Search Directories For the Invisible Web - Search Engines vs. Directories
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The major difference between search engines and search directories is the way in which they obtain data. Search engines use spiders and index pages automatically, while search directories are manually fed with data. Also, search directories are often maintained by humans, so in a sense the content of the site is verified. As a rule, it is the responsibility of the submitter to give a short description of the site and to classify it under the appropriate category.
In search directories, as the name implies, sites are arranged hierarchically by topics and subtopics. Unless it is a very specialized directory, usually the top-level topics start with broad categories such as business, technology, science, entertainment, and so on. Each of these topics has its subtopics, which in turn have their subtopics, and so forth. Subtopics may continue branching off to a depth of several levels, thus providing a very targeted approach to position the site in the category where it fits best.
The hierarchical structure of Web directories sometimes poses difficulties regarding the right category in which a site belongs, because it could fit in more than one category. Attempts to submit it in all of them could lead to being classified as a spammer, and as a result, a particular directory might totally reject the site for inclusion. So, as a SEO expert, consider which category fits best, and as a user, if you do not see what you are looking for right away, consider alternative categories under which the information you are looking for could be classified.
Very often search directories are not just a vast collection of links. For making information retrieval easier, search directories could provide a search function. It is this visual similarity between search directories and search engines that misleads some into thinking they are just the same. But when you hit the Search button and retrieve the results that match the search query, you see the list of categories as well -- and what is more important, usually it is possible to search only within a particular category, which speeds the search a lot.
Since search directories are manually fed with data, it is logical that sites do not always appear immediately after they are submitted. The delay could vary from a couple of days to several months to a year. As a SEO expert you should keep this in mind when planning submissions. As a user, searching for information, you should bear in mind that search directories cannot always include the latest links, and sometimes you will encounter broken links in directory listings, but in general, especially with human-maintained directories, this is rare because irrelevant information is periodically removed.
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