Navigating the Google Directory

Now that you know how the Google Directory gets its listings, let's spend some time using the thing. It's a lot like using Google's regular search featurewith the ability to browse the listings thrown in.

Searching Directory Listings

Most users opt to use the Google Directory much as they do the regular Google search pagethat is, by searching the directory, rather than browsing it. To search the Google Directory, follow these steps:

Tip

When searching the Google Directory, you can refine your search by using any of the search operators discussed in Chapter 2, "Searching the Web."

Google now displays a search results page like the one in Figure 3.3. This page looks a lot like a standard web search results page, with the addition of a list of related categories at the top. Each result listing also features a link to the category in which it is included. Click a category link to view all the pages listed in that category.

Browsing Directory Categories

If you're accustomed to using Google to search for information, the concept of browsing might be new to you. It's really quite simple; it all hinges on the concept of hierarchical organization of information into topic categories and subcategories.

You start at the Google Directory home page, where 16 different categories (and a handful of subcategories) are listed. Here are the major categories:

You start your browsing by clicking a category that matches your interest. This displays a major category page, like the one in Figure 3.4, that lists all the subcategories within the major category. (Sometimes a few related categories are listed, also.) For example, The Home category lists 25 subcategories, such as Apartment Living, Consumer Information, Cooking, and the like.

Click a subcategory link and you'll see a subcategory page, like the one in Figure 3.5. Some subcategories include even more subcategories (sub-subcategories?), which are listed at the top of the page. You'll also find a list of related categories; then you'll see the list of pages within the subcategory.

These pages are ranked (using Google's PageRank technology) in order of relevance. The green bar to the left of each page listing visually indicates the relevance; the bigger the green bar, the more relevant the result. Each listing also includes the title of the page (click to jump to the page), the page's URL, and the editor's description of the page.

Searching Within a Category

When you stumble across a big category, one with lots of pages listed, it may be difficult to find exactly the page you want. To that end, Google lets you search for pages within a category. All you have to do is navigate to a category or subcategory page, enter your query in the search box at the top of the page, check the Search Only in Category option, and then click the Google Search button. Google now searches the current categoryand only the current categoryfor the keywords you entered, and displays the results on a separate search results page.

Tip

If you'd rather view the listings within a category alphabetically instead of by relevance, click the View in Alphabetical Order link at the top of the listings.

Searching within a category can be particularly useful in restricting your search to a particular topic. For example, if you search the entire Google Directory for lions, Google might return pages about lions (the animal), Lions (the football team), Lions (the public service organization), or any number of other lion-related subjects, as shown in Figure 3.6. But if you first navigate to the Sports, Football, American, NFL category and then search for lions, you'll see only results related to the Detroit Lions football team, as shown in Figure 3.7.