Optimizing directories for Google

Can the Google algo handle directories properly?

[brandboerge]

I have a small directory in a small country, and I was wondering how Google indexes and "values" a directory. We all know that registration in a quality directory gives your ranking a boost. But what about the directory itself?

A directory is (usually) a collection of high quality links, so that alone should give directory pages a boost in the SERPs.

On the other hand, a lot of text on the page with a certain kw density seems to be a necessity in order to achieve high rankings on Google, and that is difficult to achieve with a links page.

Also, directories dont get as many links as websites with articles (people prefer to link to the websites on the link page instead of the link page itself).

Finally, it's hard for the directory to keep the pagerank on its own website, because there is a lot more outbound than inbound links on most of the pages.

So the question is: Can the Google algo handle directories properly?