Any thoughts on Zeal?

While DMOZ seems to be one of the grandaddy of directories (remember when Yahoo was some URL at stanford.edu?!? ;-), and what numerous search engines "feed" on, any thoughts from folks on the significance of Zeal and if there affiliationed with LookSmart means much?

I.e. how much of a "player" are they, do they feed other search engines, etc.

Thanx,
alek

 

zeal has on emajor advantage

http://www.zeal.com/zeality/zealot_quiz_start.jhtml

you pass an exam - prior to that an online tuition - how to submit to directories - i recommend that zeal tuition ( to become a "zealot" ) to all my friends.

i have 2 entries in zeal - it took me about a full year -
since my domain is .com
it was first added - then "big" boss saw my entry and killed it - remark: its commercial .. (without
looking at my site - just based on .com domain - hence i wrote an email to the "boss" - and a few weeks later i was back in the directory again - and SOMEtimes used by looksmart

this month march i have some 90 hits from looksmart ... out of half a million total hits so far ...
that says it all

because

this same months march from a (unknown in west ) bangladesh SE / directory i got some 1100 hits ( real surfers )
the entry took only a few minutes and few days later it was confirmed ..

so far my own experience with zeal ( same applies for joeant.com .. to become an editor to get in - lots of hassle to be in and near zero traffic )

 

Yea, I hear 'ya on the lack of traffic from zeal.com itself - I just checked, and only *4* referalls yesterday.

I guess I was curious if the zeal directory FEEDS any other directories (similar to how dmoz is used). I.e. they have a partnership with Looksmart, but I have a whopping total of *1* referalls from them ... although 67 visits from their BOT yesterday, so that's not a positive trend! ;-)

Thanx,
alek



Alek's Free Satellite Photos

 

zeal info is used in msn searches, but the impact is pretty minimal.

I'd normally do dmoz and zeal submissions, but beyond that it's just too much effort for too little reward- and zeal is definitely borderline.

 

MSN is phasing out Looksmart/Zeal. It used to display their directory/PPC listings before regular search results on all of their search properties.

AFAIK, the only major directory that "feeds" a search engine is DMOZ. Yahoo has their own directory of course.

WebSavvy is a small, free directory that is/will be syndicating its db to other sites using a live/realtime system, so listings get the benefit of multiple links. I'm not sure of any others besides DMOZ that offer syndication.

 

What is the url to subit for a commercial site inclusion into Zeal?
Without paying looksmart?
I passed the exam, but still confused.

 

Zeal does not accept or list commercial sites. It is strictly non-commercial. How could you pass the test and not know that?

 

That is the oddest thing someone told me today.
But was a easy test. But If you veiw your commercial competitors backlinks it is pretty obvious that thousands of commercial sites are in zeal. When you see a page loaded with your competitors, there is a link that says "add link". Then it says to sign up, then take the test. You then find out you wasted your time.

 

When you are viewing sites in the editors interface, you are actually viewing both Zeal and Looksmart (commercial) listings. They have a coding system that is supposed to differentiate the status of the listings in the list. If you see commercial listings that are in Zeal proper, ask why it was allowed in the Zeal forums and see what kind of answer you get.

 

really, it takes maybe an hour or so of time to pass the exam, it's not that bad

you could probably pass the zealot tests with 2-3 hours of work

 

The purpose of Zeal is to offer a free alternative to paid Looksmart inclusion for non-comercial sites.

The main benefit of a looksmart / or zeal listing was the Australian market - as it powered just about every Aussie search facility on sites such as local teleco's - where many people who get the net connected also access their email, and consequently search.

It's popularity is in decline though - it use to be at least 50% of Aussie search.

While the search engines people use in Australia today are of course the majors Google / Yahoo / nineMSN...

Today looksmart / zeal (and affilliates) is probably 5-10% of Aussie search.

 

Zeal can be a benefit, depending upon the type of site you run. I've found much of the traffic is derived from an origin outside the US. Atleast in my cases.

 

I think it is good to pay and don't spend time to become zealot..

 

Look at the date on this thread. Zeal is closed.