Owned and operated nearly every website type known to man for 19 years straight, but the web has, yet hasn't changed much regarding directories. Their still all pretty much the same thing, apart from some aesthetics, take Caterer.com, it's a list of content, exactly the same as a directory, just about jobs instead of companies. I personally love this style of site - but let's look at what they really are: Benefits Categorised Faster search Convenient Large audience Focus Targeted advert space Far better value ok ok, it's obvious the world was going to find a larger method of search with engines like Yahoo (actually began as a directory) but, cannot get away from that directories are great tools, if it's done right, trouble is many jumped on the idea and got it so very wrong, and paid the price for it, yet at the same time, the bad ones gave rise to the spread of 'directory bad blood' and the rest suffered at the hands of Google's dreaded own de-indexing directory, so now just a few general ones survived, but only just. Will directories ever rise again? hmmm, tricky to predict, likely only if their niche and have the traffic flow to justify buying advert space. If they did, they'd need to close off their open forms to kill off SEO freelancers and to keep them targeted for direct advertisers only, to maintain that quality and exclusivity is the only way, in fact for any advert based site, exclusive space is key eg: throwing the best party ever.
People don't like Google anymore, much talk about Google selling data and such and 'trying to be everything' to the world, which never works properly. Directories are smaller, less hassle to run and a superior offering can be delivered and loyal user bases. Sites like Frommers are the way to go for paid placement, ok its a guide, but is also quite bloggish in style and blogging is the third most popular method of advertising, so it makes sense for websites to transition over to this format. Text is very good, it will never go away (vital for links to display) but needs images to ramp it up, to draw users in, now video is being added too for years and it works great. So directories cannot remain text only, they must be much more to attract paying advertisers, the trouble is many don't promote themselves as it's people jumping on the wagon and thinking they can make it, without the experience of running a website. I like innovation and drive etc, but unless more people really 'go for it' and produce quality sites, the web cannot grow and be that great place where everyone can stand out, and thus be better themselves. The web needs more platforms for advertisers, this is a problem.