As a free directory owner, I get over 350+ Submissions every 2 days, so i have come up with a couple of techniques to rid out spam and submissions that do not meet the guidelines on the Submit page. This helps me keep the backlog to 0 sites while maintaining quality. Here are the steps I follow when I approve/reject links in my free directory: I skim through the backlog and check all the sites that have Keyword Stuffed Titles. Then, I delete them. I sort by Category and check all the sites that have submitted to Top Categories. Then, I delete them. I sort by descriptions and make sure none of the sites submitted have keyword stuff descriptions. I check the guilty and delete them. I sort by title AGAIN, checking all the submissions to make sure they have submitted their website name instead of anchor text. (As my guidelines are for submitting the website name only.) This usually takes the longest. After using those methods, you are usually (not always) left with sites that have taken the time to submit their websites by hand and have actually considered the guidelines you have asked them to read. I usually spend my time most of these sites, and end up accepting most of them after a manual review. I hope this helps new directory owners to realize accepting every site submitted is a bad way to run a directory and that it is possible to run a truly Free Directory that maintains quality. Thanks.
I dont understand why you are not allowing anchors, because submitters wantto have SEO value for their listing. Any i also run a free directory and its always tough to maintain it. Good article.
I know there have been some threads from time to time, but I think it is good to point out the issues that come up with starting a directory. I was amazed at how much spam is submitted. For me, because I have a regionally organized directory, I get all kinds of sites submitted to "any old city" where it is clear the site doesn't belong there or it's a low enough quality site that it doesn't have visible contact details. Unfortunately, it seems there are a few unscrupulous SEO people that blindly blast submissions to directories without regard to such issues. I'm hoping that over time (since I auto-ban the worst offenders) that these people will stop submitting sites... as they are wasting their time and providing poor service to their customers. Wishful thinking I'm sure!
As a directory owner, there is really no value in running a directory if a category contains only anchor text listings. For example, if the Game category contained 500 "free games" listings, what good does that do for a visitor? It's my personal opinion and idea and most of the front runners use that idea as well that I provide a quality resource for the online community, not a good text link for a website owner. You have to look at the broader picture, especially when offering a free service that uses my personal time.
holy schmolley! I thought it was tricky with a UK website. After looking at your directory I feel like I have it easy. "He's got the whole world in his hands" springs to mind, now if only I could stop whistling that now regards.
As an owner of a directory that has both paid and free submissions myself, I also no longer allow Keyword anchored titles for my free submissions though I do for paid submissions as I feel it's only fair to provide more value to those willing to pay for the spot. I do though thank NRLMedia for providing the light bulb moment as I had been doing basically the same steps minus the sorting which would obviously make thinks so much easier...
I'll give green rep for you --just like your attitude. People use anchor words instread of the official title of the website for SEO purpose--I don't know much about SEO --but I think Google bots know who is fooling around with whom. I like your method of choosing only sites with the official title. I am planning a new directory and for the time-being I plan it to be free (infact, if everything goes fine-I'll make it all time free). I'll follow the same rules you are following now. Thanks for sharing.
Agreed ... to a point If i want to use ... Biz-King Seo Link Directory as my anchor then i should be allowed... as im not doing one off these deals.. Biz-king seo web links directory of the web that has so much more to offer blah blah blah... that above is a sentence and bull... and will never make it in mine.. I set the title at like 50 charactors as this is just enogh to offer them the good anchor text and stop the sentence stuff... thx malcolm
Having a free directory is really difficult for the approval process. I follow the same steps with you but it always take lots of time. I make a correction in nearly every 8 out of 10 submissions. Also visiting and checking the website content takes more than much time for me. Although I review the paid submissions instantly, I can't do it as well for free listings because of spammers. And that bothers me because I believe that free submissions are as important as paid ones. Using anchor text is not permitted in my directory either. I support the idea of using only official title of web sites.
The Submission Guidlines will help to directory owner and submiter.i think directory owner should try to help to webmasters for SEO.
Obviously a lot of people are ignoring the submission guidelines. There's also no reason why the owners of free directories should allow keyword-stuffed titles. If a webmaster wants to pay for a featured listing, then that's another matter.
We follow a similar principle to NRLMedia to clear free submissions, but also dump listings not submitting their home page. On top of that we do some additional work to weed out some of the rubbish before the editors get to work: 1) We refuse to accept listings into the review queue when submitted with a free web mail address. 2) All submissions also go through a PHP routine, open source, which looks for common errors such as the title being pasted into the description or the submission being nothing but keywords etc, again these submission are refused entry into the review queue. 3) We ban the submission companies that can't be bothered to submit their clients properly, this can also result in banning of the client site but as it's the site owners responsibility to choose a good quality submission company I no longer have qualms over taking this action. It does however save processing 100s of bad submissions. I also agree on listings having the official site title for anchor text although we do allow one or two extra words if it make sense e.g. Biz-King Seo Link Directory. It makes no difference if they pay for a submission or submit free, keyword stuffing is a no no, the directory is for human visitors not bots. Free submissions are discarded while paid are rewritten. Submissions guidelines are basically a waste of time, I've tried using 20pt bright red text to get the fact across that business sites are required to have phone, trading address and online contact method clearly displayed, all to no avail. So now we just discard the sites that can't be bothered, 3 strikes and they get banned.