A Search engine is a program, which searches the entire web indexing any web page into its database. A directory on the other hand is not a program but is manually controlled by humans who judge a web page and then include into the directory database. Unlike search engines, directories have categories.

A search engine searches all the sites on the web (or all the sites that it knows about on the web, to be more precise). A directory only includes sites that have been reviewed and accepted by a person. Search engines generally will find more sites than directories, because search engines automatically add more and more sites to their databases as they find them. But directories generally have higher quality listings because these sites have been screened and reviewed by a human being. See similar questions...

Search Engines rely on automated tools called "robots" to collect information from websites. This information is added to the Search Engine's database, based on a number of criteria, including page content, page title, links, etc. Google and AllTheWeb are two well-known Search Engines. Directories use human editors to look at websites and to decide how to categorize sites for inclusion. Yahoo! and Open Directory Project are two popular Directories. See similar questions...

Most engines will index your site for 12 months. Prior to the expiration date, you will receive an email containing renewal instructions. You can either renew for the next 12 months or cancel your subscription. If you have selected the auto renew option, your URLs will be automatically renewed. See similar questions...

There is less difference now than there used to be, because many search engines, including Google, have built large subject catalogues to help you search. But think of a Web directory as a subject catalogue--something like the subject catalogue in your local library. Yahoo started out as a directory but is now de-emphasizing that aspect of their broadly-based business. See similar questions...

The Academy of Web Specialists LLC was closed effective September 1, 2003, and its partners left to pursue other interests. The online courses taught at the Academy are now being taught here through Search Engine Workshops. The course material was created by Robin Nobles, a partner of Search Engine Workshops, and she's kept it updated for the past 8 years. See similar questions...

By a wide and apparently increasing margin, Yahoo and Google are likely to be the most important in terms of generating traffic to your site. See similar questions...

It is more than a search engine. A search engine is as valuable as the data that is available to it. The prevalent consumer search engines are reliant solely on web site data, which is incomplete, changeable and chaotic. The .travel Directory will have data detailing all products and services that are being offered and such data will be provided by the travel businesses themselves. See similar questions...

It's an automated system that relies on a software agent (otherwise known as spiders, robots or crawlers) to explore the World Wide Web, by following links from site to site, and cataloging relevant text and content into a huge database. When a visitor to a search engine site or directory types in a query, the engine will retrieve the results from a database. See similar questions...

There are many companies that offer search engine optimization. It is a little known fact, however, that many companies that offer search engine optimization can do your website more harm than good. Many search engine optimization companies do not, in fact, know how to truly optimize--they know how to spam. Spamming is a term search engines use for people who bombard their services with shady tactics and automated submissions that negatively influence the way a search engine produces results. See similar questions...