and large number of listings and its free availability for use by other directories and search engines.[1]
However, a debate over the quality of directories and databases still continues, as search engines use ODP's content without real integration, and some experiment using clustering. There have been many attempts to make directory development easier, such as using automated submission of related links by script, or any number of available PHP portals and programs. Recently, social software techniques have spawned new efforts of categorization, with Amazon.com adding tagging to their product pages.

Yes you are right submission in niche directory also improve your search engine ranking and also it generates related traffic to your site.

Good point, is it from wikipedia?

thanks for sharing such quality information.

Niche directory submission is always good as it traffic and relevant backlinks which google always give most priority. For Page Rank Relevent quality backlinks is much worth than irrelevant Backlinks.