I don't even know how to start to reply to this thread
I always thought that submitting free sites to link lists was so that you got traffic (and hopefully sales) form the link list's traffic.
If you're doing it solely for SE gains, then maybe you need to work a strictly SE approach & forget about free sites & galleries.
On a personal note, my traffic took a shit form Google same time last year & it built itself back up over time & I see no reason why it won't build back up again (same thing every year - I'm getting used to it)