How Much Influence Do Website Directories Have?
Most people are comfortable with using search engines in 2010, since they allow us to discover websites so speedily. This is wonderful, never the less search engine results aren’t moderated by humans, instead it’s done by an algorithm. So why would that be important? Well, imagine you’re searching for a hotel in Manchester for example. One would type this keyphrase into Google (for example), then a number of results would appear. How do you know if these results are reliable if they’ve never been filtered by a human editor? Here’s how: search engines use human-edited website directories as a primary filter.
Directories still play a significant role on the internet, and the most discriminating directories are necessarily human edited. A human may discover that (for instance) : “hmm, that hotel has been awarded a particular rating for cleanliness and having certain standards, that’s a rather secure signal”. A renowned online directory receives many submissions everyday. An official will look into these entries, and if the administrator is happy that the level of the submission is of a particular standard, it is added to the website directory. This is why Google still loves website directories. Both the Yahoo! directory and dmoz.org are interrogated by search engines as filters to observe the veracity of a website – whether it’s listed in these directories or not, as they’re edited by humans and have rigorous guidelines.
Thus don’t downplay the significance of online directories now that most individuals use search engines to find things. A human-edited directory can act as a primary measuring device as to how trustworthy a website is. If you own a website, also look to get your site included in a niche directory, like a gardening directory, a fashion directory, or a beauty directory.
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