Has the Directory Model Reached the End of the Line?
Someone remarked that they were struck by the fact that the Yahoo directory has been relegated to a link from the search bar. Perhaps that's not so surprising, Yahoo seems to have been moving away from that for quite some time. In fact, most of the industry seems to have been moving that way as well.
Today there are only a few directories that stand out in terms of quality, and quite possibly someone with less than the fingers they were born with can count them on one hand. The source of this trend can probably be traced to algorithms designed not only to weed out those who would go beyond optimization but to actually influence their rankings, but also to gather together a set of sites that can be said to genuinely offer answers to search queries, i.e. authority.
Directories have been around for awhile but new forms of the directory are arising. You might not recognize them as directories, but they are directories, nonetheless. The important thing to remember about directories is that directories helps you find information. An important change that has arisen is that the directory does not necessarily have to link out to another site, the information can live on the directory itself. About.com and Wikipedia are good examples of this trend.
An important thing to keep in mind is to not let others define things for you. So the old thinking that a directory should contain links can be cast away if you are a building a directory of places of business that don't have websites. After all, if you are looking for someplace close to order a pizza or have your brakes replaced, all you need is the phone number or a recommendation for the most honest shop to take your car, or the best pizza to order, right? Who needs to click yet again in the quest to find the information?
It's not just Yahoo that is seemingly pushing the directory aside, even Google has been at it as it eliminated the DMOZ indicator last year from their toolbar. I'm not discounting a Yahoo or DMOZ directory listing as an indicator of a site's authority, I'm only pointing out that Yahoo and Google seem to distancing themselves from directories on their consumer products. Even Looksmart walked away from their human edited directory, ZEAL, in favor of FURL.
Now that is an interesting epitaph. While ZEAL was a community of contributors, websites like FURL are a community of contributors who are also users. We can only assume that it's a larger community when the users of a service are also the contributors. But is FURL a directory? I would argue yes, it represents an evolution in the directory.
1: Not every business has a website
2: A directory can deliver leads
3: A directory can deliver information
4: A directory can be user generated
There are directories that are in the forefront of preserving their quality, and are going to be hard to duplicate. Nevertheless, I believe there are opportunities for those with the programming skills and the vision to look beyond what has been done and tackle something new that encompasses the above listed attributes.
Today there are only a few directories that stand out in terms of quality, and quite possibly someone with less than the fingers they were born with can count them on one hand. The source of this trend can probably be traced to algorithms designed not only to weed out those who would go beyond optimization but to actually influence their rankings, but also to gather together a set of sites that can be said to genuinely offer answers to search queries, i.e. authority.
Directories have been around for awhile but new forms of the directory are arising. You might not recognize them as directories, but they are directories, nonetheless. The important thing to remember about directories is that directories helps you find information. An important change that has arisen is that the directory does not necessarily have to link out to another site, the information can live on the directory itself. About.com and Wikipedia are good examples of this trend.
An important thing to keep in mind is to not let others define things for you. So the old thinking that a directory should contain links can be cast away if you are a building a directory of places of business that don't have websites. After all, if you are looking for someplace close to order a pizza or have your brakes replaced, all you need is the phone number or a recommendation for the most honest shop to take your car, or the best pizza to order, right? Who needs to click yet again in the quest to find the information?
It's not just Yahoo that is seemingly pushing the directory aside, even Google has been at it as it eliminated the DMOZ indicator last year from their toolbar. I'm not discounting a Yahoo or DMOZ directory listing as an indicator of a site's authority, I'm only pointing out that Yahoo and Google seem to distancing themselves from directories on their consumer products. Even Looksmart walked away from their human edited directory, ZEAL, in favor of FURL.
We think avid Zeal users will appreciate the large and vital community at Furl.net (www.Furl.net). Furl is an online book marking service that helps save information that’s important to you, share it with friends and see what others are saving.
Now that is an interesting epitaph. While ZEAL was a community of contributors, websites like FURL are a community of contributors who are also users. We can only assume that it's a larger community when the users of a service are also the contributors. But is FURL a directory? I would argue yes, it represents an evolution in the directory.
1: Not every business has a website
2: A directory can deliver leads
3: A directory can deliver information
4: A directory can be user generated
There are directories that are in the forefront of preserving their quality, and are going to be hard to duplicate. Nevertheless, I believe there are opportunities for those with the programming skills and the vision to look beyond what has been done and tackle something new that encompasses the above listed attributes.
Search Engine Commentary by martinibuster || Has the Directory Model Reached the End of the Line?
<< Home