System 07
Directory platforms
Platforms that gather supply and make it comparable: suppliers, locations, products or services, each with a page that stands on its own in search. The model runs on traffic, so everything depends on whether those pages actually get indexed.
Why most directories fade out
Building a directory is not technically hard. Add a database, a template, and within a day a thousand pages exist. That is precisely where it goes wrong: a thousand pages differing only in a name and a postcode get seen by Google for what they are, and largely drop out of the index.
The difference between a directory that works and one that stalls is not the technology but whether each page adds something on its own. That takes more data per item than most builders collect, and the discipline not to publish pages that stay thin.
How the system fits together
Data first, template second, and a threshold deciding what goes live at all.
- 01
A data model with enough depth
Enough unique, factual fields per item to fill a page that stands alone. This sets the ceiling for the whole platform and is almost always underestimated.
- 02
Collecting and refreshing
Data from public sources, supplier feeds or own entry, with a process that detects stale information rather than leaving it in place.
- 03
A quality threshold
Items below a minimum of filled fields get no page of their own. Better three hundred pages that rank than three thousand that are ignored.
- 04
Structure and internal links
Categories, filters and cross-references giving both visitors and crawlers a route, with schema markup per item type.
How it gets built
- 01
Assess the data
First check whether there is enough to say per item. If there is not, building makes no sense and I say so before money goes in.
- 02
Small live
Start with a subset of a few hundred pages. Only scale once those get indexed and pull traffic.
- 03
Expand on evidence
Grow in steps, checking indexation at each one. That avoids publishing thousands of pages at once that nobody sees.
What the system does
It produces a platform that grows in indexed pages rather than in raw counts, with data that stays current.
- Pages that get found rather than reading as duplicates
- A threshold holding back thin pages before they do damage
- Data that refreshes itself and flags staleness
- Schema markup and internal structure per item type
What it costs
What an engagement costs depends on its scope and on how many systems are involved. I work with a fixed price per phase rather than open-ended billing: you know what a phase costs before it starts, and you decide after each one whether to continue.
I only quote a figure once I know what we are talking about. That takes a half-hour conversation, at no charge.
Whether this fits
This works well when
- there is enough factual information available per item
- the market you are building in is not already held by a strong incumbent
- you have a revenue model that fits traffic
- you are willing to start small and steer on indexation
This fits less well when
- the only data available is name, address and phone number
- you want thousands of pages published as fast as possible
- there is no budget to keep the data current after delivery
Questions about directory platforms
How many pages can I publish without trouble?
No number is a problem on its own; what matters is the ratio between count and unique value per page. Google judges whether a page adds something by itself. A thousand pages with genuinely different information is fine, three hundred differing only in a place name is not.
May I use data from other sites?
Factual data such as addresses and opening hours is generally not covered by copyright, but a complete database can fall under database rights, and a source’s terms of use may forbid scraping. Public registers and official feeds are the safe route. When in doubt this is a question for a lawyer.
Can AI fill the pages?
For summarising and structuring facts you already hold, fine. For inventing content you do not hold, no: that produces exactly the thin, interchangeable pages the whole model breaks on. AI does not replace data here, it makes existing data readable.
Let's discuss how I can help your business grow
A short call is enough to tell whether there is a good fit. No sales pitch, just an honest read on what is possible.