Just wanted to mention to some users they shouldn’t include their link in their sale thread if they would like to remain on DMOZ Directory. For some reason DMOZ takes you off the directory if you link to your site.

Boyd spoke from personal experience and advised bidders to private message sellers for the link.

Another DigitalPoint member, jovigirl, experienced a similar event when trying to sell her site. Sure enough, dbtechno.com is no longer in the DMOZ directory.

Mike McDonald, managing editor for WebProNews.com and administrator of the WebProWorld forum posts questions to the members there:

What possible basis or grounds could exist for removing a site from the directory simply because it’s been posted for sale?

You know, Feedburner just got bought by some other company… yet I see their site is still listed in ODP. So… is it more a matter of where or how you sell your site that makes the difference between being kicked or kept in ODP?

 
Inquiring webmasters want to know.

Why does this even matter?

On occasion, Google will use the Title and Description from your site’s DMOZ listing in its own search results.

Of course, this only matters if your website is listed in DMOZ (for the uninitiated, the Open Directory Project, hence ODP, hence my opportunity to both celebrate my total geek status and shout out to Naughty By Nature).

So what’s the big deal? Maybe nothing.

Let me ask you this, though: How old is your DMOZ listing?

Let’s say your site shows up on Google’s first page, and Google is pulling data from DMOZ to use as the title and description for your site listing. If your DMOZ title and description are outdated, so are your Google title and description. And, unless your potential customer/visitor is drawn to things that are outdated, they won’t visit your site.

So, in order to address this problem, there are a couple things you can do:

Check Your DMOZ Listing – Does it say what you want it to say? Make sure your DMOZ listing offers a good indication to any potential visitor regarding what you offer, etc. If it doesn’t, you can change your DMOZ listing.

Use the META “NOODP” Tag – Google now recognizes the following META tag:

<meta name=”robots” content=”noodp”>It lets Google know not to pull data from your ODP description.

Because, well, maybe your ODP/DMOZ description was a good representation of your website 2 years ago, but now your primary focus has changed and you’re no longer the “World’s #1 Manufacturer of Voodoo NKOTB (New Kids on the Block) Dolls”. Or, maybe you’re waiting for DMOZ (almost universally recognized as maybe not the most responsive directory) to update your site description and don’t want the old one used. Regardless, if you use the “NOODP” tag, make sure your homepage meta description is well-written, and contains your site’s most important keywords.

That’s it. Not much to it. The bottom line is to be aware of and make use of the tools we’re given to get the best results. Plus, man, if you haven’t, go right now and buy Nineteen Naughty Three. Go. Now. No OPP, but I can’t envision a future in which I can drop “Hip Hop Hooray” into StraightUpSearch.

Oneupweb is the only two-time winner of the ClickZ award for “Best Search Engine Engine Marketing Firm”. StraightUpSearchs blog authors include experts from Oneupwebs natural SEO, pay-per-click campaign management, research, marketing, design, and sales departments.

Google Sitemaps technical writer Vanessa Fox has returned to the Sitemaps blog with a new post. This time, Fox tackles the issue of text snippets, those little entries that accompany a site’s listing in Google search. The organic listings frequently come from the Open Directory Project (ODP).

Not everyone wants the snippets provided by an ODP editor to be the ones that appear with their websites. Fox has reported that Google now supports this:

To specifically limit Google’s crawler, Googlebot, from using the ODP information, use the same tag but change ROBOTS to GOOGLEBOT.

After making the meta tag changes, it may take a while for the snippet changes to begin showing in Google search results. Naturally, using Google Sitemaps helps make the Google crawl process more effective for one’s site.

We’ve reviewed it before, and roughly every couple of months Google makes an update or adds a new feature to the service. It’s free to use, and accessible with a Google account.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

DMOZ is a human edited directory of websites. Started nearly ten years ago, sites listed at DMOZ have long thought to be looked upon favorably by search engines due to its live-review process.

During the review process, DMOZ editors often write site descriptions that match DMOZ guidelines more than they match the copy found on the website. Search engines often preferred these descriptions. This has been a constant source of frustration for search marketers and webmasters, including us. It took over two years of complaints before a one letter spelling mistake in a DMOZ written description of a StepForth site was corrected.

According to the MSN Search WebLog ,” We had one customer who was frustrated because the ODP description of their site mentioned “favours” and was listed under Canada when their site was actually in the United States and was spelled as “favors”. All they wanted was a way to specify that MSN Search should use the description from their page instead of using ODP.”

