The Basics of Directory Listings

1
The Basics of Directory Listings

• Dr. S. Ann Becker
• College of Business
• Florida Tech

2
Directory Listings

• Listing of a site is produced by a human.
• Search engine editor
• Site owner
• Most often site owners submit content.
• Purchase a listing.
• Use free listing.
• Payment though no guarantee listing will be
  displayed.
• Big difference from software Robot
• Content will be reviewed and may be included (see
  next slide).

Grappone, J. Couzin, G. (2006). Search Engine
Optimization An Hour a Day. Wiley Publishing,
Indianapolis, IN.
3
Directory Listings

• Below is a snippet from Google text gathered
  from the Web page and displayed in the results.
• Below is content that has been written to be
  displayed in the search results.

Thanksgiving Coffee Company Organic Coffee,
Fair Trade Coffee Mirembe Kaweomera Coffee
Mirembe Kaweomera Coffee Delicious Fair Trade
Certified Ugandan coffee grown by Jewish, Muslim,
and Christian famers that make up www.thanksgivin
gcoffee.com/ - 49k Nov 26, 2006 Cached
Similar pages
Thanksgiving Coffee Company Organic Coffee,
Fair Trade Coffee Category Shopping gt Food gt
Beverages gt Coffee and Tea gt Coffee gt Organic A
selection of blends, as well as information on
topics such as shade grown coffee, organic
farming and fair trade coffee. www.thanksgivingcof
fee.com/ - 49k Nov 26, 2006 Cached Similar
pages
Grappone, J. Couzin, G. (2006). Search Engine
Optimization An Hour a Day. Wiley Publishing,
Indianapolis, IN.
4
Directory Listings

• Listings are (most often) produced by humans.

Source Best of the Web directory
http//botw.org/
5
(No Transcript)
6
Steps in Submitting URL to a Directory

• First Step Determine whether a site is
  appropriate for submission to ODP.
• Do not submit mirror sites (sites with identical
  content but different URLs.)
• Do not submit URLs that contain the same or
  similar content. 
• Sites with overlapping and repetitive content are
  not helpful to users of the directory. 
• Multiple submissions of the same or related sites
  may result in exclusion and/or deletion of those
  and all affiliated sites.
• Do not disguise and submit the same URL. Example
  www.dmoz.org and www.dmoz.org/index.html.

Source Open Directory Project (http//www.dmoz.or
g/add.html)
7
Steps in Submitting URL to Directory

• Do not submit site with an address that redirects
  to another address.
• Do not submit site with illegal content. Example
  of illegal material include child pornography.
• Do not submit site with "under construction.
• Submit pornographic site to appropriate category
  under Adult.
• Submit non-English site to category under World.
• Don't submit site consisting largely of affiliate
  links.

Source Open Directory Project (http//www.dmoz.or
g/add.html)
8
Steps in Submitting to a Directory

• Next steps
• Select the best category for your site.
• Go to the category and click suggest URL.
• Follow the instructions on the submission form. 
• Site descriptions are concise and accurate. 
• Site descriptions are not promotional in nature.
• Submitting promotional rather than objective,
  well -written description may delay site from
  being listed or prevent site from being listed at
  all.
• Use of auto-submission software is a violation.
  Sites submitted automatically are flagged and
  deleted after the submission is accepted without
  notification.
• Persistent automatic submission may result in ban
  from dmoz site (to provide support to real
  humans!)

Source Open Directory Project (http//www.dmoz.or
g/add.html)
9
Directory Listing Review Process

• An ODP editor reviews URL submission to determine
  whether to include it in the directory.
• Depending on factors such as the volume of
  submissions to a particular category, it may take
  several weeks or more before your submission is
  reviewed.

10
Getting Into Other Listings

• Once site is accepted ODP, it may take 2 weeks to
  several months to be listed on partner sites
  using ODP.
• Partner sites include AOL Search, Google,
  Netscape Search, Yahoo Search, and others.
• ODP makes updates of URL data available weekly to
  other partners.
• Each partner has its own update schedule.

Source http//www.seologic.com/faq/dmoz-open-dire
ctory-submissions.php
11
Directory Submissions
Source www.seologic.com/faq/dmoz-open-directory-s
ubmissions.php
12
Exercises

• Compare joeant.com to dogpile.com. What are the
  differences between these two directory sites?
• Check out gimpsy.com. Is this site different than
  joeant and dogpile? If so, how?
• What is froogle.com? Is it considered an open
  directory resource?
• Visit chefmoz.org. What is unique about this site
  when compared to ODP?
• Visit musicmoz.org. What is unique about this
  site when compared to ODP?
• What are some criticisms of the ODP project?