* Edwin Wenink's 'etc' page: https://www.edwinwenink.xyz/etc/etc/
* Gabby Lord's: https://omglord.com
* Fingers.today: https://fingers.today
* Neonauticon: https://neonaut.neocities.org/directory/
* Gwern: https://www.gwern.net (the whole thing is a massive personal directory)
I think I'd say there's space for directories (again???) and there's space for webrings (again!). Though it kinda feels weird to me how Google removed the need for directories and webrings at a time (and I distinctly remember the relief), and now Google results got so crappy (destroyed by SEO?) that the need starts to come back :/ such that even I myself feel it.
Curlie (https://curlie.org/) is the closet I've found to a proper curated directory, and it's really quite good.
That is exactly my thought process. You can't get quality content on Google any more, it's all lowest-common-denominator paid content from huge content farms.