Dirsensei Web Directory Blog

Seomoz Rand Fishkin owner of a Seattle based search engine optimization company has been attacking the directory industry lately with his mild mannered antics. According to his statements at his White Board Friday Show, web directories are a waste of money that he gave an advice to one of his posters. So where does this all started ? How come Mr. Fishkin suddenly came out of the blue doing this outrageous attacks on web directory ? It all started on late May or early June when most of the directory owners were dissatisfied when Rand, without an announcement, made the tool from FREE to PAID. Its ok when something in advance should be announced after all he has made the tool free for some time already and announcing it would not be of much a difference since many people would really purchase it at a reasonable price. More story can be read Here. That tool by the way was popularized by Jeff Behrendt of Aviva Web Directory of his Strongest Directories List . Now let me ask you this, how many directory owners helped Mr. Fishkin popularized his SEOMOZ Tool Page. Does an average or normal website owner care about page strength of their website ? Is it right for Mr. Fishkin to attack the people who have helped him dearly promoting his tool ?The problem with Rand Fishkin, the revenge plot is very open and visible. He attacked Aviva and Jeff without even considering that the guy has helped a lot in promoting his tool even though its inaccurate. There is a fine line between quality directory and crap and I don’t disagree with that term but taking Aviva out as an example, whip it and say it lacks the credibility to rank in its own keyword search term just because an SEO expert has been published as a QBC is totally wrong. A follow up on this is telling the public that he is in constant contact with Jeff, indirectly telling the public that they are cool with each other while openly whipping Aviva and Kwik Goblin is definitely a poor show of a stand up comic for an SEO expert. In fact the term should be a Modern Day Backstabber.

However, there are always people who believe in justice. It is an honorable thing and a very friendly gesture that John Scott of V7N has defended Jeff in his absence. See other posts of Rand Fishkin and some followers in this Section of V7N Forums. In my opinion Rand should have taken his own site as an example rather than others. That is a noble thing to do. It is like in a party and you are the host, have invited some guest and openly you shoot the certain invited guest with an arrow in the limb then you say now we can have a toast.

Base on an article by John Rang of Best Internet Resource the subject also should cover what web directories should suppose to be like. Most web directories are primarily aimed at gaining attention through irrelevant modules, content or worse lacking QUALITY INFORMATIVE LISTINGS. So what are web directories definition in particular ? Most of the Top 50 in ranking SERPS for individual keywords for directories in general are mainly focused on gaining popularity through SEO and link building (buying high pr irrelevant sites) but lacking INSIDE INFORMATIVE CONTENT. If anybody has to look it up slowly and figure out what I mean, these web directories have highly huge categories gaining so much pages indexed without even having a single listing. Blank and Nada. Some of them populate it with NEWS FEEDS which in my opinion is very deceiving and these directories are primarily aimed at profiteering instead of the usual authentic ones who takes the real invested time adding quality content. While their site description says the best, quality, high standards or whatever BALONEY they can think of I find it amusing that when I visit an important category such as Reference, Health or Kids and Teens there are NO LISTINGS that an end user can benefit from. But wait, look at the most popular categories such as Internet, Computers, or Shopping and you will find the huge amount of sites that are listed. These people don’t take the time to improve their contents but rather take the time for them to appear in SERPS and TRAFFIC as they claim. Matt Cutts should know this too.

John Scott of V7N and Jeff Behrendt of Aviva has some perfect examples of web directories when it comes to adding quality content. Not mentioning the pioneers of quality sites such as Best of the Web, Clush, Alive, Uncover the Net, Wow Directory, Joe Ant, Romow and more. Special mention goes to C Reed of eWebPages who cooks Japanese Food perfectly while his directory is one prime example of a well edited and useful content web directory.

The other sites in the Top 50 genre ? Well they are just primarily aimed at gaining SERPS, PR and TRAFFIC for the purpose of selling links and profiting like vultures with no intention of nothing and yet they announce their directories as the GREATEST of THEM ALL and placing descriptions such as……. WELL WHATEVER. So Matt Cutts there are some here in this industry as well that needs your attention. Get the axe and chop them off to make way for those that are really deserving in that GENRE.

