Why, oh why, do not all directory providers hire a fabulous Information Pro to organize their data?
Yesterday I was charged with the task of finding blogs for a specific geographic region on a specific topic. Blog directories abound, just check out this article from Search Engine Journal for a good summary of sources.
Unfortunately, not all directories are created equally and not many feel the need to cross-reference geographically versus subject matter. Most take submissions by blog owners or folks paid to bring attention to the blog.
Quality is not the name of the game in this search task. Strategic thinking about any type of directory on the world wide web seems to be sorely lacking. The best directories and the ones that I actually bookmark and reuse are those that provide short, accurate summaries and cross-referenced indexing based upon, author, subject, location and more.
If anyone knows of a great blog directory that does that well let me know. I did receive some great hits from Google Reader but I was sorely disappointed by Technorati. Remember, I’m was searching for blogs not blog postings. I do love Technorati for blog post searching.
If you are a blog directory site, consider hiring an information professional to provide a solid structure for your indexing tasks and then let me know that you have increased your sites usefulness.
Note: This post is written from a user stand-point only.
Constance Ard January 23, 2009
