A web directory is a directory on the World Wide Web that specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. Web directories often allow site owners to submit their site for inclusion. editors review submissions for fitness.

An alternative portal to the web is using search engines, web sites that index other sites based on key words.

Famous web directories are Google, LookSmart, Open Directory Project, and Yahoo!. ODP is an important player in the directory market, perhaps because of its open content approach to editorial review and its use by Google. Zeal, also open to contributions from volunteers, is the non-commercial side of LookSmart's directory, with its material being reused in various portals, ISPs, and search services including Lycos, InfoSpace , and CNET.

Web directories belong to the oldest category of web sites. In the early days of the World Wide Web, it was still possible to maintain a large list linking to all or most web sites. It is said that the very first web site, made by web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, was a directory.

See also

• List of web directories