best linking structure for a directory

[pardo]

What will be the best way to set up a directory structure? We have a directory on a niche topic and have a rather broad entrance (many categories and some 2nd level links as well underneath) but losing PR quickly while I see websites and directories with high PR and keeping that high after clicking.

I thougth it will usual drop 1 at each click?

Homepage PR 6 but some direct root-categories and 2nf level which are accessable drectly from the homepage loose 2 PR-points.

We have a list of 30 'recommended webcategories' - internal links - on each page with links. Should that be considered spam?

I can sticky the url if someone will help...

[fathom]

Top > Automobiles > Cars > Antiques > Parts

Each page would display and link to all hierarchy levels above it

plus all adjacent levels e.g. Cars to Truck to RVs to ATVs etc.

[Craig_F]

I'd love to see more ideas on this topic. Fathom's approach is what I've always used, but can we tweak that and do better?

This is where I plan to start. I have a content heavy site with a tightly related directory about to launch.

I plan to identify the main categories I feel will bring in the most qualified vistiors to the site. Those cats will be the 'recommended topics' for the main sections of the site. Each main section will only have 'recommended topics' that relate perfectly to that section.

Once that is done I'm then going to go through each article on the site and link related text directly to any category that is on topic to the text. With the amount of content I expect most categories to get multiple links from within articles. These are especially good since they will be from within the article, not the site template.

The main goal being to increase traffic to the directory, and to transfer the PR from content portion of the site (PR7), to lower PR categories (PR5 and lower) within the directory. All of this should also boost rankings across the board since most categories were search terms to begin with.

Anyone got any other ideas? I haven't started yet, so more ways to tweak this approach are welcome.

[Woz]

Taxonomy and Classification is a fascinating subject. I certainly have some opinions on this but I am about to hit the sack. Before I do, may I suggest the paper Taxonomy of Knowledge Organization Sources/Systems [nkos.slis.kent.edu] as a good starting point to determine the differernces in basic classification systems and how they may apply to individual directory projects.

For more information you might pick though a page with tons of links to Database Indexing, Controlled Vocabularies & Thesauri [slais.ubc.ca].

A little light reading perhaps?

Onya
Woz