Site title and anchor text...

[geoiss2004]

Is it allowed by most free dirs to submit a link using anchor text rather than company name? For example, my site is called Space Clothing, but my keyword is Urban Clothing... would my submission be accepted if I use a keyword instead of site title?

want to get a few answers on this before i spend my day possibly wasting time

thanks

[pipes]

For free directories definately, if they do have a guideline saying site name only, then of course follow that.

But lots of free directories have for example that guideline in place, but they didn't place it there, they just haven't edited it.

You want to be getting your keywords anyway, unless your site is really well known theres limited benefit of having a load of backlinks with your site name.

[digitalspace]

you can write anything, the dir owner will edit your submition.

[SEOrious Results]

Some directories are more particular than others...it is preferential to have your keywords as your link anchor text, and not your URL, unless your URL contains your keyword/s...When posting on blogs there is generally more leniency on this issue.

[mikey1090]

When I had a general directory I allowed both site name and keyword.

So for example Digial Point Webmaster forums - combines both site name and keyword

[malcolm1]

Hello...

In a case like yours i see no problem with it...

I checked your site and it took a rather long time to view so you may want to
check on your hosting to see if its just a glitch or if this occurs often change hosts
as most people arent patient when arriving to a site.

Good luck
malcolm

[YMC]

It varies from site to site, free or paid is not really the issue. Look over the directory and see if it has a TOS (terms of service). The better directory owners will have taken the time to make it clear what they accept or don't accept.

I disagree with the keyword and company name comment. Any business site should do everything possible to rank #1 for their own name and link text with their name will help ensure they stay in that position.

[an0n]

Originally Posted by matt5409

Is it allowed by most free dirs to submit a link using anchor text rather than company name? For example, my site is called Space Clothing, but my keyword is Urban Clothing... would my submission be accepted if I use a keyword instead of site title?

want to get a few answers on this before i spend my day possibly wasting time

thanks

I don't know about others, but based on the type of review selected, alternative anchor is accepted however, when they try to put 10 words as anchor, i still edit it to be more precise.

[CanadianEh]

Originally Posted by digitalspace

you can write anything, the dir owner will edit your submition.

Not necessarily. Many directories will disallow your submission, especially if it blatantly doesn't follow their submission guidelines. Some sites get hundreds of submissions a day.

[Jim4767]

Some directories specify that you use the exact page title. If they don't, from my experience in submitting to thousands of directories, you will find that most of them have no problem with your using keywords as the anchor text. But be conscientious about doing so, and keep your use of keywords reasonably related to the content of that page.

[Vembl]

Originally Posted by Jim4767

Some directories specify that you use the exact page title. If they don't, from my experience in submitting to thousands of directories, you will find that most of them have no problem with your using keywords as the anchor text. But be conscientious about doing so, and keep your use of keywords reasonably related to the content of that page.

Well my personal opinion and experience is that most free directories would accept using keywords in the heading. But be careful and do not overload your text with keywords - you can get a rating penalty for that. Try to use at least 5 different types of titles and descriptions.

[Jim4767]

Originally Posted by Vembl

...Try to use at least 5 different types of titles and descriptions.

That's my strategy, too. I have a small list of variations on the page's keywords. Those variations are what I submit, rather than just the page title each time.

I'm a bit skeptical about that "rating penalty" you mentioned. If that is true, then my competitors could submit my webpages with keyword-stuffed anchor text and by so doing cause me to be penalized. I don't think that sophisticated search engine algorithms allow easy methods like that for your competitors to sabotage you.

[Spider-Man]

B & Q, who run their site under the name of DIY.com are listed in many of the bigger directories, and use B & Q, Garden Furniture and other assorted titles for their anchor text, and their listings seem to do just fine in quite a number of (IMO, overpriced) paid directories, so I don't think any of the real directories will care, unless, of course, you fell to the keyword stuffing side of things, where you enter your title as something like 'Urban Clothing, Sports Clothing, Outdoor Clothing, Work Clothing', etc.

Most well known directory owners do (or at least should) edit all listings, whether that be title, url or description, unless of course the submitter knows the lingo

[discover]

I know its what the submitter wants but you see how nasty a page of sites with lotsa of keywords looks
official site is the way to go but submitters dont like that kinda talk
think its gotta be either TITLE keyword keyword or TITLE - keyword keyword

[Obelia]

you can write anything, the dir owner will edit your submition.

Don't rely on it. Often it's much easier for the editor to hit the delete button, especially when the entire entry has to be changed extensively.

Most directories expect TITLE or TITLE keyword keyword. That gives you lots of scope to vary your anchor text and still rank for your own name.