The Truth Bar

A common misunderstanding among users of the Web is that search engines seem to find and index all Websites. That is not really true. And, in fact, search engines don’t even show you most of the sites they do find and index. When you search on any topic, search engines are most likely going to select only a few — usually the sites that people have pointed the most links toward — to show you. This is why it is so easy to manipulate search results.

Web directories, on the other hand, don’t get fooled so easily. And a good Web directory may compile thousands of listings that are relevant to whatever you are searching for. Some Web directory sites have been around for years but they haven’t drawn much attention. Although their operators may do a poor job of marketing their sites the directories may provide very high quality listings. People do use Web directories every day.

Some Web directories are more elite and selective. They may be specialty or niche directories that offer only a very small number of choices that are all about a specific topic. A special topics directory does not have to look like much but if it provides thousands of listings chances are pretty good it will do a better job for you than search engines.

And you have the ability to create your own directories. Sites like HubPages, Squidoo, Yahoo!, and others offer free services that let you build your own custom link directories. User-generated link directories may be intended only for personal use (like Web-based bookmarks with annotations) or they may be intended for a small group of people.