Using the following tags will prevent MSN from displaying ODP derived descriptions or snippets as part of search results on MSN search.

<meta name=”robots” content=”noodp”> ,

or

<meta name=”robots” content=”noodp”>

The first tag would ostensibly cover all search spiders, assuming the other search engines jump on board to support the tag. In the meantime, MSN Search Development Lead, Girish Kumar suggests it might take between 4 – 6 weeks for MSN listings to change after the tag is inserted.

.

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Jim Hedger is the SEO Manager of StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc. Based in Victoria, BC, Canada, StepForth is the result of the consolidation of BraveArt Website Management, Promotion Experts, and Phoenix Creative Works, and has provided professional search engine placement and management services since 1997. http://www.stepforth.com/ Tel – 250-385-1190 Toll Free – 877-385-5526 Fax – 250-385-1198

Started in 1998 in reaction to difficulties webmasters had getting their content into Yahoo’s then human edited directory, the Open Directory Project was a simple and effective idea.

Founded in June 1998 by Rich Skrenta and Bob Truel, the ODP drew its early inspiration from the first major open-source cooperative initiative, the GNU Project . It was even originally named after the GNU project, launched as GnuHoo. The name was quickly changed to NewHoo in order to avoid confusion between the two projects. Over time, the NewHoo morphed into the more organized Open Directory Project. The ODP is owned and operated by AOL’s Netscape division which has pledged to keep the directory 100% free as part of Netscape’s social contract with web users.

Over the years, inclusion in the ODP became increasingly important, especially after Google began using it as the primary database for a Google directory. Getting a site listed at the ODP almost guaranteed a beneficial visit from Googlebot as a listing there was seen as a vote of confidence from a live-human reviewer.

For the past twenty-four months however, webmasters and search marketers have expressed extreme frustration while waiting for their sites to get listed in DMOZ. The Open Directory is a volunteer driven initiative, and like other non-paying projects they often have a hard time finding good help. Submissions to categories are backed up for months and in some cases, even years with many of the over 1500 unique directory categories lacking volunteers assigned to edit them. A backlog in sites awaiting review is one thing but recently, accusations of bribery, favouritism and editors lashing out at critics have caused many to lower their previously favourable estimations of the Open Directory.

The submission backlog, incidentally, grew so rapidly that the ODP editors opened a discussion forum known as the Resource Zone specifically to address questions and concerns from webmasters. After operating for over a year, the collective of ODP editors that ran the Resource Zone elected to close down the most used service available on the forum, the Site Submission Zone. While the forum was established to discuss ODP issues in an open and public space, the Site Submission Zone took far too much energy to maintain and moderate. Editors felt it did not offer users enough relevant information as much of what could or perhaps should be said to site owners would fall into the confidential category.

For several months, there have been accusations that some ODP editors are accepting payments for faster attention. Stemming from the Blog, Corrupt DMOZ Editor which was started in December 2004 by DMOZ editor Ana Thema, the blog lists several entries detailing systemic corruption throughout the Open Directory editorial structure. In her February 8 posting, Ana states, “Links are a commodity. Links from DMOZ are a hot commodity . Everything in this world is a commodity: everything. If you disbelieve that someone would be so corrupt as to sell submissions into the ODP, then Dorothy, this is your wake up call.” In other posts she claims she uses at least a dozen unique editor names and maintains a network with dozens of other ODP editors. Reading Ana Thema’s blog is much like watching one’s first episode of the corrupt-cop drama, The Shield .

Another issue critics have had with editors at the Open Directory Project is one of favouritism. Editors have almost total control over their sections of the directory. While there is a hierarchy of editors with Meta-Editors having the power to re-edit categories that have received complaints, most meta-editors don’t have a lot of spare time. This has led to some “fixing” the listings to favour their friends and associates. There are stories of search engine marketers becoming editors at the ODP and then gently favouring sites that would benefit their clients. A more sophisticated story tells of a search engine marketer manipulating ODP results to generate stronger Google page-rank scores for his clients. Another tells of ODP editors networking with each other to provide reciprocal favours.

In a case of reverse favouritism, Ana Thema posted a story at corruptdmozeditor.com from another DMOZ editor that states, “My arch competitor had a dupe content subdomain that they set up for traffic overflow and I changed their dmoz listing to the subdomain with duplicate content and it slaughtered their rankings for a couple of months. Speaking as someone with 4 years of sabotaging experience, switch their listing from www. to non-www from time-to-time. Switch them from www.example.com to www.example.com/index.html, stuff like that.”

