Semantic Weblog

A web directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. It specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. Web directories often allow site owners to submit their site for inclusion, and have human editors review submissions for fitness. A web directory is not a search engine, and does not display web pages based on keywords, instead listing web pages in convenient categories and subcategories. Well-known web directories include the Yahoo! Directory, LookSmart, and the Open Directory Project (ODP). ODP is an important player in the directory market, perhaps because of its open content approach to editorial review and its use by Google. Zeal, Looksmart’s volunteer-run directory, closed in March 2006.

A debate over quality in directories and databases continues, as search engines use ODP’s content without real integration, and some experiment using clustering. There have been many attempts to make directory development easier, whether using a “links for all” type link submission site using a script, or any number of available PHP portals and programs. Recently, social software techniques have spawned new efforts of categorization, with Amazon.com adding tagging to their product pages.