Which one you prefer web-hosting directories or search engine google to find a web hosting company?? I prefer search engine because is give results of things I want. Suppose say if I give a search with these three key word “Windows web hosting “, “ASP web hosting�, “. Net web hosting� in google it will show me list of the hosting companies that belong to these categories. But if I go to WHDs what happened is that they tend display information about hosting companies who are paying them.

Do you think we should do?? Trust both of them or only one of them??

I think both web hosting directories and search engines, like google, are used by people looking for web hosting.

Yes, most of the visible webhosting companies listed in a hosting directory are paid advertisers. I think many people cross reference what they see in directories with the results of search engines.

After all, if a host is paying for advertising they have the budget to spend so they are more likely to be at a stage in business where they have been in business for a while and should have a fair number of customers to sustain them to stay in business.

More knowledgable and experienced users may find it easier to use directories, and people new to the industry are more likely to use Google.

I find directories to be a little less precise than google or any search engine. Each directory has different searching methods and this may not accomodate everyone.

I agree with Royalty because of the face that when I was looking at Hosting Directories, they were really clutered (of course with ads) and can sometimes be intimidating to users. Google has a nice clean interface and a very specific search engine. You can find what you need in a snap! But if you know how to work with both, you put yourself at an even better advantage when getting your name out. Hope that helped.

** Edit: Had no idea this post was so old, never looked at the date. Haha. Sorry.

Google does provide you with a clean layout, but, directories provide you with a lot more info if you know what you are looking for. Google isn't broken down into unix, windows, servers, budget, etc... parts and dirs are. You can also find companies that are newer and smaller but still provide the same quality hosting as its larger counter parts.

I prefer asking other people opinions in other forums !

I agree with hostoly.

Directory or Google will not give you reliable web hosting companyies. Google shows any web hosting company that pay them to show ads with Google AdWords. With Google Search Result, you will not able to know how reliable a hosting company is.

Directories are easy to use compared to Google in finding a web host, still they only list companies that give them cash in one way or other.

As per my experience most of the people scan information about hosting companies rather than going into depth either it is google or a web directories. They come up with few names as per their requirement and budget and later start searching in forums for suggestion and reviews for particular hosting companies. :rolleyes: