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One reason why the average Pakistani surfer does
not venture beyond directories like Dmoz.org and
Yahoo! is because they claim they do not know of
any local alternatives. One casual surfer says
she tries online news and magazine sites for
information pertaining to business issues or
heads straight for Google. Here is our choicest
selection of web directories whose search
options offer relevant, if not entirely helpful,
results.
Most popular search engines are backed by a
web directory. In Pakistan, you might find a
good directory, but finding one with a search
bot that crawls the entire index is a rare case.
PakAvenue.com
PakAvenue.com is one place where you can be
sure what you see is what you get. This
directory has recently fine-tuned its 1997 look
to a properly indexed format. The subjects are
clearly categorized a la Dmoz style, and each
entry has a brief description underneath the URL
to help you figure its relevance to your search.
For instance, a random search for ' science
research ' revealed just four entries, each
bearing the words ' science ' and ' research '
somewhere in its description. Webmasters can
modify or update their links directly from the
site, while other users can either contribute to
the collection of links or hit " Random Site "
to see where PakAvenue takes them.
Pak.Org
Pak.Org , better known as " The Official
Pakistan Page ", has been around for ages, which
is why they have a huge directory listing 16
categories and a search option. Running a search
on Pak.Org does not fail you but bear in mind
that the big number of hits compensates the
engine's ability to throw back multiple entries
for the same URL. One of the good features its
search offers is that against each result is the
date it was listed, the number of hits that site
has recorded since it listed, a voting option
and editing feature for the site's webmaster.
This is a sign that the directory you are
looking at is no half-hearted effort. Some other
directories that offer these features include
Pakistan Web Directory and Pakistans.com.
Ajrak.com
Ajrak.com was launched last year in October
as a " search engine " for Pakistan. Like a
number of sites
targeting the South Asian market, Ajrak too has
graduated to one that offers help in locating
resources for the SAARC countries. While the
Ajrak web directory for Pakistan is quite
extensive, it only offers URLs categorized under
general themes. You can choose to run a search
exclusive to each country but the pull-down menu
is only available on the homepage, which is
trifle annoying. While the number of results is
certainly more than PakAvenue's modest returns,
they are certainly not always relevant. For
instance, a search on ' Pakistan India Agra
Summit ' revealed 131 his including a Pakistan
India Forum, news sources as well as travel and
tours links. We recommend you also look up the
Ajrak directory for your subject.
What users want from Pakistani directories?
Easy navigation and a search option that offers
updated URLs with a proper description and a
popularity ranking. Notably missing are advanced
search features that allow users to play with
keywords and enter Boolean searches.
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