Bing Editor’s Picks is a collection of web pages grouped into topics, much like a web directory. Yes, Bing Editor’s picks is basically a limited version of the Yahoo Directory or Open Directory Project.

They let you browse the categories and view sites that Bing editors find to be useful within the category.

This comes several months after Google killed their Google Directory, telling people that searching the web is the best and fastest way to find what you are looking for.

Here is a picture of the Bing Editors Picks section:

Bing said about the new feature:

Editors’ Picks were designed to enhance Bing results by bringing editorially selected sites to your search experience. Our goal, whether delivered by algorithm or by editors, is to help you find what you’re looking for faster and to get stuff done.

Bing also said that for people who want to be added to Editors’ Picks, they should email PicksChat@microsoft.com.

We also asked if Editors’ Picks had an impact on rankings. Bing emailed us:

Editors’ Picks won’t affect the ranking or relevance of ordinary search results. The feature is designed to offer a different angle on search results, based on selections made by editors rather than the complex calculations that go into ranking millions of search results.

And how large is the director likely to grow? Bing told us:

Bing’s launched more than 140 Editors’ Picks on topics such as sports, music, travel, health, entertainment and more. We plan to release new Picks on a regular basis; however, Editors’ Picks are not about scale.

Keep in mind, as best we can tell, this feature only works in the US. If you are outside the US and go to Bing, you might not see it, at least listed as a menu options.

Postscript: After our initial post about this (hat tip to Pradeep, who spotted the Editors Picks going up), Bing made it official a few hours later with its blog post that went up at 1:30pm EDT. We’ve updated our story to reflect this.