After complaining about abuses and neglect, some webmasters might expect an apology or a reasonable explanation from the Open Directory Project. None has been forthcoming though the Resource Zone was intended to be a space for DMOZ editors to communicate with DMOZ users. A growing problem for the ODP is the lack of patience users and editors are showing with each other in various search related discussion forums. A post over at the Search Engine Watch Forums likens the accountability of some ODP editors to Seinfeld’s character, the Soup-Nazi. According to the post, criticize these editors and, “NO SOUP FOR YOU! NEXT!”

In its defense, the Open Directory Project is staffed by volunteers, all of whom are humans with real lives, real jobs and other responsibilities. Given the backlog of submissions and the deterioration of the directory, it is rather difficult to see them being able to straighten out the mess quickly or easily. While many DMOZ editors put up with a lot of abuse, almost all of them (with the possible exception of Ana Thema) take great pride in the size and scope of the Open Directory Project.

For search engine marketers however, the question of relevance vs. effort comes into play. At one time, a listing at the Open Directory was mandatory in order to guarantee strong listings at Google, Yahoo and other search engines. Today, while still helpful, the strength of a Open Directory listing has been diluted by the search engines themselves. In an article titled, “…Time for The ODP to Close?”, Search Engine Watch editor Danny Sullivan suggests three ways the venerable DMOZ could reorganize and revitalize itself. Whatever it does, it should do it soon as the importance of the largest human edited directory of websites is decreasing as quickly as the backlog of submitted sites is increasing.

Jim Hedger is the SEO Manager of StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc. Based in Victoria, BC, Canada, StepForth is the result of the consolidation of BraveArt Website Management, Promotion Experts, and Phoenix Creative Works, and has provided professional search engine placement and management services since 1997. http://www.stepforth.com/ Tel – 250-385-1190 Toll Free – 877-385-5526 Fax – 250-385-1198

There are quite of few directories populating the Internet, with the most notable being the DMOZ/ODP directory. DMOZ is so popular that at one time, Google based their directory on the contents of DMOZ. Some of the perceived benefits of directory placement is they positively influence your search engine presence, while potentially improving a site’s PageRank.

However, this may be about to change.

According to SearchEngineRoundtable, it appears as if Google is completely removing PageRank scores (meaning they have a score of 0) for certain directory categories, including those found in Google’s. The DMOZ and Yahoo directories seem to be affected by this PageRank of death also.

Barry’s post provides an example of directories who have had their PageRank removed:

http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Searching/Directories/

http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Searching/Directories/

http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/Searching_the_Web/Search_Engines_and_Directories/Directories/

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.

What do you think about the removal of the directory from Google’s front page?

Google Pushes Froogle, Disses Directory

According to GoogleGuy, “when we stacked up overall clicks on the directory tab, directory descriptions, and the directory category at the top of searches against the overall screen real estate that it took, I think the clickthrough on the directory-based items was lower overall.”

Peter Norvig, Google’s director of search quality, told SearchEngineWatch, “we analyzed what people were using, and that had become less popular over time. As the web grows, directory structures get harder to use. It didn’t seem to be worth the real estate on the home page.”

So this decision shows a decline in directory searches over at Google, and Norvig’s quote points to the eventual abandonment of directories.

Don’t quit submitting yet though – there are still plenty of reasons to be in directories like the ODP and Jayde.

Over at the SEORoundtable, Barry Schwarz discusses the value he’s found from directories, specifically from the directory links from the front page of Google.

He also posted GoogleGuy’s dismissal of trying to get multiple links in the ODP: “we can process the RDF file and count the number of listings just as well as someone’s CGI script can. I’d concentrate more on getting quality links and not obsess about trying to lots and lots of ODP links.”

Tony, over at the Rugles blog, noted that, “the Google links in the SERPs also do not show whether the pages belong to an Open Directory category as they did before.”

And finally, the biggest statement Google made by moving the ODP to their “more” page is that Froogle’s a major part of their plans for the future. If you sell products online, get them in Froogle.

Garrett French is the editor of iEntry’s eBusiness channel. You can talk to him directly at WebProWorld, the eBusiness Community Forum.

Start with the basis of good search engine and directory listings. Make sure you read and follow each search engine and directory’s rules for submissions. Before making submissions, always verify that all your website links and pages work, with no pages “under construction”.

