Doing a little spring cleaning and here is what we found and removed from VMOptions: 25 Dead Listings 27 Parked Domains Godaddy: 11 Google: 2 Oversee.net: 6 Parked.com: 3 Sedo: 4 WhyPark: 1 Thought some might find it interesting to see how many parked domains can be found as I normally don't bother sharing this info. We started with 3,291 listings and ended with 3,239. Maintenance is always ongoing...
LOL man, it looks like dead on arrival directories have been keeping you busy. Keep up good work fastreplies
Always good to check listings and remove dead and changed listings. It's more work but keeps the quality up, good stuff.
I have just completed the first round cleanup of mainsearches I was shocked at the number of dead and redirected site. As you say, it is an ongoing task. I never counted how many I removed but it was a large amount and many will follow as I have left a good few on hold. Thanks Brian
@fastreplies You are absolutely right. Many of the dead domains pointed to free directories and bid directories. @Brian I'm surprised by the number of dead domains as well. It was not that long ago since I last did a sweep on the listings. I'm sure a higher review fee would weed out those serious about their websites. On that note, it would be interesting to see the maintenance stats from BOTW.
At least you're maintaining your list, im currently going through a large paid directory list, and the amount of dead/parked domains is shocking. I cant be bothered to report them to the list owner either (i used to) but the sheer amount would waste a good part of my day. Directories seem to be dropping like flies, good news if you have held onto your own through thick and thin though that trust factor builds over time.
The number of general directories that disappear is quite remarkable. I have reduced the number by no longer listing most of the "make a quick buck" type of directories. These include the .info domains and the very large networks of directories. Over the years, I have noticed that these get abandoned at the most.
Come on man, surely you are not saying that all 17,000 directories on your list are functional directories. I can bet more than 15,000 of them already dead and all you have to do is to check their Pending bin and look at what they are listing. These directories are nothing more but site drop for every spamming moron with useless web site maintained by owners who never bother to change “Your Title goes here†logo and “will list every piece of crap†attitude. I can bet that there is only thousand or at the very best 2 thousands directories that represent directories industry and have any resemblance to what web directories should be all about. Remove directories on the same IP, alphabet soup, .info and you will see how close to you will come to my number. fastreplies
You are thinking general directories. Only 5000 of the 17000 are general. The general directory industry has to do some work to improve it's quality. A good amount of the niche and regional directories far exceed the quality of general directories.
Just a note that my original post made reference to the directory on VMOptions and not any of our lists. Removal stats from our lists would be extremely boring.
And it should start with your list. Stop celebrating spam infested directories and remove them from your list and leave only directories that deserved recognition the way vilesilencer and vmoptions are doing Oh man, get a grip on reality. Niche directories due to lack of sites in niche are the worst offenders because they are listing every piece of crap they can get to fill up empty categories. For directories list operator you’re sure have very little understanding about how mechanics that are working in the background shape that particular industry. fastreplies
Also a good idea to check for listed sites that have substantially changed their content and no longer meet guidelines.
How very true. I was confused how some of my listings were approved in the first place, a quick check on wayback explained it all. Thanks Brian
I call it reverse effect. Some sites started as Directories but after short time of dealing with all you can eat garbage submissions and no money on the horizon and in near future, smarter owners had turn them in something more profitable like "Get rich in one week" or "Make money online" pits. fastreplies
While not a perfect system, I thought I'd share my strategy on this. I created a spreadsheet with all of the categories and subcategories using an SQL query. along with other facts I want to track, I left room for a date. Now whenever I add a new listing to a category, I check that date. If it is 4-6 months or longer, I audit the entire category. Less frequented categories are done when I have a spot of time here or there. I'm still a bit old school and like paper and pencil recording. I imagine the same process would work for electronic based accounting or even using some sort of scheduling software. I can't honestly say that 100% of everything I have is good but there are far fewer dead, converted or closed sites among my listings now. With niche directories and a 0 tolerance for truly crap sites even if the topic is right, I don't have near the turnover that general directories do. As far as niche sites accepting everything to make numbers, that it a sweeping assumption that is unfortunately seen in some niches but certainly not all of them.
I can see why directories die quickly. I am in the throes of creating a niche directory. As far as I was aware only I knew it existed and it is not taking submissions yet. I was hit with 56 non niche submissions today. And the submission form weeded out all submissions below PR2. I can imagine what a general directory would receive on a daily basis and it would be a nightmare sorting through the spam and the genuine. Mine will be set up so I only ever see the submissions that have confirmed their email and the rest will just be deleted automatically.