search engines/ directories

[Anonymous]

I'm very confused. Is a search engine simply another word for directory? As I looked through your list of directories I found sites that are search engines. There were sites like yahoo , excite.com askjeeves and so on. Are these not the search engines that cost lots of money to advertise. The issue of Freealance Mom Newsletter dated 8/13/05 says; and I quote " A really smart thing to do is to take the time to submit your website to directories." So I'm confused. Can someone streighten this out, simply. I'm a green.

[Lori]

Hi EJ :)

The main difference between search engines and directories is the way that sites are entered into their index. Search engines send out 'robots' or 'spiders' that follow links and index websites and content. Directories are created by people actually adding the website data and someone else generally approving or disapproving it.

The line actually does get a little blurry between them all. I'll go back through the list I posted awhile back and clarify or remove anything that doesn't fit the bill :)

I can see why you would be confused. To clarify, some search engine sites also have directories.

Yahoo's directory is here: http://dir.yahoo.com/

I'm not sure how Ask Jeeve's got on the list actually. To my understanding they are powered by the largest directory DMOZ: http://www.dmoz.org/

Excite.com: http://dir.excite.com/d/search/p/excite/directory.jhtml

A better list of directories for you is here: http://www.freelancemom.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=799

I hope that helps some!

Lori



I'm very confused. Is a search engine simply another word for directory? As I looked through your list of directories I found sites that are search engines. There were sites like yahoo , excite.com askjeeves and so on. Are these not the search engines that cost lots of money to advertise. The issue of Freealance Mom Newsletter dated 8/13/05 says; and I quote " A really smart thing to do is to take the time to submit your website to directories." So I'm confused. Can someone streighten this out, simply. I'm a green.