Search Engines and Directories

Begin with the Open Directory Project (ODP http://www.dmoz.org). ODP is free and provides secondary search results to many other search engines. (Secondary search results are search results that come up after the primary search results of a search engine are shown.) Google uses the ODP directory results in their search engine results.

It is preferable to secure a listing in ODP before submitting your website to Yahoo!, but it often takes time to become listed in ODP and may not be possible. If you can afford a yearly $299.00 subscription to submit to Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com), do so. If you are a non-commercial website, you may be able to submit your website for free. You will find the rules about free submissions when you click on the “suggest a site” link at the bottom of your chosen category page.

Google is the top search engine and one you want to be listed in. Google provides secondary search results to other search engines and directories.

If you do B2B (business-to-business) with other companies, Business.com (http://www.business.com) is a reasonable $99.00 subscription per year and gives you the opportunity to list not only your home page, but four other pages from your website. The Business.com search results are used by many other business sites for search results.

Inktomi is a good choice for a reasonably priced link (yearly fee of $39.00 for first page, $25.00 per page 2-1000 for additional pages) and will get you into secondary search results for the MSN search engine. Position Technologies has a good submission program available for Inktomi (http://www.positiontech.com/).

Zeal.com (http://www.zeal.com) listings are part of the LookSmart directory, which provides primary search listings for MSN. You must sign-up to become a Zeal editor and pass a test before being able to add your non-commercial submissions to Zeal. Articles and tutorials are good choices to use when submitting non-commercial information from your website to Zeal.com.

Many of the major search engines still include a free submission section for their listings. Paid Inclusion and PPC (pay-per-click) are always the faster choices, but if your budget is limited you may want to consider submitting and waiting the 6-8 weeks (or more) it often takes to see your listings show up.

Major search engines providing free submissions include: Google (http://www.google.com), AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com), and AlltheWeb (http://www.alltheweb.com).

Secondary search engines you can submit to for free include Gigablast (http://www.gigablast.com) and ScrubtheWeb (http://www.scrubtheweb.com). One smaller directory is JoeAnt (http://www.joeant.com).

Link Popularity Methods

If you are a small business, seek out business directories to submit to, especially those directly related to your business.

Looking in Yahoo! and ODP categories for business directories can be very helpful in getting a start on your search for links.

For link popularity, searching in Google is a quick way to find suitable websites to request links from or submit to.

Search for specialty search engines. If your business is in the medical field, search for medical search engines.

When looking for link partners, select sites that reflect your website’s topic or subject. Links from sites that are not related to your site are not weighted as heavily by the search engines in deciding how to rank your site.

Visit your competition’s websites. See how they are ranking in the search engines and find out which keywords they are found under.

Link popularity is a very time-consuming activity, be prepared to spend a minimum of 10-20 hours in order to start building your link popularity. This may be a daunting enough task you might want to consider working with a search engine marketing professional.

Helpful Tools

It is always a good idea to keep in mind that many tools are not “exact” and can vary due to the search engine algorithms changing (which can be often). I like to think of it as an “approximation” of the information I am seeking.

The Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com) shows you the approximate link popularity of other websites (note the green bar that says “PageRank” after downloading the tool), as well as giving you choices such as checking backlinks (who is linking to the webpage), similar pages, a cached snapshot of the page and more when you right-click on the web page. Visit your competition’s webpage, then use the toolbar to view who is linking to them.

The PageRank and backlink information is very helpful in regards to researching your competition. The backlinks you find via the toolbar may show you some quality websites to submit links to. Seek out websites with PageRank 4 and up to get the most out of your submitted or reciprocal link. Hovering your mouse over the Google Toolbar tells you the page rank of the page you are visiting.

To learn about writing an email request for a reciprocal link and other linking strategies, visit Eric Ward’s website (http://www.ericward.com/articles/index.html). The Overture suggestion tool (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion) is a free way to check how popular your keyword phrases are in comparison to the monthly results of Overture. This will not give you a complete picture since Overture is used on many but not all search engines. It will help you decide which keyword phrases are the best choice, as well as as variations on your keyword phrases.

MarketLeap (http://www.marketleap.com/) measures your link popularity, and that of three of your competitors. The report is free and gives you a benchmark showing where your popularity lies online vs your competitors.

