search directory

A Web site that provides links to information organized into a categorical, alphabetical hierarchy. Yahoo! is the most popular online search directory.

Unlike a search engine, which uses bots to sort its information and relies soley on Internet technology to operate, a search directory is human-organized, meaning that real people actually edit the links and classify them into the directory. The result of this distinction is easily apparent when doing an online search: instead of a search engine spit-out of hundreds of thousands of results (many of which are irrelevant), a directory comes back with links that are more accurate and better organized. If you don't know the actual URL of a Web site you want to see, try searching Yahoo! first; if you still can't find any interesting, related information, then go to a search engine (and take time to learn how to use the "advanced search" feature).