Search Help
about_the_directory
The CityStar® directories, covering 300 cities, contain more than 96,320 website listings. When you use CityStar's search pages, you are searching within that data set. If you want to find websites in a specific city, you may click on one of the cities in the lower part of the page, or click on the select_different_city button. If you cannot find what you need within CityStar's database, you may use CityStar's web_search page, which also gives you connections to other major search engines.
home_page
On the CityStar® directory home page, you can search by category or by keyword. By default, you will be searching all sites and listings in our database. If you are looking for something in another area, try the other cities in the lower part of the page, or click on the select_different_city button, which allows you to select one of 4,908 cities with listings in our database.
You may also select the maximum number of results you would like to be displayed per page. By default, a maximum of twenty results will be displayed per page. If more than one page of results is found by your search, there will be a "next_page" button displayed at the bottom of each results page.
When you select a category, the "go!" button will automatically be pressed for you. When you enter a keyword, you will need to click on the the "go!" button to start your search.
If you wish to search within a category for specific keywords, you should type the keyword first, then select the category, and once again the "go!" button will be automatically pressed for you.
select_city
The select_different_city page allows you to select a city from a drop-down menu. When you select a city from this menu, the "go!" button will automatically be pressed for you, and all of CityStar's indexed sites and listings related to the selected city will be found. As of this writing, 4,908 cities are indexed in our database.
web_search
The web_search page is powered by Google®. This page allows you to search the entire Web, not just the 96,320 resources contained in the CityStar® directory database. The web_search page also links you to other major search engines, for instance Yahoo!
site_map
The site_map page is designed to help you find other resources contained in CityStar® directory. The categories on the site_map page enable other search engines to index the contents of the CityStar® directories.
search_by_url
The search_by_url page allows you to find all of CityStar's listings for a particular Web site. This search form searches the URL (uniform resource locator) field in CityStar's database. This page is most useful to CityStar® Directory advertisers and other Web site owners.
When you use the search_by_url page, type a domain name, i.e. "mycompanyname.com" (without the quotes) into the search field and click on the "go!" button. Do not put "http://" or even "www" in your input.
search_results
In every CityStar® directory, all resources are assigned a ranking called Page Status, a number from 0 to 10. Higher status resources are displayed above lower status resources. Resources are awarded Page Status for their class (i.e. featured listing, website listing, public service listing), and within each Page Status, resources are displayed in alphabetical order by business or organization name. Page Status is awarded as follows:
- 9.30 > Video Listings
- 9.00 > Featured Listings with Hot Button (no longer offered)
- 8.00 > Featured Listings
- 7.00 > Website Listings
- 6.90 > Flat Rate Listings
- 6.78 > QuickAdd Listings (no longer offered)
Additional incremental Page Status is awarded for linking back to a CityStar® directory site, and for purchasing other CityStar® services. For example, a site that links back to a CityStar® directory is awarded 0.01 in additional Page Status.
Again, when they have the same Page Status, results are displayed in alphabetical order by name.