Introduction to Human-edited Website Directories

Most people are comfortable with browsing the net with search engines in 2009, as they allow us to find websites rather speedily. This is crucial, never the less search engine results aren’t moderated by people, but by an algorithmic rule. So why would that be important? Imagine you are searching for a hotel in Halifax for example. You would enter this keyphrase into Yahoo! (for example), then a number of search results would be presented. How do you know whether these results are trusted if they haven’t been been filtered by a human editor? Here’s the answer: search engines use human-administered online directories as a primary filter.

Directories still play a fundamental role on the internet, and the cleanest directories will be unavoidably edited by people. A person may recognize that (e.g.) : “hmm, that hotel has a particular rating for cleanliness and having certain standards, that’s a rather secure sign”. A renowned online directory will receive a number of entries daily. An editor will investigate these submissions, and if the administrator is satisfied that the level of the entry is good enough, it is appended to the internet directory. This is the reason why search engines still love website directories. Both the Yahoo! directory and dmoz.org are used by search engines as filters to find out the trustworthiness of a website – whether it’s listed in these directories or not, as they are human-edited and have rigorous rules-for-entry.

So do not understate the importance of online directories now that most individuals use search engines to discover things. A human-edited directory can act as a crucial yardstick as to how reliable a website is. If you are a website owner, seek to get your site included in a niche directory, like a bedroom furniture directory, a bed and breakfast directory, or a pub and restaurant directory.