And they pay the search engines and directories big bucks to be there. If you come up in the first 5 pages, and in some cases where you have a lot of competition, in the first 10 or 15 pages, without spending big dollars, you're pretty lucky. At least, you don't have to come out last. Optimizing does help to a degree. To optimize a site for search engines and directories, it must first be noted that search engines are different from directories.
Some Web designers have the misconception that they are the same.
A directory will list and categorize your site only if you submit it. Yahoo is a classic example of this. Yahoo also goes a step further. They allow you to submit with a suggested category, but the final say belongs to a human being, not a data bank. The human who reviews your site may decide you belong in a different category or, even worse, may decide not to accept your listing.