Certain Web Directories Still Used by Search Engines as Sign of Trust
Almost everyone is familiar with using search engines these days, since they allow us to locate things rather rapidly. This is important, nonetheless search engine results aren’t filtered by people, instead it’s done by an algorithm. So why would that be noteworthy? Well, imagine you’re looking for a hotel in Northampton as an example. One would type these keywords into Google (for example), then a list of results would appear. How do you know if these results are reliable if they haven’t been been filtered by people? Here’s how: search engines employ human-administered website directories as a primary filter.
Directories still play a fundamental role on the web, and the top-quality directories will be necessarily edited by people. A person may realise that (for example) : “hmm, that hotel has a particular rating for cleanliness and having certain standards, that’s a really encouraging sign”. A reputable online directory will receive many submissions everyday. An editor will look into these submissions, and if the editor is content that the level of the entry is good enough, it is added to the website directory. And this is the reason why Google still loves online directories. Both the Yahoo! directory and dmoz.org are utilized by search engines as filters to observe the veracity of a website - whether it’s listed in dmoz.org / Yahoo! directory or not, since they’re human-edited and have demanding guidelines.
And So do not downplay the implication of online directories just because almost everyone uses search engines to find things. A directory with tight guidelines can be an essential yardstick as to how trustworthy a website is. If you are a website owner, also look to get your website listed in a niche directory, like a construction directory, a hotel directory, or a yoga directory.
While humans are requiring to act upon signs of trust, the web will always rely on people to issue their stamp of commendation, and thus directories will invariably play a part.
