Search engines can be powerful tools, but they are also heavily polluted with irrelevant results, spam, and too many results. Directories offer a viable, relevant and concise alternative.
There is little doubt that the general population is very well aware of the existence of search engines. The “Big Three” as they are often referred to in webmaster circles are Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, listed respectively with online market share of Internet users.
The pop culture of entertainment continues to reinforce the existence of Google with consistent, constant mentions in the news, on television shows, and by radio personalities. While Google continues to dominate the search engine market, search engines are often the most hit websites on the web, and are steadily the biggest traffic source for websites.
Search engines dominate the way most people search the web for information. But at an increasingly alarming rate, they are becoming more problematic and less reliable with millions of unrelated sites being returned for keyword searches.
However, there exists on the Internet, an underdog of sorts with website directories. The quality web directories are under utilized, often misunderstood, unappreciated, and under funded.
Directories offer results that are relevant, clear and concise. There is not any searching through millions of results and pages to find good information that is directly related to the subject for which you are wishing to research in a web directory. This is because a good directory has a good structure of categories and sub-categories to narrow your search. This is further helped by the fact that directories do not crawl the Internet picking up every possible page and website like a search engine spider.
Here is a working example, but you can easily create many of your own to fully appreciate the value of a good web directory:
I want to learn more about getting a new sign made for my company.
Searching Google for “business signs” brings up a whopping 75 million results; one is a humor site, one is for model railroads, one is tips for signs, and a few look promising.
I then move to Massive Links Web Directory. Under the Business category, there is a sub-category for business signs; here I find 12 results, nearly every one relevant to my needs.
If I wanted to get more specific, I could go to the regionally specific resources of a directory and narrow my research even further.
There has been a complete turn about when it comes to web directories because of the popularity of search engines. Directories have fallen by the wayside because they lack the funds to properly promote the site to consumers and make Internet users aware of their functionality, relevancy and usage. Over time this has hurt directories and today many consider them unimportant. Are they really that useless? Can we find some good in directories? The answer is yes, we can! A few good examples of great directories:
Joe Ant
Go Guides
Massive Links
In today’s busy lifestyle, working smarter and not harder becomes more and more important. If time really is money, and you’re looking for the best return on investment for your time, then take a little time to get to know web directories better.
Written by W. R. Mineo Elizabethtown KY
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