An internet directory also known as a website directory is a directory on the internet or the world wide web. A web directory categorises lists of websites and gives you a summary of what each site is about and what to expect from it. A human edited web directory is created and maintained by editors who add links and categories to the directory.

A web directory unlike a search engines does not list websites according to any keyword but according to the categories they belong to. A link of all the websites listed under each category is provided so that the viewer can connect to the site after he reads about it. The categories and sub categories may vary from directory to directory, a list of categories from a directory could be like entertainment sites, poker sites, casino sites, bingo sites etc. There may also be other directories that vary in the kind of categories like say if the category is educational sites the websites listed could be under sub-categories like MBA colleges, medical colleges etc.

Websites to be listed on an internet directory have to be approved by the editor they cannot be automatically updated like on SE. Editors view the content of each website submitted for approval and decide according to the terms and conditions of their directory. Therefore the traffic that comes through a directory is quality traffic and that which comes through a SE is bulk or unsorted traffic. SE generally rank websites according to the number of web directories they are listed in and their order of priority in them. Each link is considered as a vote, thus more the links higher is the ranking of websites on SE.

For new websites or small businesses looking for more traffic on their websites it is better to get their sites listed on internet directories rather than SE, as search engines are vast and uncategorised where as directories are systematically organised under specific categories and the viewers searching for a site on a directory usually turn out potential customers whereas those on SE could be just browsers.