Search Engine Question of the Week.
From: Peter C. Geisheker
My questions are about The Open Directory Project
(http://dmoz.org/).
1. Is The Open Directory Project (ODP) becoming the preferred
search tool for all major search engines? I ask because I
recently performed a search on Yahoo, which in-turn gave me
results from Google. When I went to Google to submit my site to
this directory, the only submission tool I could find was to
submit my website to The Open Directory Project. At ODP, it says
that it now provides content for AltaVista, Google, Hotbot,
Lycos, Infoseek, Northern Light, Netscape, and Yahoo.
2. With ODP becoming so powerful, how do I optimize my web site
for ODP since its contents are organized by volunteer editors
that view and rate each site? My submissions to ODP to date have
provided our web site with very poor rankings even though our
site's title tag, meta-tags and content are highly optimized. Our
optimization and content have provided us with top ten ranking on
many search engines in the past but now we can't seem to break
the top 20 on any of them except AltaVista. If ODP is controlling
the content of the major search engines, what is the purpose of
SE optimization and submitting a web site to any Search Engines
other then ODP?
Thank you,
Peter C. Geisheker, Director of Marketing
http://CallCenterCareers.com
~~~Jill's Response~~~
Peter,
These are good questions which I'm sure a lot of readers are also
confused about. I'll try and answer your important points one at a
time:
>Is The Open Directory Project (ODP) becoming the preferred
search tool for all major search engines?<
The Open Directory Project which goes by many different names,
including DMOZ and ODP (formerly NewHoo), is the preferred Directory
for a number of major search engines (portals) , and also for many
smaller portals. ODP is NOT a search engine or search tool, but a
searchable Directory such as Yahoo. The difference between ODP and
Yahoo is that ODP adds new sites by using volunteer editors and Yahoo
has a paid staff. Apparently anyone can apply to be an editor at ODP,
but I've heard that one cannot become an editor of a category in which
they have an existing website, in order to keep the listings
non-biased. (I do not know if that is a true statement or not.)
ODP is not the default directory for ALL major search engines.
>At ODP, it says that it now provides content for AltaVista, Google,
Hotbot,
Lycos, Infoseek, Northern Light, Netscape, and Yahoo.<
I couldn't find that statement anywhere at ODP when I just checked. I
don't believe they supply content for Go (Infoseek), nor does it
appear that they supply their directory to Northern Light, but it's
not always readily apparent who supplies the directory data for some
sites. Yahoo has it's own directory and does not use the ODP
directory, although it's possible that because they use the Google
database for some results, that some ODP results might be mixed in.
Google definitely uses ODP as it's default directory. HotBot and
Lycos (both owned by the same company) definitely use ODP as their
default directory. AOL Search uses ODP, and AltaVista uses it
currently, but I've heard that they're going back to using LookSmart
as their primary default Directory. Speaking of LookSmart, they also
power MSN's directory, and it appears they're also now partnering with
Excite.
It appears that ODP and LookSmart are definitely the Portal Directory
providers of choice these days.
>2. With ODP becoming so powerful, how do I optimize my web site
for ODP since its contents are organized by volunteer editors
that view and rate each site?<
When submitting to any directory, whether it be ODP, LookSmart, Yahoo
or Snap, the optimization of your actual site does not factor into
your submission. Therefore the answer to the above is simply that you
can't. You optimize your site for spidering search engines, and you
carefully craft descriptions for Directories. These are two separate
but related functions. I feel that both are equally important things
to do for any high rankings strategy.
>If ODP is controlling the content of the major search engines, what
is the purpose of
SE optimization and submitting a web site to any Search Engines
other then ODP?<
I think it's a bit of an overstatement to say that ODP is controlling
any content of the major search engines. They simply supply the
Directory results. Most searches that I make on any search engine
still usually produce actual search engine results more of the time
than Directory results. Some people may browse Directories, but I
think most people perform searches in the search box. Google has an
interesting way of integrating both ODP Directory results with their
own search engine database results, which is pretty neat. HotBot
shows it's search engine results right away with Directory results
(related categories) at the bottom. Lycos appears to also put search
engine database results above the Directory results. Go has a few
Directory topics at the top of your search results, but then goes
right into search engine database results.
>Our optimization and content have provided us with top ten ranking on
many search engines in the past but now we can't seem to break
the top 20 on any of them except AltaVista. <
If this is the case, I do not think that ODP or the search engines
using Directories within their results is what is causing your
problem. The problem is more likely that with more and more sites on
the Internet, there is simply more competition for the keywords you
feel you've optimized for. You can possibly overcome this with 250 or
so words of great, keyword rich text on the actual pages of your site
(see Heather's response below), along with the titles and meta tags
optimized accordingly.
As for your problem ranking high with ODP Directory listings, what you
need to do for this is submit change requests directly to ODP for your
sites that are not ranking high. Create better descriptions that
utilize the relevant keyword phrases you would like to rank high.
Explain politely in the comments field of your change form, why you
would like to see your listing changed if possible. Usually if you
can explain nicely why you believe that your site should be ranking
high under a particular phrase, but it's not because you didn't know
any better when you first submitted it, they will often change it to
your new description. Of course, you're dealing with a variety of
humans at ODP, so your chances all depend on who the editor is, how
nicely you ask, and if your request is reasonable. ODP was founded
on the premise of NOT being like Yahoo. In other words, they believe
in listening to people's requests in order to make it the best
Directory that they can. Your chances should be fairly good if you go
about it in a professional manner.
Now if only it were possible to change Yahoo listings that were
submitted years ago with poor (or no) descriptions! If anyone has any
special way of doing that, I'd be mighty grateful!
- Jill
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