Web directories serve as a valuable resource to internet users.
Web surfers utilize them as an easy means for locating topics of interest,
while businesses find them indispensible as a method for promoting their
websites. Thousands of websites exist on the internet that can be
described as web directories. (Our own site partially fits
this category, although it is much more.) A web directory or
website directory is a collection of links to other websites
arranged in an organized structure. A good web directory will
also display information about each link within its directory structure.
A web directory may link to other websites unilaterally or may require
that each listed website provide a reciprocal link (See below.)
back to the directory.
While web directories are arranged in an organized structure, they
may also possess themed content. A themed web directory will
only include links to websites addressing a particular topic or definitive
range of topics.
See Geosource, maintained by the Central
Library of Utrecht University in The Netherlands, as an
excellent example of a themed web directory. It may be difficult
to get your website listed in a themed web directory, as these
types of website directories are usually manually edited using strict
selection criteria.
The ascendancy of
Google™ as the web’s
premier search engine also gave rise to link farms. Google™
search engine methodology places a great deal of site ranking importance on
the number of links leading to a website from other sites.
Reciprocal linking (also known as link swapping
or link exchange), the practice of linking to a website in
exchange for a link from that website to your own, arose as a direct
response to Google™’s ranking strategy. This was quickly
followed by the emergence of link farms as a means to capitalize on the
reciprocal linking concept. Link farms are websites whose sole function
is to perform link exchange with other websites.
Web directories are readily distinguishable from link farms. While
a web directory exhibits an organized structure and categorized content,
link farms tend to possess a hodgepodge appearance. Links to websites
within a link farm are generally carelessly arranged in a
“free-for-all” manner; frequently, the first link to be
listed may simply be the most recent website entry into the farm, with
earlier additions receiving lower and lower stature as they are pushed
downward by recent arrivals. Even if the appearance of a link farm is
tidy, it will be difficult to find a particular item of interest you are
searching for.
Search engines generally look unfavorably upon websites linking to link
farms, and may even ban sites that actively pursue this as a primary
method for generating reciprocal links. The principal goal of an owner
of a link farm is to boost the search engine ranking (search engine
popularity) of his or her own website by getting as
many webmasters to link to it as possible rather than to display quality
content. This combined with the number of “hits” generated by
traffic to the site can then be parlayed by the link farm owner into
advertising revenue.
The link farm concept strives to fool search engines into recognizing a
website as having great importance by way of its large number of inbound
links. Search engine designers rapidly became wise to this ruse and
redesigned search engine software to discriminate between link farms and
genuine web directories. Due to the unprofessional nature of link farms
(Any novice can create one; it really doesn’t require much
skill.), most tend to come and go quickly.
A listing in a single prestigious web directory, unlike that found
in a link farm, can go a long way toward promoting your site on the
internet. The best website directories will be recognized by the
DMOZ Open Directory
Project, the world’s largest, most comprehensive human-edited
directory of the Web.
Authored by Kenneth L. Anderson.
Original article written 6 August 2003, updated 4 January
2006.
The article to the right warns of the dangers of listing with link farms
and provides some simple strategies for obtaining higher search engine
ranking. Check Related Links at the left margin for topics
pertaining to website promotion, the ultimate goal of webmasters who list
in web directories. View the
Internet
Business & eCommerce SiteMap for a list of our internet
business and ecommerce topics and the
Business
Center SiteMap for a complete list of all our business topics.
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