Directory: To be or not to be
Written: Apr 13 '01
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The Bottom Line
Try Yahoo's free stuffs. Wanna find something? Go elsewhere.
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I am always having a doubt in my mind: Will Yahoo still live up to its name if the company didn't hired Google as its default search results provider? Or more accurately, can Yahoo survive this rapidly-growing cyber world if they sticks to Yahoo's directory system?
There are two main kinds of search services commonly used on the Web: the search engine, and the directory. Yahoo is claimed to be the largest directory system. When you find something in Yahoo, the results appear in the "category matches" and "web site matches" sections come from the Yahoo directory database. The "web page matches" is from Google-the "pure" search engine. But even the directory itself still has too many drawbacks that it's just not so easy to say "yahoo!!!" in most of the cases. And with the growing of the internet, these drawbacks of directories are becoming more and more evident:
1. Can not find the sites. Yahoo catalogs web sites in a complicated hierarchical directory. The sites are always there. But you can not always find them. For example: You are finding an auction site selling cellular phone. You type "auction", "cellular" and "phone" and click Return. The result-- "Found 0 categories and 2 sites for auction cellular phone", one is in Canada and the other is in United Kingdom, none from the United States. Is it possible? Indeed! But why? Because Yahoo only indexes the HOME PAGE of the site. But it's impossible for the sites to list all their products on their home pages. That's the reason.
2. Exploring the categories is horrible. Not every web surfer is an expert in taxology. One more click on the sub category means one more chance to make a mistake. Wanna find a tour destination in Utah? You must bet your luck at the very first step: Start from "Recreation & Sport"-"Travel"-"By Region"-"United States"...., or, "Regional"-"United States"-"Utah"....? There always be a tough choice. More categories which lead to more categories is the reality you have to face.
3. Just too outdated. Yahoo updates its directories manually. This maintains the browsability of the directory but is an extreme time consuming job. There are an estimated 2.7 billion web pages out there and the number is growing at approximately 5 million per day. (NEC Research Institute study, October 2000). If you wan to list your web site on Yahoo. A 5-month-waiting is the routine. You need faster? They give you the faster (within 7 days). But a $199 fee is needed. And no guarantee of listing. And no money back, guaranteed.
Despite all those drawbacks, you can still find what you want in its categories. That depends. I use Yahoo from time to time. The fact is that Yahoo is not just Yahoo, it's Google, too. And the free stuffs: e-mail, personal page, auction...everything. But just has nothing to do with search engine.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Location: Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me: A Chinese irradiation engineer who is more interested in Art & culture than technology.
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