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| A '''web directory''' is a ] |
{{mergefrom|Article directory}}A '''web directory''' is a ] on the ]. It specializes in ] to other ]s and ] those links. Web directories often allow site owners to submit their site for inclusion, and have human ]s review submissions for fitness. | ||
| A web directory is not a ], and does not display web pages based on ]s, instead listing web pages in convenient categories and subcategories. Well known web directories include the ], ], and the ]. ODP is an important player in the directory market, perhaps because of its ] approach to editorial review and its use by ]. ], Looksmart's volunteer-run dirctory, closed in March 2006. | |||
| Web directories often allow site owners to submit their site for inclusion and let ] review a submission for fitness. | |||
| A debate over quality in directories and databases continues, as search engines use ODP's content without real integration, and some experiment using ]. There have been many attempts to make directory development easier, whether using a "links for all" type link submission site using a script, or any number of available ] portals and programs. Recently, ] techniques have spawned new efforts of ], with ] adding ] to their product pages. | |||
| Later, the role of ] to the web has been taken over by ], web sites that index other sites based on key words. | |||
| Human-edited directories are often targeted as part of a strategy for being indexed in the major ]s. The idea being that a new site needs to quickly build inbound links from reputable sources in order to have higher rankings within search engine results. Nevertheless, the directories may prevent search engines from rating a displayed link, by using redirects, ] attribute and other techniques. | |||
| Famous web directories are ] and ]. | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| Since recently, ] has become an important player in the directory market, perhaps because of its ] aproach to editorial review. | |||
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| Web directories belong to the oldest category of web sites. In the early days of the ], it was still possible to maintain a large list linking to all or most web sites. It is said that the very first web site, made by web inventor ], was a directory. | |||
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| The Netherlands has seen the rise of a type of flat web directory, started by Durk Jan de Bruin's ], in which all categories are on the same level. Users can guess the existence of a category by prepending its name as a subdomain to the sites address. So, users interested in encyclopedias would try <nowiki>http://encyclopedia.directory.example</nowiki> as a domain name. | |||
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| ==External links== | |||
| * - an article by Decebal Scraba | |||
Revision as of 19:09, 6 June 2006
 | It has been suggested that Article directory be merged into this article. (Discuss) |
A web directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. It specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. Web directories often allow site owners to submit their site for inclusion, and have human editors review submissions for fitness.
A web directory is not a search engine, and does not display web pages based on keywords, instead listing web pages in convenient categories and subcategories. Well known web directories include the Yahoo! Directory, LookSmart, and the Open Directory Project. ODP is an important player in the directory market, perhaps because of its open content approach to editorial review and its use by Google. Zeal, Looksmart's volunteer-run dirctory, closed in March 2006.
A debate over quality in directories and databases continues, as search engines use ODP's content without real integration, and some experiment using clustering. There have been many attempts to make directory development easier, whether using a "links for all" type link submission site using a script, or any number of available PHP portals and programs. Recently, social software techniques have spawned new efforts of categorization, with Amazon.com adding tagging to their product pages.
Human-edited directories are often targeted as part of a strategy for being indexed in the major search engines. The idea being that a new site needs to quickly build inbound links from reputable sources in order to have higher rankings within search engine results. Nevertheless, the directories may prevent search engines from rating a displayed link, by using redirects, nofollow attribute and other techniques.
See also
External links
- Web Directories in Black and White - an article by Decebal Scraba