Error with http://www.spa-france.fr/english

Dear all,

After having talk with your colleague about the good category of my website, they finally accepted it.
(See thread here )

Here is the category : http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/France/Business_and_Economy/Transportation/Air/

But there is a problem : the url is not http://www.spa-france.fr but http://www.spa-france.fr/english

Can you modify it ?

Thanks !

[edited thread URL to prevent thread stretch - motsa]

You can request it but it's unlikely. We try to list the root URL as much as possible (just in case you decide to change it to www.spa-france.fr/anglais.asp in a redesign, for example). The user can easily click on the root URL and then select 'English' when the site loads.

Thank you Neil for your quick answer !

But it is very important for me to have the url listed in DMOZ like this... It is a question of Search Engine Optimization in english (almost for Google.com).
Moreover, http://www.spa-france.fr is already listed in the french version of DMOZ. (see it at : http://dmoz.org/World/Fran%e7ais/Commerce_et_%e9conomie/Transport_et_logistique/A%e9rien/ )

I understand the fact that you want to list only the root URL as much as possible...But you can be sure that i won't change it any more !

Can you understand me ?

Yes, we can understand your position. However, I hope you can understand ours:

1. We don't care about Search Engine Optimization. Not even a little bit. We also don't care what Google or any other downstream user does with our data (beyond following the terms of the license) or how their search results display. While we may sympathize with webmasters who want their sites to place highly in the rankings, we absolutely do not share their concerns. Our purpose is to build a comprehensive directory for web surfers, not to help webmasters promote their sites -- the fact that some sites are helped by an ODP listing is merely a positive byproduct of our labor. Keep in mind that there are many other strategies to improve Search Engine Optimization -- and there are many other forums where you can discuss these strategies.

2. Our policy is to list the root URL as much as possible. The listing of your root URL in an English-language category is absolutely appropriate by our standards, as is the listing in a French category (and it would be appropriate in the Spanish and Portugese language categories). Even if you assure us today that the link is stable, how are we to know that you won't change your mind in a year or two? After all, things change quickly on the web. We have our guidelines to help maintain a stable directory, and there is no reason for us to make an exception in this case.

On the bright side, at least you are appropriately listed.

Just to back this up, we have a concerted effort in the France category (one area where I edit actively) to ensure that root URLs are listed. In some instances, the same site has been listed in various places with different endings, like www.domain.com and www.domain.com/index.htm and www.domain.com/index.html and www.domain.com/uk and www.domain.com/eng . This isn't fair on the other sites that have only submitted www.domain.com and get the one or two listings they're entitled to.

From an SEO point of view, it is true that dmoz cares not one jot about the optimisation of your site. However, it is also true to say that if you have a clear link from your root URL to your English language content then the English content will rank very nicely thankyou in Google due to the fact that your root URL has two links from dmoz categories.

I really think you have nothing to worry about.