Preparing
Your Site for Search Engine Directory Submission
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Successful submission of
your site to major internet directories, such as Yahoo, Looksmart,
or the Open Directory, require a specialized approach, significantly
different from that necessary to success with the standard spider
based search engines.
The evaluation of your site
by these properties will be done manually, via either paid or volunteer
editors, who are charged with the responsibility for ensuring that
only sites of the highest quality achieve listings in each of the
directories. In this circumstance, overall site quality, in the areas
of presentation, content originality, speed of download, and general
navigational ease will present themselves as primary in ensuring
that a listing is achieved.
Rankings within that environment,
once listed, will rely strongly upon only a few basic areas, including
given title, description, and the category of listing. As many of
these areas are entirely managed by the editor responsible for your
selected category, ensuring basic site appeal and value can strongly
impact their willingness to use your suggested title, and/or description,
thus ensuring a high ranking.
The following outline the
basics of ensuring an appealing site prior to submitting:
Rule #1 - Create Appeal
A site that is clearly put
together quickly, and unprofessionally, does little to interest an
editor who spends his or her day reviewing all manner of properties,
including the very best. Take the time to develop your site properly,
or utilize a skilled designer if you have not the time, or the interest
to do so on your own. As noted elsewhere at Online for Success, keep
the navigation intuitive, the pages quick to download, and the content
well organized. All of these factors serve to assist in achieving
an editor's approval.
Rule #2 - Don't Jump
Too Quickly
Before submitting your site,
ensure that all aspects of its construction are complete. There is
little that will turn an editor's eye elsewhere more quickly than
a site with non-functioning links, or "under construction"
graphics. If the property is not at a state of perfection, save the
submission until you achieve it, as to submit early will surely result
in the denial of your listing request, and potential difficulty with
re-submitting down the road.
Rule #3 - Follow Their
Rules
Each directory property
has their own terms of submission, which is generally incorporated
into their submission page(s). Take the time to read and understand
these rules, as a failure to do so can result in either non-inclusion,
or at worst, permanent banning of your property from the directory
involved.
Once your site is fully
complete, and of absolute value to the editor, and visitors it will
achieve, it is imperative to understand the impacts of your submitted
title, and description, as well as the category you select for the
listing request. All directories follow a similar process, though
the actualities of how listed sites are ranked during a search remain
largely unknown.
The most important factors
to consider when preparing your submission to Yahoo, Looksmart, or
the Open Directory include:
Site Title
The title associated with
your site is often dictated by the given name of your business. In
most cases, directory terms of submission will inform submitters
that all business sites must use their given name for listing. This
is to help avoid scenarios where all ranking-aware site operators
suggest names that begin with "A", or "123".
As listings are generally alphabetical in the directory area, these
issues can have a strong impact on traffic from that location.
It is also best to avoid
listings that merely note your URL, such as onlineforsuccess.com
. The combined format of this title would result in an inability
of the search function to discern the keywords within that title,
reducing the opportunity for search related success. Obviously, an
important feature of your title is these incorporated keywords, which
can often be dictated at the moment you select your domain name.
Keeping this factor in mind early can be of substantial import at
this juncture.
Site Description
As noted earlier, the final
site description is always the decision of the editor involved in
the evaluation process. It is imperative to recommend a description
that will be effective, based upon standard keyword strategies, and
satisfactory to the editor's intent to provide only an accurate outline
of your site's content.
Incorporate carefully placed
keywords that relate entirely to your site's content, in as appealing,
and efficient a manner as possible. Avoid suggestions that are mainly
hype, as they do little to impress the area editor, and can result
in a description entirely generated by them, which may miss the mark
you were aiming for entirely.
Take the time to review
other site descriptions in your category of interest, following their
example to determine what the appropriate number of words, and keyword
selections are effective for them. Do a search to see which sites
rank highest, and determine the most potent mix of keywords and category
to achieve that type of ranking for your internet property.
Due care taken pre-submission
will ensure a positive impact on your business via the traffic, and
thus sales, that can stem from a solid directory listing on sites
such as Yahoo, Looksmart, and the Open Directory. Research thoroughly,
implement carefully, and then prepare for your own version of online
success.
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