Make Sure Your Site is Ready

Don't submit your site until it is ready to go. While we understand that web sites are continuously changing, there should be a degree of completeness to your site before you submit it to the ODP. While many editors will move incomplete submissions into their bookmarks to be checked on from time to time, there is also a likelihood that blank pages or "under construction" tags may result in your site being rejected.

Find the Appropriate Category

Submission to an inappropriate category is perhaps the most common reason for delay in a site being listed in the Open Directory Project. In order to avoid a delay, please do your best to submit your site to the category or subcategory that is most specific for your site content.

By doing a search on the keywords that best describe the content of your site, you can find out where other sites similar to your own are listed, and submit there; or you can find out where your most direct competitor is listed.

Most categories in the ODP now have descriptions, FAQs, or guidelines. If the category that you think your site should be listed in has any of these documents, read them, and be guided by any specific instructions contained therein.

Most editors will attempt to move sites that are submitted to an inappropriate category to one that is more appropriate, but if the editor who initially reviews your site does not have privileges in the other category, it may sit in unreviewed for an undetermined time.

Special Categories

• Adult: Pornographic or sex sites should be submitted to the appropriate Adult category. Adult sites that are submitted to one of the regular categories is more likely to be deleted than to be moved.
• Kids and Teens: This category lists sites that are for kids. Sites specifically for kids should have PICS tags, and must be age appropriate. Sites that contain unmoderated chat rooms will not be listed, nor will those that contain sexually explicit, violent, or profane content. Online shopping sites are not allowed in Kids and Teens.
• World: Sites that are written in languages other than English should be submitted to an appropriate World category. Many World categories duplicate the structure of the regular directory, while others are structured to meet the specific needs of a particular language, country, or part of the world. Sites that have been translated into two or more languages may be listed both in the regular directory and in the World category appropriate for the language of the site.
• Regional: Many sites can be listed at least twice in the directory: once in an appropriate subject category and again in an appropriate Regional category. Some sites, such as those for which the geographic location cannot be determined, may not be accepted in Regional. Others, such as those whose content has no value beyond the geographic or local interest, may be accepted only in an appropriate Regional category. As with the rest of the directory, locate the category that is most specific for the site that you are submitting. Unless your site has county, metro, region, or statewide significance, this will usually be a Localities/ subcategory.
• Real Estate Sites: A real estate agent gets one listing only, and that listing is to be in the locality in which the office of that agent exists. Your description, then, should include the names of the towns or states you service.

Deeplinking:

Deeplinking is generally discouraged within the Open Directory Project, but it is permitted when the deeplink is found to add useful and unique content to the category that it is submitted to. Questions of whether to accept a deeplink is left to the best judgment of the editor, so you will need to realize and accept that among the thousands of ODP editors, there are some who will not accept a deeplink.

Using some of my own sites as a way of illustrating acceptability and inacceptability, it is generally considered that the following deeplinks would be appropriate:

• http://kenanderson.net/bible/
• http://kenanderson.net/pasties/
• http://kenanderson.net/aroostook/

Although hosted on the same domain, the above sites each contain sufficient unique and useful content to be listed in appropriate categories. Plus, because the content is wholly unrelated, there would be no one category in which all three of these subjects would be reasonably included.

• http://kenanderson.net/delta/edcouch.html
• http://kenanderson.net/delta/la_villa.html
• http://kenanderson.net/delta/elsa.html

While each of the above sites may include sufficient unique and useful content to warrant a listing in the ODP, they logically relate one to another in such a way that a more reasonable categorization would be to list http://kenanderson.net/delta/ one time in an existing category intended to cover the entire Delta Area of Texas.

Submitter's Information:

Leave an e-mail address. Some editors will notify you that your site has been added, tell you about problems with site functionality, and, if you're not accepted, some will even give useful feedback as to why.

Title:

Provide a site name that accurately represents the site. Do not use characters in order to push your listing to the top of the page, as that trick does not work in the Open Directory Project. Commercial categories require that you use the name of your company as a title. When in doubt, check out the other listings in a category and follow suit.

Otherwise, please use the actual title of the site, not an advertisement.

