Webwork - 12:43 pm on Oct 22, 2008 (gmt 0)

I tend to think of IYPs primarily as directories that offer telephone number listings, appended to company names, sorted by category. They can also link to websites.

I tend to think of online directories as categorical descriptive listings of websites with hotlinks, where applicable, to the website. Phone number info tends to be found "at the website".

So far as duplicate content and linking goes I'm not in the "make it for Google" camp. I'm in the "make it work for users/visitors" camp. So I tend not to worry what Googlebot thinks. Let Googlebot figure out what's good for your directory users. If it can't then maybe Googlebot will eventually become irrelevant and all the worrying about what Googlebot thinks will prove to have been a waste. YMMV. Design for the benefit of users is all I'm going to add to the analysis. And, that's not to say that your information architecture should be . . lacking.

It's a large and bountiful world, with lots of fruits and vegetables in the market basket, so there's lots of room for variety and consumer preference. I wouldn't necessarily emulate one model or the other.

[edited by: Webwork at 12:48 pm (utc) on Oct. 22, 2008]