People across the world rely on the US-based search companies. Google has versions of its search engines for many different countries whereas Yahoo and the Open Directory have international branches of their directories. By getting listed on a smaller regional or local website directory, the company can boost their search engine placement on all of the major search engines by increasing popularity i.e. the number and quality of links to your site. There are some local directories providing direct links to a website listed whereas others use scripts to track clicks on the sites listed. This helps in driving visitors to your website.