A recent look at web directories to date surprised me a lot. More MODS are coming out and kudos to the programmers for inventing it. But surprisingly I am not impressed anymore and see these as JUNKS. As a web directory owner myself I have a few MODS installed in my directory which is I think are useful and relevant. But it is becoming a nuisance to see some of these owners become a Baiting QBC’s preffering to show how badly they are in need of cash installing junks rather than improving their directories in methods such as reviewing their listing descriptions, titles, and even information contents. I have visited some of these directories and 70% of their categories and sub categories don’t even have a listing yet they have time to install fancy MODS. So that means the target mainly is not Website Enrichment instead its Pocket Enrichment. Some even buy Dropped Domains that are IRRELEVANT to the directory business hoping to get a minus 1 or 2 Page Rank in the update and make some quick bucks in the meantime promising to promote but never does.

As I have said I am an avid fan of MODS but overdoing a directory of irrelevant content looks like SPAMMING a directory in its simplest form. Besides you could not even tell where to start as there are FULL of Crockadoodles to look at that makes your eyes get tired and irritated before making a site submission. Lastly, for a normal website submitter do you think that all this are necessary ? In my opinion these are some kind of a Male with a lots of make-up, over perfumed and wearing a panty hoses. Just guess what it is ?

What is a Human Edited Web Directory ?

A web directory is a web search tool compiled manually by human editors. Once websites are submitted with information such as a Title and Description, they are assessed by an editor and, if deemed suitable for addition, will be listed under one or more subject categories.

See example:

Listing of a Single Category Submission:

Category: Arts:

Users can search across a directory using keywords or phrases in the search box, or browse through the subject hierarchy for listed web sites. Best examples of a directory are the Yahoo Directory, Alive Web Directory and Aviva Web Directory.

Making A Submission:

A submission to a directory should briefly tell what a person will see when they click on the link. A description should actually describe the website. It should not be a simple set of keywords.

• Always use the correct title of the website or the business it represents, a couple of extra words in the title is fine, but make sure you include the proper title.

• A description should be written using complete sentences and proper punctuation. Capitalize the first letter of the sentence and end with a
period. The first sentence should tell what the website is about. Follow up by telling what a visitor can expect to see on the website.

Also tell about some Special Features. Remember, the description is the first thing a visitor to a directory will see about your website when browsing
through a directory. A well written description will help a visitor know that he has found the site he needs and get him to click on your listing.

Editing a Directory:

If you own a directory the first thing you need to keep in mind is that the most important part of any directory is its listings. A directory without listings is as worthless as an empty paper bag. When building your directory you may not have enough quality submissions in certain categories. When that happens, do not let the category sit empty! Go find a few good websites to list in those categories ! When you get submissions, deal with them promptly. Review each submission manually before accepting it into your directory. Make sure each site is listed using the basic rules above. Often this means you will have to edit the submission. It’s your directory so just do it, but always make it better so the person who submitted it won’t be offended. Remember that Editorial Integrity is what makes a web directory stand out from the crowd.

• Look at the website. Try to look at every page and see whether there are unquestionable words, sentences, links, affiliates, doorway pages, illegal sites, etc. as most of these are often hidden or are very small written.

• Check the title. Does it contain the name of the website or business ? If not add it using title case, meaning the first letter of each word is capitalized. If you have to remove words that were improperly
submitted in the title field, use those words in the description.

• Use the submitted description as is if it’s well written and describes the site, if not you will have to rewrite it.

• Use an online Dictionary or Thesaurus for references in case and also for far more better word descriptions.

• Use complete sentences and proper punctuation. The first sentence should tell what the website is about. Then write one or more sentences telling the user what they will find on the website. Mention any special features. Don’t worry about keeping a description short. If the submitter has given a short description, add to it, but do it right. Keep in mind that a well written description with more words will add valuable content to your directory while giving the submitter the best service possible.

• Take time to review a submission and always give ample time. Usually it takes some 24 to as much as 72 hours for some web directories to do this. Reviewing a website widens your understanding of what are the contents and what is actually the site is offering. These may used further as personal preferences, learning or basis for future submissions of what to expect.

• Be creative and use the ability to create a well descriptive format.

Complied and written by:
Dirsensei Web Directory Staff