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The
Usefulness of Subject Directories
By Favourite Link
Subject directories are built by human hands
instead of by “spider” programs scanning web pages. The results are often
sorted by subject instead of ranked by a computer. The results given by a
subject directory can be a great deal more relevant to a given search, even
though the database of searched web pages is somewhat smaller than the average
search engine. Also the searches within subject directories search titles and
headers but do not contain the entire text of a page, limiting the chance that
you will click on a link only to find that the only reference to the search
criteria is a brief tangent.
There can be great advantages to searches built
by human minds instead of spider programs. Spiders are very useful at gathering
large quantities of information, however the search capacity is limited to the
text of the search and can often be searched and ranked as a result out of
context. A human can compile categories based on a search that the computer
might not see as relevant. A human can make connections and leaps of logic to
fit a human searcher, whereas a computer follows strict logical protocol that do
not always fit some of the zany things that we humans are searching for online.
Computer ranking algorithms are a subject that I
personally know nothing about. I do not know how they are chosen, who programs
them, or what their basis for calculation is. I do know that if I am looking
for something in particular online, I often know at least a vague concept of
what I am looking for. A search result page grouped by category means that I
can avoid subjects that are not quite what I want and find pages similar to what
I do want much more easily. I know that when I search yahoo, there are often
some random results, or ones which fit my search criteria but are not of the
correct subject nature. That is bypassed in the subject directories.
I could not give enough examples of times that I
have searched and searched for a particular subject and found infinite
references to my specific phrase in irrelevant pages. A person with a blog or a
group on a message board might be discussing the political situation in Iraq,
but that does not mean that their page holds any relevant information concerning
that subject. I imagine that searching a subject directory where the lack of
the complete text of each page limits results, would be a great deal easier than
sifting through the mountains of one-line references that happen to match the
search.
Subject directories are not just useful because
they allow you to search the internet, since search engines perform the same
function. Subject directories are smaller, more specialized programs that allow
you to hone in on a particular subject or detail and study it among like
information without the worry of irrelevant searches coming of tangents in text
pages. The subject directories are human compiled, sorted into subjects instead
of rankings, and do not contain the full text of each page contained within the
search. These things all combine to make subject directories a user-friendly
internet search tool.
And That's why you should submit your website
URL to your Directory
it's for free and very
Fast approval of your URL.
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