DIRECTORIES

Directories consist of networks of sites that are reviewed by human editors and placed in categories relevant to their topic. These sites are then sorted (usually) alphabetically in their respective sub-category.

There are 2 ways to find what you are looking for in directories:

1) By clicking on the main categories on the home page and relevant sub-categories until you find the topic that you are searching for. This will direct you to all of the sites in the directory that cater to your specific topic (usually in alphabetical order).
2) By searching for specific keywords and phrases in the “Search Box” provided. This will allow you to query all sites in the directory that are relevant to your search term regardless of sub-category listing. These queries are generated mainly by your titles and your description.


Examples of Directories:

- Yahoo! www.yahoo.com ($299 annual fee for business-site review within 7 days, free for non-profit sites in Regional categories)
- LookSmart www.looksmart.com (One-time $299 fee for review within 2 days, or $149 one-time fee for review within 8 weeks)
- Dmoz or The Open Directory www.dmoz.org (Free Submission)
- About www.about.com (Free Submission)


Important Criteria To Highly Consider Before You Submit:

Seeing that directories are compiled by humans and not by “spiders” or machines, certain criteria is taken into consideration whether or not to include a website into their directory.

Human editors consider all of the following criteria:

- Design: Is the site aesthetically pleasing?

- Content: Does this site have quality content that will help our traffic?

- Navigation: Is the site easy to navigate and well laid out?

- Uniqueness: Does this site have qualities, goods or services that others already in this category do not have?

- Loading Time: Does this site load all pictures and text in a time efficient manner? (This is in direct relation to page size in kb)

- Number of Pages: Most Directories require a minimum of 3 sub-pages of navigation because they feel that 1 page does not provide enough content to maintain their corporate image or relevance in their directory.

- Passwords: Is this site accessible to all of our traffic, or are passwords needed?

- Relevance: Is your site applicable to the sub-category where you have chosen to add your site?

- Spamming Tactics: Does this site use invisible text, superscript text, repetitive keywords, or any other spamming techniques?

All of these factors are taken into consideration and sites must adhere to each directory’s specific criteria. Failure to meet the directory’s demands will result in a refusal (in which you are not notified). Numerous refusals or using spamming techniques to get listed may result in having your URL banned from the Directory forever.

To add your site to a Directory, you must find the ONE sub-category that you feel caters to your sites MAIN subject. Please choose this wisely because you have only one chance to get it right. Changing your listing after it has been added is like pulling teeth… out of a rabid gorilla. LookSmart has made this task easy, but at a fee of $299USD.

If you are unsure how to properly submit your site to a directory, Search Engine Technologies offers top quality consulting or we can do it for you.

Filling Out Your Submission Form:

NOTE: Do not add your site to Directories until your site is FULLY optimized for Search Engines!

After (perfectly) choosing your sub-category, you are asked for the following things:

- Your Site Title / Company Name: For Companies, this is your Company name. Do not try to make a keyword rich title if it is not your company name. They will look here for it in your homepage HTML title, and on your “About Us” page. They don’t like it when it doesn’t match. They may think that you are trying to spam. Your title should be no more than 40 characters for directories.

- Your URL: Submit your homepage’s URL. (Also known as your Root Domain ex: http://www.companyabc.com/)

- Your Site Description: This description should be very keyword rich and describe your company in 25 words or less. Aim for 140 characters or less with spaces included. Your description will be modified by the editors of each directory to better fit the image that they want to portray. Make sure that you add a lot of keywords so that they might be swayed to add them into their own description, but do NOT use marketing words like “best”, “#1”, etc. Editors hate this.

As stated above, Directories categorize websites according to site topic. These sites are then displayed in alphabetical order within a specific sub-directory.

Before registering your URL and creating your website, one should put much effort into thinking of a creative, yet convenient name so that you can rank high in directories. IE: AbsoluteGolf.com. This will both brand your company, and result in a higher directory listing.

Some webmasters have taken this too far, and have had negative responses from their target market. IE: www.aaagolf.com or www.!!!golf.com. The obvious attempt to have a high ranking on directories by adding the “aaa” or “!!!” makes your site less credible and gives a very unprofessional image.

Some directories have caught onto this and have started to list sites such as www.!!!golf.com under the “G” section for “golf” and not near the top as they were previously positioned.

Time to Get Listed:

It takes from 1 day to 3 weeks to get accepted into the Open Directory (www.dmoz.org) depending whether or not your category has an editor. If after 3 weeks you are not accepted into the Open Directory, repeat your submission to the same category using the same data you used previously. If you still do not get accepted within 3 weeks following your 2nd submission, you must review your site using the Criteria listed above and make appropriate changes. Once these changes are made, attempt to re-submit your site into the proper category.

Other Directories vary according to what payment plan you choose and their inclusion schedule.