Lastly, if you want to “do it yourself”, the top places I’ve found to research and learn from are Search Engine Watch (http://www.searchenginewatch.com) and Webmaster World (http://www.webmasterworld.com). Search Engine Watch and Webmaster World’s sister site, Search Engine World (http://www.searchengineworld.com) both have free newsletters full of information to help you promote your website.

Daria Goetsch is the founder and Search Engine Marketing Consultant for Search Innovation Marketing, a Search Engine Optimization company serving small businesses. She has specialized in Search Engine Promotion since 1998, including three years as the Search Engine Specialist for O’Reilly Media, Inc., a technical book publishing company.

Copyright 2002-2005 Search Innovation Marketing. http://www.searchinnovation.com All Rights Reserved.

Search Engines and Directories

Begin with the Open Directory Project (ODP). ODP is free and provides secondary search results to many other search engines. (Secondary search results are search results that come up after the primary search results of a search engine are shown.) Google uses the ODP directory results in their search engine results.

It is preferable to secure a listing in ODP before submitting your website to Yahoo!, but it often takes time to become listed in ODP and may not be possible. If you can afford a yearly $299.00 subscription to submit to Yahoo!, do so. If you are a noncommercial website, you may be able to submit your website for free. You will find the rules about free submissions when you click on the “suggest a site” link at the bottom of your chosen category page.

Google is the top search engine and one you want to be listed in. Google provides secondary search results to other search engines and directories.

If you do B2B (business-to-business) with other companies, Business.com is a reasonable $99.00 subscription per year and gives you the opportunity to list not only your home page, but four other pages from your website. The Business.com search results are used by many other business sites for search results.

Inktomi is a good choice for a reasonably priced link (yearly fee of $39.00 for first page, $25.00 per page 2-1000 for additional pages) and will get you into secondary search results for the MSN search engine. Position Technologies has a good submission program available for Inktomi.

Zeal.com listings are part of the LookSmart directory, which provides primary search listings for MSN. You must sign up to become a Zeal editor and pass a test before being able to add your noncommercial submissions to Zeal. Articles and tutorials are good choices to use when submitting noncommercial information from your website to Zeal.com.

Many of the major search engines still include a free submission section for their listings. Paid Inclusion and PPC (pay-per-click) are always the faster choices, but if your budget is limited you may want to consider submitting and waiting the 6-8 weeks (or more) it often takes to see your listings show up.

Find a Solution Provider! – This locator tool is your resource for finding solution providers who can best meet your needs for software, hardware, or other e-Business products and services.

Major search engines providing free submissions include: Google, AltaVista, and AlltheWeb.

Secondary search engines you can submit to for free include Gigablast and ScrubtheWeb . One smaller directory is JoeAnt.

Link Popularity Methods

If you are a small business, seek out business directories to submit to, especially those directly related to your business.

Looking in Yahoo! and ODP categories for business directories can be very helpful in getting a start on your search for links.

For link popularity, searching in Google is a quick way to find suitable websites to request links from or submit to.

Search for specialty search engines. If your business is in the medical field, search for medical search engines.

When looking for link partners, select sites that reflect your website’s topic or subject. Links from sites that are not related to your site are not weighted as heavily by the search engines in deciding how to rank your site.

Visit your competition’s websites. See how they are ranking in the search engines and find out which keywords they are found under.

Link popularity is a very time-consuming activity, be prepared to spend a minimum of 10-20 hours in order to start building your link popularity. This may be a daunting enough task you might want to consider working with a search engine marketing professional.

Helpful Tools

It is always a good idea to keep in mind that many tools are not “exact” and can vary due to the search engine algorithms changing (which can be often). I like to think of it as an “approximation” of the information I am seeking.

The Google Toolbar shows you the approximate link popularity of other websites (note the green bar that says “PageRank” after downloading the tool), as well as giving you choices such as checking backlinks (who is linking to the webpage), similar pages, a cached snapshot of the page and more when you right-click on the web page. Visit your competition’s webpage, and then use the toolbar to view who is linking to them.

The PageRank and backlink information is very helpful in regards to researching your competition. The backlinks you find via the toolbar may show you some quality websites to submit links to. Seek out websites with PageRank 4 and up to get the most out of your submitted or reciprocal link. Hovering your mouse over the Google Toolbar tells you the page rank of the website.

To learn about writing an email request for a reciprocal link and other linking strategies, visit Eric Ward’s website. The Overture suggestion tool is a free way to check how popular your keyword phrases are in comparison to the monthly results of Overture. This will not give you a complete picture since Overture is used on many but not all search engines. It will help you decide which keyword phrases are the best choice, as well as as variations on your keyword phrases.

