What Makes A Web Directory A Quality Web Directory?

By Author: 01webdirectory
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Directories have the distinction of having an online history that is older than even a search engine. Yahoo directory was the first ever service started by Yahoo. A Web Directory's primary purpose is to organize websites into different categories and help internet audience find the right website by following the category hierarchy. The advent of search engines, particularly Google, has sent web directories into the shadow. Still, web directories hold their place on internet, by facilitating a surfer reach his/her target website and helping search engines classify websites by themes.

When directories could influence a search engine's algorithm, where a site listed in a directory would result in its ranks in search engine get better and search engine ranks are worth their weight in gold, there was a huge clamor for listings in directories. When there is demand for something, there are will be business around it, new providers and competition. Web directories mushroomed and started listing websites for a consideration.

When anyone and everyone gets into something, the first casualty will be the quality. Quality suffered ...
... and search engines started discounting the value of directory listings. But they were careful to take leverage from quality directories such as Yahoo Directory, Open Directory Project, Business.com etc, since directories were still a mine of useful information for them. Now the challenge is for the webmaster to decide which directory is of good quality.

Below is a partial list of signals of quality that comes in handy while deciding if a directory is a good one:

- A directory should be indexed in search engines. It can be tested for example in Google by a simple command

- info: directoryname.com. If Google returns results, then the directory is indexed.

- A directory should be careful to list only relevant websites under relevant categories.

- There shouldn't be too many advertisements (a signal of profit maximization intent), and if there are, they should be useful to the director's audience.

- Age of a directory. An older directory signals that it is not a fly-by-night directory.

- Editorial quality. Each website is suppose to be manually reviewed by an editor to ensure that it complies with the editorial guideline of the directory. If you see a directory where there is no consistency in listings such as the Title and Description language, then that signals poor editorial quality.

- Uniqueness of a directory - One glance, an expert will be able to tell if a directory is of good quality or not. Many directories, with low budget, use an off-the-shelf directory script to create a directory overnight. It becomes hard to distinguish one from the other. It is safe to ignore such.

There are many more signals of quality. A study of a quality directory such as Yahoo Directory helps you know what makes a directory a quality directory.

01webdirectory is a web directory started in year 2003. Apart from no advertisement policy, it features a category information page for all the categories (Ex: Lodging & Accommodation) and an Article on Demand service, where a website can request an exclusive article about the industry it is in.