The Directoryz field guide

Discovery and search

Help visitors and search engines understand useful directory pages.

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Explain integrations by the task they support

An integration listing should tell visitors what moves between systems and what work it enables.

Visitors need to know who provides and supports the connection.

Selection criteria help visitors understand the directory's scope and editorial judgment.

Expertise is easier to assess through specific work and scope than through broad labels.

A member directory can serve networking, referrals, or public discovery.

A query report is a sample of how people found or encountered your pages.

Titles should identify the page and its useful scope.

A description should summarize what the page offers, not promise a search position or repeat a keyword list.

An empty category usually provides little discovery value.

Filter combinations can create many URLs with little distinct value.

Link text should tell visitors where they will go.

A missing search result can have several causes, and a sitemap entry is not proof of indexing.

Search appearance needs observation over time.