Be Frank Answer honestly to this question

I use Google 99% of the time, and DMOZ rarely, it can be quite good.

 

i've only used directories for business searches in specific niches ,or specific subject matter

For this, directories are really superior to search engines

Wading thru the serps in certain searchs is not always usefull, however, this is only 5% of the time, or less

95% of my searchs are via search engines

Niche has it i think

 

I don't use directories to find anything.

 

prob for me msn 75% google 23% yahoo 1% and dmoz 1%
if they index me ill use it more

 

I think the poll is very accurate. Few people use directories . . .and those who visit are those submitting websites. They don't generate traffic to a site, they only affect your SERPs and Google has jumped on that.

My advice: don't get into the directory market, and if you are already in Sell Sell Sell.

Skinny

 

Tell that to yahoo , but yup poll reflects that rarely traffic comes to directories for checking out resources some visitor was looking for.

 

yes, there are times when Google answers the "big" sites, and I really don't want those results so I go to a directory and find the "smaller" sites.

 

I use only mine some times

I am trying to create a directory out of it

 

I often use this one. Directories will still be there whether big G likes it or not.

 

i believe if we manage to bring in all minds that main purpose of directories is to provide informations of rich resources then i think directories will be more popular

 

I use directories to find cool websites! like bloggeries to find nice blogs, or dmoz to find sites from my location. I also use other directories at times, its a good way to surf the sites actually. But yes when i need to search i always use msn or yahoo, i never use directories to search.

I used to search in google before, but these days all i get is wikipedia pages, so its better to use live or yahoo for searching IMHO

 

My advice: don't get a crappy domain and don't build a directory if you don't know how to operate one.

 

Frank says: Yep, I use directories quite a bit... finding other directories to submit too... looking up niche sites where the SE's are just so full of crap. Oh, and to check out the competition of course!

 

i think if you asked this question to the gerneral public the answer would be much more swinning towards never

 

I tend to use niche directories for those types of sites where the SERPs are full of useless MFA crap. But, only if the directory is somewhere in the results for my search. If it comes up for my search, that tells me that it actually has something on that topic. There are a couple of niche sites that I use somewhat regularly (before someone gets snarky, they aren't mine).

General directories - not really. Though I might look around a bit if I'm already there looking to submit.

Bidding directories - never. They don't seem to rank for the things I'm looking for.

Article directories - never. Most of the stuff there is poorly written and too generic for what I'm usually looking for.

I think one thing that really hurts directory usage are those parked domains that look like a directory but are really only scraper sites. I see one of those and just leave. They usually only rank well on the strength of their domain name - which is such a waste of a great name. They make us all look bad.

 

So would it be safe to say, that for general users/visitors, directories offer them almost nothing. Other than maybe niche ones, i use only 1 directory/search thingy thats called yellowpages. Kinda sad isnt it to see that most visitors come to ur directories are just a mistake or just bunch of webmasters looking for backlink only ?

 

Depends on what you offer. While my craft directory isn't the biggest; it does offer something unique and I get a lot of repeat traffic, click-throughs to the listings (40-50%), and about 98%+ of my traffic is non-submitters. Create a strong, usable resource and you will get visitors - create what is essentially a list of links and you won't.

 

Craft directory would fall into niche directory so would yellowpages . So basically there is no future for general web directories hmm...

 

I think SE's have taken over web directories, in search functions, though they still may be very useful for example, search engines (I take G as example) cannot filter out every web site that contain any undesireable material, however you're able to do that on a web directory.

Web directories will probably always be a part of the web, especially for webmasters. I believe they have a future, at least the ones that know how to operate a web directory.

Regards,
Meti

 

Can u explain whats undesirable and whats not undesirable ?