Search Engine or Directory?

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Posted on: 5th Nov 2015

Getting your site listed in search engines and directories is an

important part of building a successful site. Most people tend

to think of search directories and engines as one in the same.

However, they are actually both quite different. The only

similarity between the two, in fact, is that they both serve the

same purpose: to help people find web sites of interest to them.

In this newsletter, we will talk about the various search

engines and directories, what their differences are, and why

each is essential to delivering traffic to your site.

Search Engines:

By far the most popular search engine around is Google. Other

search engines include Inktomi, AltaVista, AlltheWeb, and MSN.

Directories:

Probably the most popular example of a directory is Yahoo. Other

directories include Open Directory Project (dmoz.org) and

Gimpsy.

The Differences between Search Engines and Directories

Difference #1: Search engines are run by robots; directories are

run by human editors

The most notable difference between search engines and

directories is that search engines aren�t updated by human

editors like directories are. Instead, search engines are

updated bi-monthly or monthly by robots�spiders and crawlers.

What are spiders and crawlers? They are programs written by

programmers at a particular search engine that basically locate

a page, browse it, and then report whatever it finds back to the

search engine�s database. What is found is then listed on the

search engine.

Directories, on the other hand, are completely updated by human

editors. What usually happens is that a person submits their

site to the directory and then the editor will visit the site

and see whether or not it is worthy of being listed in the

directory. If it is, it will be grouped with other relevant

sites in the directory. If not, it won�t be listed at all.

Directories are typically harder to get listed in than search

engines are for this reason. Human editors won�t allow in

unworthy sites; search engine bots will. Directories are usually

updated very frequently by the editors.

Difference #2: Search engines are free to get listed in; some

directories are not

Many directories charge money for each submission. Search

engines never charge a dime because their bots are solely

responsible for listing web sites. There are, however, free

directories which you can submit your site to.

Difference #3: Search engines are more popular and more used

People want convenience. Search engines offer this. All people

have to do is type in a keyword into the search engine and

relevant sites come up. Those who use directories have to go

through the hassle of going through categories and

sub-categories. This takes time and patience, both things that

many busy people just don�t have.

Difference #4: Directories have listings grouped together by

topic; search engines can sometimes be disorganized

When someone visits a directory, all they have to do is choose a

category that interests them. Then, all the sites are relevant

to that category will come up on the page. While search engines

are usually effective, unrelated listings can sometimes come up

in a search for a particular thing. There�s nothing worse than

doing a search for cars and having an unrelated listing for cats

come up. Unfortunately, this is occasionally the case with

search engines because they are updated by robots, not humans.

Why are Search engines and Directories important to your site?

There are a few reasons for why both are important to your

site�s traffic. The most obvious reason is that the more you are

listed, the more likely it is people will visit your site. If

people see your site in both search engines and directories,

they are more likely to visit it than if they just saw it in a

search engine.

Even though directories aren�t as popular now, they are still

well-used by people because they neatly group together sites in

a particular category. So if you run an online web design

business and are listed in the web design category of the

directory, everyone who looks for web design in that directory

will see your site.

Search engines are also important to your site because they will

show your site if a particular keyword(s) is typed into the

engine. If your site is listed in both directories and search

engines, you will have more traffic than if your site were

listed in one or the other.

Be sure to do whatever it takes to ensure that your site gets

listed in both and you will reap the benefits.

Search engine bots and easy directory submission make it

quick and painless for your site to get maximum exposure from

both of these wonderful tools. So go ahead and take the steps

necessary to get listed!

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