Will Web Directories Be Important in 2010?
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010Most people are comfortable with using search engines in 2010, since they allow us to find things so quickly. This is great, however search engine results aren’t moderated by people, but by an algorithmic rule. So why would that be important? Well, imagine you’re searching for a hotel in Edinburgh as an example. One would type this keyphrase into Bing (for example), then a list of search results would be presented. How do you know if these results are trusted if they’ve never been filtered by people? Here’s how: search engines employ human-edited online directories as a basic filter.
Directories still play a part on the web, and the top-quality directories will be inevitably edited by humans. A person may realise that (for instance) : “that hotel has been awarded a particular rating for cleanliness and having certain standards, that’s a rather secure sign”. A good online directory receives a number of submissions on a daily basis. An editor will investigate these entries, and if the official is content that the quality of the entry is of a particular standard, it is added to the internet directory. This is the reason why Google still loves website directories. Both the Yahoo! directory and dmoz.org are utilized by search engines as filters to find out the veracity of a website - whether it’s listed in dmoz.org / Yahoo! directory or not, since they’re edited by humans and have demanding guidelines.
Therefore don’t minimise the significance of online directories now that almost everyone uses search engines to find things. A directory with tight guidelines can be a great measuring device as to how reliable a website is. If you own a website, seek to get your website included in a niche directory, like a gardening directory, a UK fashion directory, or a health directory.
While mankind is needing signs of trustiworthiness, the web will forever need humans to present their stamp of approval, and therefore directories will forever play a role.
