Web directories have been around for years now and there are thousands out there on the internet but where did they come from? and why is their so many out there? In this article I will discuss a little bit of the history of the web directory and discuss why there is so many about.
You are able to credit Yahoo for being the most famous directory and in the early days of the internet a directory structure was an ideal way of finding what you were looking for. Before the days of search engines people didn’t know what information was available on the internet. So you searched a directory looking forward to see the information that you where looking for was available. Whereas today we all know that the information we are looking for is out there and that is why a search engine is more suited to the modern searcher for we type in the information we know is there we just want to find the best source. I’m certain in the days of directories the technology may not have been there to accommodate search engines. As search engines became more popular the use of directories has diminished as its far quicker to use a search engine to find information that a directory and the information a search engine retrieves is usually of better quality.
The reason there are so many web directories out there today in my selection is the search engine optimisation implications of submitting your website to a directory. As this will give you a back link to your website and everyone knows that back links are good for your website. In the Google webmaster guidelines it stated that it was good to submit your website to quality directories (they have since removed this recommendation). So what webmasters did was go out and submit that to as many directories as possible. The demand for directories raised so much directories appeared. The problem with this is there are lots of poor quality directories out there so you have to be selective to which ones you submit to.
A good web directory I found is listed here there is also a good SEO forum on the website to get good advice on SEO.
In years to come will there still be web directories? Who know I think they need to evolve if they are going to survive and offer only quality websites in their database. I think the internet will evolve even beyond the need for search engines.
