Frequently Asked Questions

Directory Bear is the world's largest AI-curated web directory, cataloguing and ranking over one million websites across 50 categories. We provide transparent quality scores, historical ranking data, and detailed profiles for every site — giving users a trusted way to discover and evaluate websites.

Bear Rank is our proprietary quality score from 0 to 100. It combines four weighted factors: Popularity (30%), Authority (30%), Longevity (20%), and Safety (20%). A higher BR means a site is well-trafficked, widely trusted, established over time, and safe to visit.

Bear Rank draws from multiple independent data sources including Tranco traffic rankings, Majestic link authority data, Cisco Umbrella DNS traffic, and Open PageRank scores. These signals are normalized and combined into a single 0–100 score. You can see the full breakdown on any site's profile page.

We aggregate data from several respected, independent sources: Tranco (traffic rankings), Majestic (link authority and referring networks), Cisco Umbrella (DNS popularity), and Open PageRank (Common Crawl link graph). This multi-source approach ensures no single data provider can skew our results.

Our core ranking data is refreshed regularly. Tranco rankings update daily, Majestic data refreshes daily, and Umbrella DNS data is pulled from the latest available snapshot. Bear Rank scores are recalculated with each data pipeline rebuild to reflect the most current signals.

Yes. Browsing the directory, viewing site profiles, and searching are completely free. We also offer free site submissions. Premium listings are available for site owners who want enhanced visibility and additional features.

Head to our Submit page and enter your domain. Free submissions are reviewed and added to the directory. Premium submissions receive priority review and enhanced profile features.

Sites are grouped into tiers based on their Bear Rank score. S-tier (BR 80–100) represents the very best of the web. A-tier (60–79) are excellent sites. B-tier (40–59) are solid, established sites. C-tier (20–39) are decent sites with room to grow. D-tier (0–19) are newer or less established sites.

The PageRank score (0–10) shown on profile pages comes from Open PageRank, which analyzes the Common Crawl link graph. It measures how many quality websites link to a domain — higher scores indicate stronger web authority. This is one of several signals that feeds into our Bear Rank calculation.

We use a curated system of 50 categories covering the entire web, from Technology and Education to Travel and Sports. Categories are assigned using a combination of domain analysis, TLD signals, and content classification. We're continually improving our categorization accuracy.

Absolutely. If you believe your site is in the wrong category, email us at hello@dirbear.com with your domain and the category you think fits best. We'll review it and update accordingly.

Yes. Directory Bear is designed to be a safe, family-friendly resource. We do not list adult content, gambling, or other inappropriate sites. All 50 of our categories are suitable for all audiences.

The trend arrow next to a site's global rank indicates recent ranking movement. A green arrow (▲) means the site is climbing in popularity, a red arrow (▼) means it's declining, and a dash (―) means it's been stable. This is calculated from historical Majestic ranking data.

We currently index and rank over one million websites, making us one of the largest web directories available. Our goal is to provide comprehensive coverage of the web's most important and useful sites across every category.

Bear Rank is calculated from objective, third-party data — it can't be bought or artificially inflated. The best way to improve your score is to build a quality site that earns real traffic, earns backlinks from reputable sources, and maintains a strong online presence over time.

Linking Networks (also known as referring subnets) counts the number of distinct network blocks that link to a site. This is a stronger authority signal than raw backlink counts because it's much harder to fake links from many different networks than from a single one.

Every site profile page has a "Report an issue" link at the bottom of the sidebar. Click it to send us an email with the domain name pre-filled. You can also reach us directly at hello@dirbear.com.

We're working on a public API that will give developers access to Bear Rank scores, category data, and site profiles. If you're interested in early access, reach out to us at hello@dirbear.com.