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The Open
Directory Project, or the ODP, is a directory similar
in layout to Yahoo and Looksmart. ODP's biggest difference
to its competitors is that it is run by over 37,000 volunteer
editors, who do their work without receiving any monetary
compensation. This uncommon operating model is both an advantage
and problem to the ODP. Its reliance on volunteers enables
the directory to process most submissions quickly, but can
also create situations where an editor suddenly goes missing
and causes sites submitted to his category to go unreviewed
for a longer period of time.
While Yahoo
charges for some submissions and Looksmart
requires nearly all sites to pay, submitting your website
to the ODP is completely free of charge. However, as I'm
going to soon explain, the old saying "you get what
you pay for" does not apply in this case.
Why the ODP?
A listing at Yahoo is usually hailed as the holy grail of
website promotion, but that does not mean you should forget
about submitting your website to the ODP. The ODP directory
itself receives far less traffic than Yahoo or Looksmart,
but because its data is used by several large search engines
such as AOL, HotBot and Lycos, being in the ODP can produce
a very healthy number of visitors to any site. However,
as it often takes up to several months for these search
engines to update their ODP data, you may have to wait for
a while before the full benefit of your listing begins to
show.
In addition to the traffic sent by the ODP and those who
use its data, there are other advantages in being listed
at the directory that are not mentioned as often but can
be even more valuable. You see, the truth is that some search
engines are using ODP listings in their algorithms and rank
sites & pages that have been accepted into it higher
than those who haven't.
This is a very sensible method, as a page that is able to
get listed in a directory edited by humans has to be at
least better than the average floatsam currently cluttering
the web. Google has proven to be very rewarding to sites
that are in the ODP, which should become quite clear to
anyone who has read my article about Google's
ranking algorithm. FAST also appears to be taking ODP
listings into account, but perhaps to a somewhat smaller
degree.
You've now heard just how valuable prize an ODP listing
is and it's enough enough to make most search engine optimization
professionals drool all over their keyboards. In order to
spare valuable computer equipment from suffering any unnecessary
damage, let us move on to the submission instructions.
Submitting to the Open Directory
Project
From this point onwards, I assume that you've read "Boost
your traffic with website directories" and understand
the basic rules of directory submissions. I won't repeat
those hints and suggestions in here, so if you haven't read
the article yet, do so now.
Before submitting your website to the ODP, you should read
through the official
submission instructions. While they do not offer any
secret tips or gimmicks on how to get listed, understanding
them will help you avoid some of the most common mistakes
made by submitters. Another very useful resource I'd recommend
for everyone is the ODP's
editor guidelines page, which offers some insight on
what the editors want and don't want to see in the submissions
they receive.
Just like with other directories, you should definitely
submit the home page of your site first into the ODP. If
you are able to get in, you might want to think about attempting
to get one or two of your content-rich subpages listed in
other categories. For example, the main page of this site
has been accepted for a listing at /Computers/Internet/Web
Design and Development/Promotion/Tips and Tricks/ and one
of the subpages can be found at /Computers/Data Formats/Markup
Languages/HTML/Meta Tags/.
Unfortunately, it is often difficult to get these additional
links from the ODP, which is why only those who are convinced
that their site has very good content should consider this
option. Note that the editors don't look kindly to sites
that over-submit or "spam" the directory, so it's
usually best not to try submitting more than one or two
extra pages at most. In extreme cases, excessive submissions
can result in the site being completely removed from the
ODP.
Some of you might already be listed in the ODP and would
like to get another listing in the directory, but feel that
the subpages of your site do not contain enough unique content
to be submitted on their own. Creating more content is usually
the best solution for the problem, but there is also another
solution - offering your site in more than one language.
If you happen to be for example a Spanish web designer,
you can make an English and a Spanish version of your pages,
allowing you to be listed in both the English and the Spanish
parts of the ODP. However, be aware that the translation
must be of high quality, so using Altavista's Babelfish
or similar machine-translation service to do the work will
not cut it. This method does require quite a bit of work,
but in addition to receiving another ODP listing, your visitors
will appreciate you for making your content available in
their native language.
I submitted, but didn't get in! Now what?
The ODP doesn't reject sites as easily as Yahoo, but people
do occasionally run into problems while trying to get their
pages accepted into the directory. If your site hasn't been
listed in three weeks despite the fact that you've followed
both the instructions in the "Directories"
article and the ones given by ODP to the letter, it's time
to take some action. Notice that the following only applies
to situations where you have submitted the home page of
your site. If you have attempted to submit a subpage but
it hasn't been listed, I'd suggest that you simply forget
the whole thing and move on to other matters.
The first step is to simply submit again. Of course, if
you received a notification that explained why your site
wasn't accepted, correct the problems pointed out in it
first before doing anything else. If this second submission
does not yield any results within a few weeks, you should
at this point get in touch with the editor of the category
you submitted to. You can find a link to contact him at
the bottom of the page. Write a polite E-mail where you
ask for the reason why your site hasn't appeared in the
directory and send it. Remember to include the title, description
and address of your site and also mention the dates of your
first and second submission.
If you don't get a reply in a couple weeks, contact the
editor of the category above you (ie. people submitting
to /Computers/Internet/Web Design and Development/Promotion/Tips
and Tricks/ should contact the editor of Computers/Internet/Web
Design and Development/Promotion). Give him the same information
you included in the first letter and explain that the reason
you're sending the E-mail is that you haven't received a
reply from the editor of your category. If nothing happens
within a month, attempt to improve your site if possible
and try to find another relevant category within the ODP
where you could submit.
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