How to get your site listed 8 times faster!

This is in reply to
itubert's Post
- How to get your site listed FOUR times faster!
Simple: suggest the site to the right category.
... and comes from a totally frustrated frequent user of dmoz since it's first days online!

The above phrase "suggest .. to the right category.."
is the biggest problem of the ODP structure, not very bright to post such a silly suggestion.

We have a problem finding out what is the right category / sub category!
simply because there are way to many in way to many directions with way to many possible options!

To give you all (from dmoz) a concrete example:
Say someone has a nice little business websites oriented paid web directory going.
The web directory lists sites from anywhere in the world, in many different langauges and has no specific limits on what business websites it lists (other than that the sites must be family friendly of sorts).

Now this poor soul wants to get his / her little web directory listed in good old ODP.
There are endless category / sub category options on where such a general non specific directory could possibly be submitted under, but reaching the submission form page usually it says something like "hey, don't do it here..........., go somewhere else.

A bit like big corporate offices or Government offices, run around until you go bananas to find who is responsible for your specific issue.

So, taken the above case study, where would you ODP editors or veterans or managers say off the bat that nice little general directory has to be "suggested .. to the right category.."??

To make things even more complicated for you, say this nice little paid general business websites oriented directory does not offer free email, news feeds or other stuff long ago covered 4 times (make that 8 times) better by specialized big corporations).

Glad if you understand AND answer to this situation, i can assure you, i am not the only one who has the above problem with your way to expanded structure...

I've toned down the bright red shouting for you . Don't put it back.

We're a large and general multi-lingual directory and we're very happy to list websites that will add to its value to the surfer.

We list lots of niche or focused directories - usually in the categories corresponding to their niches.

Best thing to do is to suggest your website to just once to what you think is the one best category. If the site's listable but needs moving to another category, we'll move it.

We have a problem finding out what is the right category / sub category!

Click to expand...

Hmm..

Say someone has a nice little business websites oriented paid web directory going. The web directory lists sites from anywhere in the world, in many different langauges and has no specific limits on what business websites it lists (other than that the sites must be family friendly of sorts).

Click to expand...

Hmm, http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Directories/ ? The main problem would be how much of the content was in English - if too much was in a variety of languages and scripts it would not be useful to anyone at all.

From the description of the category 'The Business Directories category only lists business directories which span more than a single continent and cover multiple business industries. ' And it accepts suggestions!

Not very difficult at all. Of course it may not be the best place but it is certainly one that fits the example.

A lot of people forget that the category descriptions can be helpful in determining the right category (unfortunately not always), and sometimes frustrated editors will have added comments like 'please do not suggest xxx-type sites here, they belong in category yyyy' where a lot of people are suggesting the same-type of wrong sort of sites to it.

regards

PS a useful technique to find the right category in Regional is to look at a map, it's amazing how many people with a shop or service in one location believe they are actually situated elsewhere (usually the nearest big town or airport). It is very worrying when a taxi firm 60 miles away from an airport suggests their sites to that airport category - if they don't know where they are, how are they going to get me home if I use them?.

thanks - and tested

Eric-the-Bun said:

From the description of the category 'The Business Directories category only lists business directories which span more than a single continent and cover multiple business industries. ' And it accepts suggestions!

Not very difficult at all. Of course it may not be the best place but it is certainly one that fits the example.
.

Click to expand...

... now that you mention it.... learned something new here, it's not a "crime" to submit to a top level category even if there are endless sub level categories on top of the sites listed.......

Well, i may now also learn if that is the one and only secret, being able to determine what any given editor would consider the right submission into the right category / sub category (wouldn't it be great if all these editory had a "switch option", if they get a submission into their category that does not fit they could easily switch it to one they think is most appropriate - and if that next editor is not happy with it either he/she can than switch it around some more - instead of deleting all submissions that where placed into the wrong category / sub category due to considerable confusion???

useroo said:

... now that you mention it.... learned something new here, it's not a "crime" to submit to a top level category even if there are endless sub level categories on top of the sites listed.......

Click to expand...

Guess what you can suggest websites to every category with a "Suggest URL" link. Why else did you think that link is there.

(wouldn't it be great if all these editory had a "switch option", if they get a submission into their category that does not fit they could easily switch it to one they think is most appropriate - and if that next editor is not happy with it either he/she can than switch it around some more - instead of deleting all submissions that where placed into the wrong category / sub category due to considerable confusion???

Click to expand...

It has been mentioned many times in this forum that this is exactly the way we work. Sites suggested to the "wrong" category will not be deleted but will be send to a better category. This has always been the policy in DMOZ.

Remember we have a lot to do and websites that show that attention has been given to their suggestion will probably be processed quicker. So always try to find the best category and write a title and description that are complaint to the DMOZ guidelines. As mentioned in the original posting you were refering to this will get you listed faster.

if they get a submission into their category that does not fit they could easily switch it to one they think is most appropriate

Click to expand...

Yes, that is exactly what happens.

It seems that the OP didn't get around to reading the last line of post #2 .

It seems that the OP never read the Submitting Your Site section in the directory itself where it says:

Who do I ask for help regarding my site and getting it listed in the proper category?

Click to expand...

If after searching the enormous array of subject categories, you are still unsure as to where you should submit your site, your best bet would be to submit your site to the category you think best reflects the content on your site. The editors have the ability to move your site to a different category, or create a new one, should there be a need.

Click to expand...

