Human-edited Website Directories and How They Show Trust
Everybody is familiar with browsing the internet with search engines in 2009, since they allow us to discover websites so speedily. This is crucial, however search engine results aren’t moderated by humans, instead it’s done by an algorithmic rule. Why is that important? Imagine you are browsing for a hotel in Milton Keynes as an example. One would enter this keyphrase into Yahoo! (for example), then a list of results would appear. How do you know if these results are reliable if they’ve never been filtered by a human editor? Here’s how: search engines employ human-administered online directories as a primary filter.
Directories still play a substantial role on the web, and the most discriminating directories will be necessarily human edited. A person may recognize that (for instance) : “hmm, that hotel has been awarded a michelin star, that’s a really good sign”. A well-known online directory will receive many entries everyday. An administrator will investigate these entries, and if the administrator is happy that the level of the entry is good enough, it is added to the online directory. This is why Google still loves online directories. Both the Yahoo! directory and dmoz.org are interrogated by search engines as filters to determine the veracity of a website – whether it’s included in dmoz.org / Yahoo! directory or not, since they are human-edited and have demanding guidelines.
So do not minimize the implication of internet directories just because almost everyone uses search engines to discover things. A directory with tight guidelines can act as an essential measuring device as to how trustworthy a website is. If you are a website owner, also look to get your website included in a niche directory, like a gardening directory, a bed and breakfast directory, or a fine dining directory.
While humans are requiring to act upon signs of trust, the internet will always need individuals to issue their seal of approval, and so directories will forever play a part.
