Not all web masters and surfers know that Google have its own
web directory. And even less may know this:
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When would I use the Google directory instead of Google's regular web search? - The good news is that you don't need to choose between the two. Google's regular web search results are enhanced by information from the Google directory. Look for the addition of editorial descriptions and links to Google directory categories in some search returns. These additions mean that Google has found relevant information about that particular page in the directory and is bringing it to you. Click on the link to find similar pages in the same category or to find other categories like the one for your result. While Google's regular web search is likely the fastest way to find information on a specific subject, the Google directory is particularly useful when you're not sure how to narrow your search from a broad category. The directory can help you understand how topics within a specific area are related and may suggest terms that are useful in conducting a search. It can also give you an idea of the scope of a given category, such as the number of newspapers in California.
Google's directory engine also lets you search within a category once you've decided on the specific subsection of the web that interests you. In this way, you'll get only responses that fall within that category. For example, you may want to search for teams named "Cougars" within the college basketball section of the directory only, instead of across the entire web.
Finally, you might prefer to use the directory when you only want to see sites that have been evaluated by an editor. The Open Directory project has 20,000 volunteer editors reviewing websites and classifying them by topic. Google's search technology lets you arrange those sites by their importance instead of alphabetically, which means you'll get the benefit of both human judgment and a sophisticated ranking algorithm.
Web Pages Ordered by PageRank - Unlike other directories that can only list web pages alphabetically regardless of how good they are, the web pages in the Google directory are ordered according to Google's view of their importance. This means that the most relevant and highly-regarded sites on any topic are listed first ... not buried deep within a list of other pages.
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Google Web Directory Help