The Future Of Business Web Directories
Web directories for promoting business websites have become quite common. However, they have changed over the years and while links to websites were hand picked and included in the directories based on a recommendation or website worthiness at one time, this is not the case any longer. Business web directories have grown with the Internet, the necessity for inclusion in the best directories still exists, albeit differently.
The biggest search engines at the beginning of web directories integrated both Yahoo and Google, among others. The inclusion of a business link within these sites was the hallmark of a great or exceptional business. The procedure for selection and placement into the directory was completed by hand and those that made it towards the top meant that the business in question had something to provide that no other had, no matter what it was.
However, when websites became easier and less expensive to build and maintain, they grew in numbers. This meant there was much more competition in terms of selecting the best links for the web directories. This also meant that many more businesses were included and the directories grew to scale with the Internet. However, this created the problem of which links were the best rated and how would a visitor to the directory search through them and find what they were looking for. Not only could the directories’ editors and hand selectors not keep up with the ever-increasing amount of links for directory submission in need of review, but also they could not seem to keep up with the maintenance of the directories, resulting in broken links and 404 errors everywhere.
This is when automated business web directories started making an appearance in addition to various pay schemes for link inclusion. Because smaller businesses would not want to pay the nominal fees for website review and inclusion within the business web directories, the editors would not need to be cluttered with websites that id not belong in the first place. This left more openings to larger and more worthy businesses for inclusion to the directories, meaning less work for the editors.
Then the Internet search systems began to appear, although they started out too slow and were too inaccurate to be of any use to people searching for businesses, and offered little to no competition to the web business directories. However, these search engines quickly became much more cost-effective and accurate and eventually competed with the directories on a larger scale where they now dominate the Internet in providing the most accurate search results possible.
In modern times, the web business directories are based on a pay-per-click model of which business advertisers bid for keyword matches and ad inclusion and for each click-through towards the website. These internet business directories aren’t sites at all, they’re refined search engine results of which have an efficiency never seen before and because every inclusion is paid for, categories are always relevant and updated. The downfall to this system is that it can turn out to be quite expensive.
The future of the web business directory is in technology because without active and functional search tools, users of these directories cannot search coherently for anything. Directory editors are constantly overwhelmed with the hundreds of thousands of websites in need of review and because most are performed by volunteers, many of the websites go unlocked at and unlisted, thus pushing them to other venues. If the search engines can utilize the best search algorithms, then the web business directories should have the ability to do the same, although many do not, which leaves the future of web business directories up in the air.
Kyle owns Jasmine directory, one of the best available online because each category and subcategory has unique content articles as description to maximize webmaster’s SEO efforts.
Tags: Advertising, business, internet, links, promotion, seo, sites, Web Directories, web directory