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Web Directories

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The best place to start if you want quality websites on specific topic is web directories. These, unlike search engines, have human editors who review sites for inclusion, and therefore the standard of the sites included is usually much higher than many of those found via search engines. Quite often one finds one or two sites this way that provide all the information one needs on a particular subject.

There are thousands of web directories, some very small, and some very large. I shall only list here some of the major directories. These, because of their sheer size, may still present and information overload problem, and there are numerous smaller regional or topic specific directories which may be more suited to your purposes. I shall provide a list of some useful Scotland-specific directories.

Note that some web directories, such as Yahoo, are hybrids, and combine with a search engine. If you want to search the directory specifically, you may have to select a particular button or item from a drop down menu which states "directory search" rather than "web search", or similar words, depending on the portal you are using. It is often better to search directories this way than ploughing through the list of directory categories because there are so many different categories to which a site may belong, and you may be on a wild goose trail searching in a perfectly logical, but incorrect category. By using the facility to search within the directory via keywords which you enter, the web directory can effectively act as a search engine, but restricted to the entries in its own directory.

Major International Web Directories

• Yahoo. This is arguably the most important directory on the internet. Yahoo only accepts high quality sites which meet stringent criteria. Free listings are available for non-commercial sites. Yahoo currently also uses Google for web searches but is switching to Inktomi later this year (2004).
• The Open Directory Project. This is a huge volunteer-edited directory and is used by Google and many other search engines as a source of search results. Like Yahoo, it demands a high level of quality. Unlike Yahoo, all listings are free.
• Zeal. Very similar to The Open Directory Project, Zeal is a vast volunteer-edited directory. However, it only accepts non-commercial sites. It is connected with Look Smart which deals with commercial sites, and listings there cost money.

Scotland-Specific Web Directories

These are very useful in narrowing down searches if you want to look for specifically Scottish organisations.

• Scot Find
• Scotsearch
• Scotsmart
• Scottish Multimedia
• Scotlands.com
• Scottish Search
• Rampant Scotland
• Scotland Web

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