Inclusion in search database results

Reference: http://www.ehealthlink.com
Listed in this category:
http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Financial_Services/Insurance/Agents_and_Marketers/Multi-Line/United_States/Oregon/
Explanation desired: This site has been listed in the directory for 5 months or so. It does not show up in search results, specifically "oregon health insurance" after all this time. Yet Best Call Insurance shows up twice.
How does the search database work? Am I doing something wrong on the site so that it is being excluded?
Thanks,
John

Best Call turns up twice because it was listed in two different categories with the words "oregon", "health", and "Insurance" in the description (it shouldn't have been in an Oregon category anyway since they are located in California -- that's been corrected).

In a category with Oregon in the path, the word "Oregon" shouldn't appear in the descriptions. The ODP search is really meant to turn up relevent categories, not specific sites by keywords. There's nothing you did wrong but you're not likely to ever turn up in the listing for "oregon health insurance" -- I'd concentrate on optimizing the site for results in the various seach engines (this isn't the forum for help on that matter, though).

Not sure I fully understand. I was curious for 2 reasons. Three of the sites showing up in the search for "oregon health insurance" are just like mine specializing primarily in health insurance in Oregon and are listed in the same category as I am. There must be some difference I am not aware of.
The other reason is that all tools I use to determine which directories and search engines www.ehealthlink.com is listed in always come back with a "not listed in dmoz".

The dmoz search won't match www.ehealthlink.com but will match ehealthlink.com - dont know why, it's just the way it works.

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There must be some difference I am not aware of.

Click to expand...

The difference was that several of the listings in that category contained the word "Oregon" where yours doesn't. They've been corrected.

Thanks for the input. It looks like the other 3 sites don't show up in searches preceeded by www. either. They also won't show up in searches for oregon health insurance in the future now that the listings have been fixed. Still puzzeled why programs that look for directory listings haven't found it in several months.
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Thanks. Didn't plan on putting you to work. Still don't know why reporting tools say I am not listed in the Directory.

What tool were you using? It might have been a shonk that actually checked the google directory (which did fall several months behind). [fixed now]
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If you are using something like TopDog or other automated tools, be aware that occassionally the ODP search servers can't keep up with the number of requests (especially those from automated systems such as TD) and may respond with something like "Search system overloaded. Please attempt your search on _Google_..." (I forget the exact phrasing now) - your automated reporting tools will show "Not listed" (it should, in all fairness, report something like "No search results returned" to be accurate).

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Oh - and it might matter exactly which search terms you are using to search for. If you want a simple "yes listed"/"no listed" status, it's usually best to search for example.com instead of "Internic example site", "Example domain sites" or www.example.com .

MarketLeap responds with a Not Listed on any keyword related to my site. It will show it as listed only if I test for ehealthlink.com. LinkPopularity.com link reporting fails to turn up any links to Open Directory on any of the search engines they report on. MouseClick and NetMechanic show not listed responses as well, but they are keyword based. It just seems strange that nobody is recognizing placement in the Directory after 6 months.
Thanks,
John

LinkPopularity.com and other link reporting tools fail to turn up any link to dmoz or Google from any search engine.
Note: See also reply to beebware.

There's really not much we do for you here in that respect. You're listed in the right category with an appropriate description and that's really all that this forum is here to facilitate. You may want to go to one of the webmaster forums that abound on the Internet (webmasterworld or searchengineforums, for example) and ask about your reporting software difficulties there.

I found out what is causing the difference between my site and all the others in the same category in searches based on what we all do and where we do it. Either of the following minor changes would solve the problem:

ehealthlink.com, LLC - Offers individual and group health insurance in Oregon, as well as life, disability, and long term care insurance. Includes instant rate comparisons. Located in Roseburg.

or

ehealthlink.com, LLC - Offers individual and group health insurance, as well as life, disability, and long term care insurance. Includes instant rate comparisons. Located in Roseburg, Oregon.

I hope this is possible to accomplish.
Thanks,
John

As has been said before, we do not repeat words from the category path in a site description. Since 'Oregon' is in the category path, we will not be including it in your site description.

The search tool is not designed to find specific sites given certain search terms. It's designed for editors to use. It happens to be good at picking out categories relevant to given search terms, so we've allowed the public to use it.

We do not change descriptions purely to make a site show up for certain search terms, nor will we change descriptions to help make third-party checking software work.

