Searching ODP

[dstanovic]

I have a few questions:

1. My site was listed in a "very" regional category (which I chose when submitting), is there any way to get another listing in a more prominent area of the ODP since I cover more area in which I am listed?

 

2. When I use Google toolbar to go to the ODP area I am listed, it shows a PR of 0. Does this mean that Google does not consider this area important?

 

3. When searching the ODP I do not come up using any word in my title description. Is this normal.

 

Thanks for any information /images/icons/smile.gif

[enarra]

1. Generally in Regional/ (at least in the United States) sites are listed at the location where the actually store/business is. The bricks and mortar approach if you will. However, listing a site again in a topical area, in your case under Business/ somewhere is fine. You can feel free to search out that area and submit your site. If however you're saying that you service a whole county for example then I would think you should contact a state level editor via e-mail and work out a solution with him/her. That might include you putting something on your website denoting your area of service. (I haven't looked at your site, so I don't know what it does or doesn't say). An editor who focuses in Regional (I don't) might give you a better reply on this one.

 

2. Someone else will have to answer this one.

 

3. http://search.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/search?search=APS+Remodeling Seems to be working just fine for me. Sometimes there are bugs with the search engine function on dmoz.org. Maybe you tried it on a bad day. /images/icons/smile.gif

[Guest]

In re: 3. When searching the ODP I do not come up using any word in my title description. Is this normal.

 

I have found that ODP search does not hit on titles or category paths, only descriptions and URLs. YMMV, though. /images/icons/smile.gif Google *does* find titles, paths, AND descriptions, however. /images/icons/smile.gif

[dstanovic]

Thanks you for your answer. I am not sure "how" specific I can get on these forums so please don't "slap" me for being ignorant /images/icons/smile.gif

Our business services most of Northeast Ohio. Would it be prudent to submit to the following or how can I go about contacting the editor and maybe moving my listing. Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Ohio/Regions/Northeast/Business_and_Economy/

[Guest]

>>>2. When I use Google toolbar to go to the ODP area I am listed, it shows a PR of 0. Does this mean that Google does not consider this area important?

 

No. Google still didn't "grab" the category. You can notice that the category path in Google is still /////Cuyahoga_Falls/Business_and_Economy/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/, while in Odp the current category path is /////Cuyahoga_Falls/Business_and_Economy/Construction_and_Maintenance/ (the category has been moved up a level from under /Industries). When this happens, the page is somehow "new" for Google and takes some time to get the PR, which at that level should be around 2-3 in the Google toolbar.

 

Hope this helps

[lissa]

Almost all listings in Regional are done by physical location and not service area. There are some exceptions for certain topics such as transportation (taxis, limos, airport shuttles) but pretty much everything else is listed by office. Trying to organize by service area isn't objective enough when you look at the quantity of sites that editors handle in Regional (and everyone wants to be "higher up".) A site that represents something with two physical locations will probably be listed once in each locality. Sites that get listed at higher levels, such as a county, region, metro, or state level either have multiple physical locations (bank branches, restaurant chains, etc.) or are a directory or resource that pertains to that general geographic area.

 

I would suggest that first you look around the Ohio hierarchy and find businesses similar to yours and see what level they are listed at. If they are all in localities, then yours will probably remain there. If many are at a higher level then you may try submitting at that same level - although don't be surprised if that prompts an editor to realize that there was a chunk of stuff that should've been dispersed to a lower level. I would also look around the Business branch and see if your type of business is listed there too. Some businesses have been deemed "regional only" (for example individual real estate agents or fitness counselors), but if businesses similar in scope to yours are there, it would be reasonable to submit.

 

Regarding spidering - I think if Google shows a page rank of 0, it means it wasn't able to get to the site (for some reason) when it tried to spider it.

 

<edit to add>

ettore's answer was faster (and better) than mine!

[dstanovic]

Thanks to all!

[dstanovic]

I started searching Googles and DMOZ directories for businesses that are in the same area and found some listed in http://dmoz.org/Business/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/Design/Kitchen_and_Bath/

so I submitted there. I will wait and see what comes of this. I want to again thank the volunteers of this forum. /images/icons/smile.gif