A web directory is a collection of links, organized in some manner, created and maintained by people. It is a search tool, much like a search engine, web directories results are often used within a search engines own results.

The only sites that can get into a directory are ones that are submitted. Unlike a search engine and its spiders, directories do not look for sites. Whether your site is listed in the directory is decided by a human, this means you may have to wait some time to be accepted (or rejected).

Directories are broken down into categories and your site will be listed in the category most relevant to it. Your site will normally be placed where you recommend.

Yahoo is one of the web's most popular search services.  The secret to Yahoo's success is that it is the largest human-compiled guide to the web, employing about 150 editors in an effort to categorize the web. Yahoo has well over 1 million sites listed and is the oldest major web site directory. Yahoo.co.uk supplements its results with those from Google. If a search fails to find a match within Yahoo's own listings, then matches from Google are displayed. There are also pay per position results included. With yahoo.com they use Google's results, but where a site matches in the yahoo directory too, its Yahoo title and description is used. These results are supplements with Overture US pay-per-click results.

The Open Directory uses volunteer editors to catalog the web. AOL also uses Open Directory information, as does Google, Netscape and Lycos.

LookSmart is a human-compiled directory of web sites. LookSmart provides directory results to MSN and many other partners. Inktomi provides LookSmart with search results when a search fails to find a match from among LookSmart's reviews.

There are others, but we are really only interested in the engines that bring you the best customers. We register with them only after careful planning of the submissions.