• The Best Damned Widgets in the World! = inappropriate.
• Bob's Widget Emporium = appropriate.

URL:

Make sure that you have entered the URL correctly. While some editors will attempt to correct a mistyped URL, others will not.

Please do not try to get your site listed two or more times by using mirrors, doorway pages,redirects, or aliases that lead to the same site. ODP editors do a pretty good job of communicating with one another, and the last thing you want to do is get a reputation for this kind of trickery.

Description:

Write your description carefully, making sure that it complies with ODP guidelines. The ODP editor guidelines are not a secret; you'll find the URL below. A description that you prepare will probably serve your purposes better than one that an editor will supply, so your goal will be to write a description that is acceptable according to the ODP guidelines.

While there is no guarantee that your description will be used, a well-written description that is relevant and follows the guidelines is likely to be added as written, or with relatively few changes.

A description should include from one to three clear sentences that convey what the site is about. Lists of keywords will be removed by the reviewing ODP editor.

Briefly describe the business or organization, when appropriate; then describe what can be found on the site. Your description should clearly identify your business and what information can be found on your site.

Don't repeat the site title in the description; and if possible, avoid repeating the category name. You may wish to include a synonym, when relevant.

Refrain from including advertising hype in the description.

Useless or meaningless phrases or words will be deleted. For example:

• Come on in and see our website.
• Welcome to ...
• Home page ...

Editors will usually not include pricing in the description, as this is the function of the site, not the directory, and is also subject to change.

Do not use all-caps in either the title or the description. Exclamation points will be removed. As a rule, you'll want to use grammatically correct, spell-checked descriptions.

ODP editors often edit for brevity as well as clarity, so avoid using too many words. Generally one or two sentences will suffice.

Write descriptions in a third-person tense. First- and second-tenses will be edited.

http://dmoz.org/guidelines/describing.html#descriptions

Content:

The Open Directory Project lists sites that offer unique content that is likely to be of use to searchers. When your site clearly helps to fulfill this mission, it is likely to be accepted. But if your site is simply an affiliate banner farm, you will need to include more content. If your site does not offer useful information, your submission probably won't be accepted.

A submitted site should have a working URL and not be under construction. Make sure that your site works. Check the navigation and readability before you submit it. An editor might elect to correct submission errors, but the editor cannot fix a badly constructed page. That's your job. If your site doesn't work, most editors will simply delete your submission.

It is perfectly okay for your site to include banners, pop-ups, or affiliate links, but those which are too full of spam may not be accepted by the reviewing ODP editor.

Remember that the Open Directory Project is edited by human beings. Some of the tricks that serve to optimize your site for search engines might work against you in the ODP, and may prevent your site from being listed at all.

Using tricks that will get your website listed first in search engines will not work here and may keep you from being listed at all.

The Value of Doing Things Right:

As a meta editor, I have a few categories that I maintain on a regular basis. Sites submitted to these categories are sometimes acted upon within minutes, and nearly always within days.

As I can edit anywhere in the directory, I often help out in other categories as I can find the time. When editing in a category other than my own pet categories, I will generally defer to any listed editor, except in cases of abuse or neglect.

If I come upon a category that has a large number of unreviewed sites, I will often deal only with those that have been submitted with titles and descriptions that comply with our guidelines. While I still review the site, ensuring that the title and description matches the actual content, an appropriate title and description will make my job easier, allowing me to review a larger number of sites in a shorter amount of time.

Sites that have been submitted to an incorrect categories and those whose titles or descriptions do not comply with ODP guidelines may have to wait for the next editor to come along.

They will be reviewed and dealt with eventually, but a little effort on your part may well result in your site being accepted and at an earlier date.

Patience:

Many categories are maintained by editors who have only one or two small categories to look after. If they login daily, your submission will be acted upon promptly. On the other end of the scale, some categories have no listed editors, and are maintained by higher-level editors, editalls, or metas like myself, who might make the round from time to time. If your site has not been listed within a couple of weeks, you may contact the editor of a higher-level category in the same tree, and editall, or a meta.

Please be polite, and remember that we are volunteering our time. Also be aware that your site probably means more to you than it does to me.

The ODP Guidelines can be found at http://dmoz.org/guidelines/