Understanding the Difference Between Search Engines and Directories
A search engine is a machine-indexed database of web page content. A directory
is organized by subject and assembled by people. Examples of search engines are
Google, AltaVista, Excite and iWon. Examples of indexes include Yahoo, About.com
and Open Directory.
Search engines send out programs called “robots” or “spiders” that gather text
information on your web site and send the information back to the search engine.
Another program will then classify or “index” the content and place it within
the search engine’s database. Each search engine uses different criteria for how
they index web pages. The spiders come to your web site either by you request
or through links from other sites. Once your site is indexed, the spider will
returns to your site at a scheduled interval to check for new or changed content.
Except for you making a request to have your site indexed, the entire process
is done automatically without human intervention.
Directories on the other hand, are more analogous to your telephone yellow
pages. Directories index web sites by topic. Unlike search engines, directories
will not index your site unless you specifically asked them to. Directories will
insist that you choose a specific topic area for your site. A real person will
visit your web site and determine how it will be listed. Search engine optimization
techniques will not help you get better ranking in a directory. Compelling content
will.
Decide on Which Search Engines to Target
Each search engine and directory has differing criteria when it comes to determining
who will receive high search engine rankings. It is important to understand what
each search engine is looking for as you fine-tune your content. Although you
have probably heard much hype about getting your web site listed in hundreds of
search engines or directories, in reality there are only a handful that are significant.
With the exception of getting listings in small indexes in your specialized subject
area, it is probably best to concentrate on search engines and directories with
the largest audiences.
Lets look at which are the most popular search engines and directories. According
to Search Engine Watch, the top search engines and directories by popularity of
visitors to their web site are:
Yahoo, MSN, Infoseek, Lycos, Netscape, Excite, Looksmart, AltaVista, GoTo,
Google, iWon, Ask Jeeves, Hot Bot, Direct Hit, Web Crawler, Open Directory and
Northern Light.
But this does not tell the whole story. “Under the hood” many of these search
engines and directories are actually powered by other search engines and directories.
For example, if an entry is not found in Yahoo’s directory, it uses Google’s index.
This would give high ranking in Google much more importance than its eleventh
position would indicate.
The main search engines that work behind the scenes are Inktomi and Google.
The main directory that works behind the scenes is called Open Directory. Getting
high search engine rankings in all three of these can therefore be very important.
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