Sorry - I guess I am just confused. Earlier you said you were removing Oregon from the other sites. When I didn't see it removed from the description, I assumed you removed it from somewhere else. Here is what I am seeing when I do a search for 'oregon health insurance' currently and I actually see nothing wrong with it, but they all include the word Oregon in their description:

Oregon Health Insurance - Offering individual and group health quotes, life, long term care, and short term insurance to Oregon residents.
-- http://www.oregonhealthinsurance.com Business: Financial Services: Insurance: Agents and Marketers: Multi-Line: United States: Oregon (2)

ODS Health Plans - An Oregon company offering a complete line of medical and dental insurance for individuals and groups.
-- http://www.odshealthplans.com/ Business: Financial Services: Insurance: Carriers: Life and Health (1)

Loewenthal Insurance - Oregon agency with plan information, application and quote request forms for individual and group health insurance.
-- http://oregonhealth-insurance.com Business: Financial Services: Insurance: Agents and Marketers: Health: United States: Oregon (1)

Health Source NW - Offers health, life, and disability insurance. Has packages, rates, services, and quotes. [Oregon only]
-- http://healthsourcenw.com Regional: North America: United States: Oregon: Localities: O: Oregon City: Business and Economy (1)

Best Call Insurance - Distributors of health insurance and Allied Products in the States of California, Georgia and Oregon.
-- http://www.bestcallinsurance.com Regional: North America: United States: California: Localities: O: Oxnard: Business and Economy (1)

Coast Insurance Agency - Online insurance quotes for health, life, auto, homeowner's and business insurance at Coast Insurance in Florence, Oregon. Friendly, experienced staff you know and trust.
-- http://www.coastinsurance.com Regional: North America: United States: Oregon: Localities: F: Florence: Business and Economy (1)

Cathy Osburn Insurance - Insurance agent located in Portland, Oregon. Offers homeowners, auto, health, and life insurance.
-- http://www.osburninsurance.com Regional: North America: United States: Oregon: Localities: P: Portland: Business and Economy: Insurance (1)

Best Call Insurance Services, Inc. - Offers group health, disability, term life, and dental insurance to residents of California, Oregon, and Georgia.
-- http://bestcallinsurance.com Business: Financial Services: Insurance: Agents and Marketers: Multi-Line: United States: Oregon (2)

I really am trying to understand what is going on here. For example, what search would these sites appear in or are they not supposed to appear in any searches of the directory for keywords?

Thanks,
John

Sorry - I guess I am just confused. Earlier you said you were removing Oregon from the other sites. When I didn't see it removed from the description, I assumed you removed it from somewhere else. Here is what I am seeing when I do a search for 'oregon health insurance' currently and I actually see nothing wrong with it, but they all include the word Oregon in their description:

Oregon Health Insurance - Offering individual and group health quotes, life, long term care, and short term insurance to Oregon residents.
-- http://www.oregonhealthinsurance.com Business: Financial Services: Insurance: Agents and Marketers: Multi-Line: United States: Oregon (2)

ODS Health Plans - An Oregon company offering a complete line of medical and dental insurance for individuals and groups.
-- http://www.odshealthplans.com/ Business: Financial Services: Insurance: Carriers: Life and Health (1)

Loewenthal Insurance - Oregon agency with plan information, application and quote request forms for individual and group health insurance.
-- http://oregonhealth-insurance.com Business: Financial Services: Insurance: Agents and Marketers: Health: United States: Oregon (1)

Health Source NW - Offers health, life, and disability insurance. Has packages, rates, services, and quotes. [Oregon only]
-- http://healthsourcenw.com Regional: North America: United States: Oregon: Localities: O: Oregon City: Business and Economy (1)

Best Call Insurance - Distributors of health insurance and Allied Products in the States of California, Georgia and Oregon.
-- http://www.bestcallinsurance.com Regional: North America: United States: California: Localities: O: Oxnard: Business and Economy (1)

Coast Insurance Agency - Online insurance quotes for health, life, auto, homeowner's and business insurance at Coast Insurance in Florence, Oregon. Friendly, experienced staff you know and trust.
-- http://www.coastinsurance.com Regional: North America: United States: Oregon: Localities: F: Florence: Business and Economy (1)

Cathy Osburn Insurance - Insurance agent located in Portland, Oregon. Offers homeowners, auto, health, and life insurance.
-- http://www.osburninsurance.com Regional: North America: United States: Oregon: Localities: P: Portland: Business and Economy: Insurance (1)

Best Call Insurance Services, Inc. - Offers group health, disability, term life, and dental insurance to residents of California, Oregon, and Georgia.
-- http://bestcallinsurance.com Business: Financial Services: Insurance: Agents and Marketers: Multi-Line: United States: Oregon (2)

I really am trying to understand what is going on here. For example, what search would these sites appear in or are they not supposed to appear in any searches of the directory for keywords?

Thanks,
John

Stop concentrating so much on ODP search results. The search hasn't been updated since the changes were made. If you actually check most of the sites in the search results, you'll find that the descriptions were corrected back when I first told you I was correcting them. The rest are, in my opinion, OK. Any further dissection of the listings or why they turn up in "x" search is inappropriate for this forum.

I think we've answered your questions more than sufficiently by now. You're not going to get "Oregon" added to the description of your site. Period. Time to move on.

Thanks - I'll be quiet now.
Stubborness comes from having attended Carnegie Mellon a long time ago - and have gotten old and cranky since then.
John

Different Subject - change in products offered.
We no longer offer life, long term care, and disability insurance.
Products currently offered include individual, group, medicare supplemental, short term, student, and foreign travel health insurance and dental insurance.
I don't know if this is the appropriate way to notify you of something like this or whether it really matters, but I thought I would pass it on.
Thanks,
John

Submit an update request, indicating in the reason field what you just said here (that the products you sell have changed).