7: Getting Help from the Google Directory in .NET framework

Encoder QR Code JIS X 0510 in .NET framework 7: Getting Help from the Google Directory

The ODP and the Google Directory are not the same thing, however Like many other online search engines, Google uses the ODP s data about how to catalog available Web resources, and follows the ODP s lead in evaluating which sites should be included in its catalog But that s as far as the Google Directory goes with the ODP s humans do it best credo; if you search within a category in the Google Directory, Google uses its sophisticated and automated PageRank algorithm (which the ODP obviously doesn t have) to evaluate the relevance of search results (see 11 for more information about Google s PageRank algorithm) The ODP uses a taxonomy to categorize and organize knowledge and information Taxonomies can be searched by browsing larger categories (such as Science Biology Microbiology Virology), and by querying (such as searching for the term virology) to find specific information You can think of the distinction between a taxonomy and a query as that between a table of contents and an index A table of contents is an ordered and structured way to find things, but it doesn t contain every important term In contrast, a good index includes all important keywords, but the terms aren t structured contextually within the index (I explain taxonomies in 11) No one has yet come up with the perfect taxonomy to organize all human knowledge (or even all the information available on the Web) It s probably not possible to come up with one for a variety of reasons: Things keep on changing; some information cannot readily be pigeonholed into a taxonomic slot; human judgment is fallible; and so on and so forth When all is said and done, ODP and its army of volunteer editors have done a pretty miraculous job of categorizing the Web and making sure that the sites in the ODP are of good quality and relevant to their categories As I show you in this chapter, the ability to use Google s search tools within the ODP data makes the Google Directory a formidable research tool

In order to make the most effective use of the Google Directory, you need to know how to open, browse, and search the Google Directory In this section I show the mechanics of these operations, as well as how to browse Google Groups (like the Google Directory, Google Groups uses human-based categorizations of information and data from the Web)

TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine !

Google maintains a Web page (wwwgoogle com/addurlhtml) that you can use to add your Web site to the Google index But it turns out that one of the best ways to get a Web site included in Google (and other major search engines) is to get it cataloged by the ODP Before you actually list your Web site with the ODP, you should read the ODP FAQs about suggesting a site From the ODP home page, click the Suggest URL link You re led to an FAQ page (http://dmozorg/addhtml) that tells you the steps you need to take to get a site considered for inclusion in the ODP This page also lists kinds of sites that the ODP will not catalog (for example, sites that are under construction or that contain broken links) To suggest your site, you have to find the category where you think your site fits best Visit the ODP home page (http://dmozorg) and maneuver through the ranks Say you have a Web site that lists 7,000 unsigned music bands, listed by city, state, region, and country You might drill down two levels (Arts Music) You really ought to do your best to find the right category for your site, however, so I would suggest drilling even farther down in the taxonomy to increase the chances of your site being included in the ODP (Arts Music Bands and Artists) When you re satisfied with the category location for your Web site, click the Suggest URL link On the page that appears, supply your site s URL, a title, a brief description, and your e-mail address Then click the Submit button Of course, there s no way to be sure that the ODP will index your site (Remember, it is by definition a selective directory) And, you can t tell whether it has indexed your site without checking back and searching from time to time