MarketLeap measures your link popularity, and that of three of your competitors. The report is free and gives you a benchmark showing where your popularity lies online vs. your competitors.

Lastly, if you want to “do it yourself”, the top places I’ve found to research and learn from are Search Engine Watch and Webmaster World. Search Engine Watch and Webmaster World’s sister site, Search Engine World both have free newsletters full of information to help you promote your website.

Daria Goetsch is the founder and Search Engine Marketing Consultant for Search Innovation Marketing, a Search Engine Optimization company serving small businesses. She has specialized in Search Engine Promotion since 1998, including three years as the Search Engine Specialist for O’Reilly Media, Inc., a technical book publishing company.

Copyright 2002-2005 Search Innovation Marketing. http://www.searchinnovation.com All Rights Reserved.

The Open Directory (ODP) is a substantial target. The ODP has partnered with major players within the search landscape including AOL Search and Google. The list does not end there, the ODP boasts that an astounding 211 sites in total use ODP data. So what is luring all these sites to this single search directory? In our interview, Chris not only revealed why so many Web sites and users alike are utilizing the directory, but also what every search engine optimizer needs to know in order to be successful with the ODP.

• Why the Open Directory Project?

The ODP currently has 2.3 million URLs in its database, making it the single largest search directory today. Of these 2.3 million, 2.18 million, or 95 percent are top-level domains. The ODP is growing rapidly, at an average of 75,000 sites per month. While clearly this is rapid growth, Tolles claims that the ODP isn’t interested in creating an “exhaustive” database. Rather, he feels it is important that users find enough results to be useful, while not being overwhelmed with data. And that is exactly what the ODP does. The ODP provides open source content, which serves as a solid backend to a variety of engines. So exactly which engines are partnered with ODP?

• ODP Partners

The list of the over 200 sites across the Web using ODP data includes such industry leaders as AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, Direct Hit, Google, HotBot and Netscape Search. Obviously, getting your Web site indexed in the ODP increases your chances of having your Web site show up in another major search engine’s results. However, while the probability is increased, inclusion does not guarantee a ranking in an ODP search partner’s engine. Each and every search engine uses a different algorithm to decide which pages rank highly. Consequently, there is no single established methodology for acquiring rankings across all the partner engines. The search engine optimizer must be savvy to the ranking schemes of each search partner.

Furthermore, according to Chris, there is no set time requirement for the partners to sync up with the ODP database. For instance, AOL Search and Netscape opt to update their content on a biweekly basis, while other partners may delay syncing up for months. That being said, it is important to get an understanding of the criteria the ODP takes into account when selecting Web sites to index, since if your site is not in the ODP index, no amount of understanding the ranking algorithms of the partners will get your site ranked. The following helpful hints and suggestions Chris disclosed will boost your likelihood of infiltrating the Web’s largest search directory.

• Getting Listed

Construct Your Submission Carefully. You should take the same care in constructing your submission that you would in writing a job application. Your submission is your site’s application for admission to the ODP. As with a resume, spelling and punctuation count! You should keep in mind that a human is going to read your submission. It is important to write with clarity and to avoid ambiguity. In addition, include a safe number of keywords and phrases without overloading the submission with repetitive phrases. Take into account that the simpler you make the editor’s job, the more successful you will be.

• Choose Your Category Wisely

Time should be taken to select the “single most relevant” category for your site, not just the first pertinent listing. Chris recommends that you do your homework. Browse the directory! Look for competitors and similar sites. There is no maximum number of sites for a given category, so don’t be intimidated by a robust index. The extra time spent determining where your site best fits could be the difference between getting listed and being left out.

• Make Unique Submissions

There is a clear line between submitting various pages with unique content and blasting the directory with too many submissions. Chris revealed to me that understanding this boundary, although extremely important in all search engine submissions, is especially important with the ODP. The ODP encourages the submission of multiple pages as separate listings, if, and only if, the content is truly unique and is sensible for the ODP.

The above article, or portions of it, have been reprinted with permission from the MarketPosition Newsletter and FirstPlace Software, Inc. and is copyright 1997-2001. FirstPlace produces WebPosition Gold, the award-winning software product to track and to improve your search engine rankings. You may download a FREE trial copy of WebPosition Gold from: http://www.webposition.com