Directories: Those Money Makers Never Went Out of Style

November 30, 2016

Printed directories may be under stress due to the cost of sales, paper, ink, and distribution. But my local bank offers a free directory of local businesses. Someone near Harrod’s Creek either has lots of money to waste or has a way to turn the traditional print Yellow Pages into a money maker.

Digital directories have been the heir to the venerable Bell Telephone Yellow Pages. I love directories and so does Google. In 2009, when Google: The Digital Gutenberg was published by a half crazed British eccentric who frittered away time expressing an interest in my research, the premise of the study was that Google was a modern day directory publisher. For the fancy technology and hip Sillycon Valley jargon. Google was in the directory business. Companies paid Google to put their message in front of eye balls. The shift to mobile has simply accelerated the process.

I read “The Comeback of the Directory?” The write up has discovered that directories exist. Not news in Harrod’s Creek, but to the avid readers of an online publication, I hear “Eureka!”

I highlighted this statement:

There are directories for UX designers, iOS developers, Pokemon Go players, remote workers, modern travellers (and many more). … Personally I am a big fan of categorizing a Quality and Fair Web where results are not dependent on the advertisers budget but the users valuation.

Ah, insight upon insight. If you are curious about the main point of Google: The Digital Gutenberg, a video airs as part of a HonkinNews’ special. The seven minute program talks about Google as a directory outfit and the challenge the company faces to make its desktop business model generate the revenue needed to keep the world’s most used search system plump and cheerful. Watch Beyond Search for the link. The video goes live on January 3, 2017.

Spoiler: Google is a directory company today and tomorrow.

Stephen E Arnold, November 30, 2016

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Business strategy, Google, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.