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A web directory or link directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. It specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. The word directory is used in computing and telephony meaning a repository or database of information. ...
WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. ...
// A hyperlink (often referred to as simply a link), is a reference or navigation element in a document to another section of the same document, another document, or a specified section of another document, that automatically brings the referred information to the user when the navigation element is selected by...
A website, Web site or WWW site (often shortened to just site) is a collection of webpages, that is, HTML/XHTML documents accessible via HTTP on the Internet; all publicly accessible websites in existence comprise the World Wide Web. ...
For Wikipedias categorization projects, see Wikipedia:Categorization. ...
A web directory is not a search engine, and does not display lists of web pages based on keywords, instead it lists web sites by category and subcategory. The categorization is usually based on the whole web site, rather than one page or a set of keywords, and sites are often limited to inclusion in only one or two categories. Web directories often allow site owners to directly submit their site for inclusion, and have editors review submissions for fitness. Google search is the worlds most popular search engine. ...
A keyword in an Internet search is one of the words used to find matching web pages. ...
RSS directories are similar to web directories, but contain collections of RSS feeds, instead of links to web sites. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
General Some directories are very general in scope and list websites across a wide range of categories, regions and languages. But there are also a large number of niche directories, which focus on restricted regions, single languages, or specialist sectors.
Examples of well known, general, web directories are Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory Project (ODP). ODP is significant due to its extensive categorization and large number of listings and its free availability for use by other directories and search engines (many sites violate its terms of use by using its content without acknowledgement). The Yahoo! Directory is a web directory which rivals the Open Directory Project in size. ...
The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as dmoz (from , its original domain name), is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links owned by Netscape that is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors. ...
Open content, coined by analogy with open source, (though technically it is actually share-alike) describes any kind of creative work including articles, pictures, audio, and video that is published in a format that explicitly allows the copying of the information. ...
A debate over the quality of directories and databases continues, as search engines use ODP's content without real integration, and some experiment using clustering. There have been many attempts to make directory development easier, whether using a "links for all" type link submission site using a script, or any number of available PHP portals and programs. Recently, social software techniques have spawned new efforts of categorization, with Amazon.com adding tagging to their product pages. Clustering is the classification of objects into different groups, or more precisely, the partitioning of a data set into subsets (clusters), so that the data in each subset (ideally) share some common trait - often proximity according to some defined distance measure. ...
PHP is a reflective programming language originally designed for producing dynamic web pages. ...
It has been suggested that History of social software be merged into this article or section. ...
Amazon. ...
For a proposal for tagging in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Microformats#MediaWiki issues A tag cloud with terms related to Web 2. ...
Directories have various types of listings, often dependent upon the price paid for inclusion:
- Free Submission - there is no charge for review of the site
- Reciprocal Link - the site submitted must link back to the directory in order to be listed
- Paid Submissions - a fee is charged for reviewing the submitted link
- No Follow - there is a rel="nofollow" attribute associated with the link, meaning search engines will not follow the link.
- Featured Link - the link is given a premium position in the category where it is submitted
- Featured Homepage Link - the link may be listed on the homepage of the directory.
- Bid for Position - a recent innovation (2007) where sites are ordered based on bids
Human-edited directories A human-edited directory is created and maintained by editors who add links based on the policies particular to that directory.
Human-edited directories are often targeted by SEOs on the basis that links from reputable sources will improve rankings in the major search engines. Some directories may prevent search engines from rating a displayed link by using redirects, nofollow attributes, or other techniques. Structure of a typical search results page Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via natural (organic or algorithmic) search results. ...
Google search is the worlds most popular search engine. ...
nofollow is an HTML attribute value used to instruct search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link targets ranking in the search engines index. ...
Many human-edited directories, including the Open Directory Project and the World Wide Web Virtual Library, are edited by volunteers, who are often experts in particular categories. These directories are sometimes criticized due to long delays in approving submissions, or for rigid organizational structures and disputes among volunteer editors. The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as dmoz (from , its original domain name), is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links owned by Netscape that is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors. ...
The World Wide Web Virtual Library was the first index of content on the World Wide Web and still operates as a directory of e-texts and information sources on the web. ...
In response to these criticisms, some volunteer-edited directories have adopted wiki technology, to allow broader community participation in editing the directory (at the risk of introducing lower-quality, less objective entries). Look up Wiki in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Another direction taken by some web directories is the paid for inclusion model. This method enables the directory to offer timely inclusion for submissions and generally fewer listings as a result of the paid model. They often offer additional listing options to further enhance listings, including features listings and additional links to inner pages of the listed web site. These options typically have an additional fee associated, but offer significant help and visibility to sites and/or their inside pages.
Today submission of websites to web directories is considered as a common SEO (search engine optimization) technique to get vital back-links for the submitted web site. One distinctive feature of 'directory submission' is that it can not be fully automated like search engine submissions. Manual directory submission is a tedious and time consuming job and is often outsourced by the webmasters.
See also A web directory is a listing of websites organized in a hierarchy or interconnected list of categories. ...
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