Web Directories provide an organized listing of web sites based on their theme and concept. Directory of such web sites helps people know about various resources and explore them. Directories are also seen as a single umbrella with diversity of web sites accessible under it. Just like a telephone directory, where one finds contact details for a name or ownership of a telephone number, here in web directories they would find a categorized listing of sites based on their purpose or utility.

Directories have evolved in last few years. What started as merely a collection of web sites has now progressed to become a resource for webmasters to garner increased attention for their sites as well as enhance their site’s search engine rankings, more so, because of value appended to, by the search engines for directories with quality content. Webmasters work towards getting their sites included in as many directories as they can, since it helps their sites show up higher in the search engine results should any one try to locate the sites with keywords or core concept similar to theirs. Higher search engine ranking ensures better visibility and brings in traffic. Directory inclusion is seen as one of the Search Engine Optimization strategies and widely used by many webmasters and SEO experts.

The above described use has resulted in surge of directories, but then not every directory is rich in content or brings in the expected returns for webmasters or fulfills the purpose for which they exist. Some directories are more of a dumping ground, where every site is blindly accepted, irrespective of their content or purpose. Amidst stiff competition, few directories have lived up to keep their standards. Such directories have human editors, who value the sites included in their listing. They carefully scan the submitted sites, analyze the content and only when convinced, and accept the same. Quality directories are a very useful resource and their ever increasing number has necessitated the existence of a bigger directory which exclusively lists the directories and not the web sites. Such Directory of Directories has come into existence due to increasing demand of lists where webmasters would be able to submit their sites. Just like directories would maintain categorized listing of web sites, Directory Of Directories maintain an organized listing of such directories based on various parameters, including but not limited to the page ranking, general or niche directory listing, accepting free or paid submissions and more.

Directory of Directories thus gives an easy access to huge number of directories which themselves have bigger lists of web sites. Significance and utility of such directories can’t be matched up with words. In time to come, Directory of Directories can be expected to play a vital role for both webmasters and visitors.

Internet has invaded into many households thereby reducing world to a global village. Now you can explore the world, gain knowledge, get updated about events and even shop, right from your computer with click of a mouse.

Webmasters have realized the potential of internet in bringing them business and traffic. Significance of Web Directories in presenting visitors with vast resource of diversified sites remains undisputed. Serving organized lists of various web sites, web directories are seen as a mini search portal where you can find more than one site from different webmasters though dwelling upon similar core concept or theme. Advent of page ranking concept resulted in many webmasters submitting their sites in the web directories. Adding web site links in Web Directories is now seen as a vital search engine optimization strategy. Web Directories also serve as a resource for visitors presenting them with different site links for the theme they search.

Webmasters are also coming up with web sites that offer a broad array of resources and services, such as forums, chat boards, e-mails, search engines, shopping carts and much more. Such web sites with broader array of services are referred to, as Web Portals. The first Web portals were online services, such as AOL, providing access to the Web, but by now most of the traditional search engines have transformed themselves into Web portals to secure their user database and survive in the competitive market. Web Portals in mid-1990s used to be starting point of Web browsers and thus gained a lot of attention, with most of them starting as web directory or search engines. Even though many old players lost during dot-com bubble burst in 2000-2001, few like yahoo remain popular till date. Web Portals work as single resource site to use multitude of services or features, thereby saving visitor’s time and efforts. Web Portals have diversified into Government portals, entertainment portals, environmental portals, business portals, corporate portals, investment portal and lots more, with each portal catering to needs of its user/visitor base. Business portals are designed to be able to work on multiple platforms and share collaboration in workplaces. With ability to provide many resources under one roof, Web Portals are again catching up to achieve their pre-bubble burst glory.

A web directory or an internet directory is like a powerhouse packed with sites that are organised according to user-specific needs that save time, energy and cost. They are an immensely useful tool for webmasters who are looking for a way to promote their sites, increase inbound traffic with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and gain a higher Page Rank on Google. If you are a webmaster imagine having to surf and go through innumerable link exchanges and instead just adding your link to a popular web directory and getting more traffic on your site by targeting people looking for a specific service.

Though not all directories are significant, the most popular directories include The Open Directory Project (ODP or DMOZ), Yahoo, Zeal and Buzzle. Google, along with many other popular search engines tend to generate their search results by dipping into these directories for reference. If you were to run a Google search, you’d notice the number of results that directly use the ODP links and categories. A plus point is that the information stored in ODP is literally borrowed by thousands of other websites and search engines so that just sets up a chain reaction for obtaining more free links! The same goes for the Yahoo directory.

Directories fall into two main categories, namely: general and niche. A general web directory is a directory that contains a listing of many sites of different categories and then sub-categories. A niche directory would be a directory that aims towards a specific grouping like a shopping directory is a directory for all listings for Primitive Arts and Crafts, Consumer Products. This helps in searching harder-to-find content that generally doesn’t show in a prominent position on a major search engine. Then there are free directories that do not charge any fees for inclusion, paid directories that charge a fee for site submission and reciprocal link directories that have a link back to the directory as a prerequisite. Sometimes free directories may offer a prominent link or a higher listing for a nominal fee. The ODP is an example of a human-edited directory which is created and maintained by human editors who are volunteers and may have excellent command over a certain subject. Human edited web directories are known for more relevant links as they are edited and maintained manually and the sites scanned and approved for content.

There are also directories like Yahoo that archive lists of certain sites they choose as a “cool site”. This cool site directory could be in the form of an archived list, a random site generator that generates a site-per-click irrespective of category or the current cool pick. Some of these sites maintain an archive of their older cool picks for visitors to browse through the formerly chosen sites, others have themed sections and still others could probably generate a list of the Top Ten cool sites classifying them on good site principles. The knowledgeable networking system and general-to-sub hierarchy also cross-references links across categories with similar content to make searching with generic keywords more efficient.

Directories are an easy way to find something for everyone. As a surfer with a specific necessity or a webmaster wanting to promote their site, a directory could serve as a handy contrivance to obtain optimum results.