We encourage people to locate the best sub-category because the higher up the category tree you go the more likely there is that there will be spam (i.e. people suggesting to higher PR pages). Were we to have a hamster category with specific sub-categories for every conceivable type of hamster and your site deals with hamsters irrespective of Race, Sex, Color, National Origin, Disability, Religion, Age, Sexual Orientation, and Status as a Parent, you should be suggesting your site to the more general higher-level category rather than trying to pick one of the lower ones.

Occassionally a higher-level category, which seems to be the best place, will not accept suggestions because of the large amount of spam it received. In that case you have to select the nearest best-fit sub-category and craft a good description that lets the editor know it may be better suited to be listed 'above'. If you are worried that the category is not quite right a description that tells the editor what the site is about and what it's contents are is better than a hyped string of keywords looking like an advert.

Reading the category descriptions and looking at what sort of sites have been already listed in a category will help.

regards

PS Of course as a cynical editor perhaps the guidelines could be expanded to include other useful gobbets of information that may seem too obvious to mention but, take it from me, not to everyone e.g.
# Check that the category you are suggesting to is the same language as your site
# your on-line lingerie shop is not relevant to Business/Energy/Oil_and_Gas/Industry_Resources/
# the EEC re-organisation has not resulted in the Costa del Sol being part of the UK
etc, etc

You bring up another VERY important issue here!

Eric-the-Bun said:

# Check that the category you are suggesting to is the same language as your site
# your on-line lingerie shop is not relevant to Business/Energy/Oil_and_Gas/Industry_Resources/
# the EEC re-organisation has not resulted in the Costa del Sol being part of the UK
etc, etc

Click to expand...

This one has driven me to frustrations before as well.
Concrete example:
Say i want to submit a website that comes in 3 different languages (1 language as the main domain, say GERMAN, the other 2 languages as a sub domain each added to it, say 1 in English, 1 in Spanish.
Lets make this a bit more complicated.
The main site is in German - but it offers say vacation rentals on a Spanish Island, now already my brain starts to rotate in ODP, does this go into "Spain" or "Germany" somewhere??
If the ODP Editor thinks that's in Spain okay, but it gets one tad more complicated, the site is in German because it caters to German tourists wanting to take a vacation on that Spanish island.
Now i would be convinced this would go into "German or Germany" somewhere - but wait, i have tried all this over the years and the said site - all be it a clean organic orderly site - never ended up listed anywhere, confusing to say the least.
Adding to the confusion is with this example that another site, exact same parameters as the example above got instantly listed, not only with 1 of the languages but all 3!!!

So, EASY is definitively not the word when it comes to submit decent websites to ODP, the jungle of categories, the rules, the daily mood of the editors in charge, eieiei, one could grow an inferior complex just by trying to get his/her clean site into ODP and it's sure only partially the problem of the submitter.

If a website is in German, it can be listed within World/Deutsch. If it also has significant French content, it can additionally be listed within World/Français and so on.

Most sensible multilingual websites have language selectors on their home pages. We'd thus list the same root URL in each language.

jimnoble said:

If a website is in German, it can be listed within World/Deutsch. If it also has significant French content, it can additionally be listed within World/Français and so on.

Most sensible multilingual websites have language selectors on their home pages. We'd thus list the same root URL in each language.

Click to expand...

Oh, naturally there is also on the example site i mentioned a langauge selection on the main page.

Now i go with your recommandation and submit the example site under
Top: World: Deutsch: Freizeit: Reisen: Unterkunft: Ferienwohnungen und -häuser: Vermittlung

... and see soon what will happen, in this particular sub category most listings are indeed not just for Vacation rentals in Germany but throughout Europe or even the world, which would indicate to me that the main language of the website is of more relevance in terms of where to submit it to at ODP than the Location where (in this case) a vacation rental property actually stands (this one in Spain)???

nope, wrong again

Top: World: Deutsch: Freizeit: Reisen: Unterkunft: Ferienwohnungen und -häuser: Vermittlung

turned out to be wrong too, it's only for third party offerers that can't be contacted directly!

If i did not know of a second alike site that is listed i would have been lost here.
The other site was listed under
World: Deutsch: Regional: Europa: Spanien: Kanarische Inseln: La Palma: Städte und Gemeinden

So the order would be
1. language the main site is in
2. the global location (where applicable)
?
(but than, why do tourist vacation rentals end up in a sub category that (by definition) is about a particular city or township, one would expect only websites with information about a such city or township would be placed in there, and that there would be a specific sub category for say accommodation or vacation rentals)

- i am really just researching this to understand some of the logic in this endless tree of sub sub sub categories to any and all main categories.

endless tree of sub sub sub categories to any and all main categories

Click to expand...

Well, that's what directories are.
Directories list sites in the most specific category, where someone would most likely look for them.
Having umpteen sites in a "main" category is not very helpful at all.

It is certainly true that not all categories have clear and helpful descriptions, but that is one of many ongoing improvements that volunteers work on when they choose.
And it seems as if you are still missing the point that as long as you make an effort to find the most suitable category for your suggestion, you can rest assured that an editor will move it if necessary.

one would expect only websites with information about a such city or township would be placed in there, and that there would be a specific sub category for say accommodation or vacation rentals)

Click to expand...

If the locality category is large enough, that would be the way to do it.

However, the German-language category for some small Quebec communities, or the French-language category for Ulan Bator, Mongolia; or the English-language category for some small town in Romania--or, for that matter, the English-language category for a Minnesota farm town I was considering visiting this summer--would be so small that there wouldn't be any point in setting up subcategories.