I've been noticing that most newly-launched directories are using the same exact categories. While it may save time and effort to automatically add these through a pre-made database template, it may hurt your search engine rankings and/or PR. The main reason why I think this is because if thousands of directories have the same exact categories, the search engines will see them as duplicate content sites, thus resulting in penalties or ignoring your pages altogether. This is my own opinion, but I would advise all webmasters to start using their own unique categories. I would like to hear your opinions regarding this as well. Thanks, Steve
I have noticed that, but i have to say that it makes it easier to submit your site to directories since they all are pretty much the same thing. I've noticed the same with themes, some use the same.
Many free issue templates are configured the same re categories But some Directories select custom design templates with unique categories phpld has a category list that can easily be changed by coders or an0n here on DP implements excellent mods you can PM him he is very helpful
I have 2 dirs, one with the default categories and one with original categories the one with original is doing much more better on google
yup ... i have same top categories but i try to make changes in the inner categories for all my directories .... but i do see due to all these category dumps ... it'll be a downfall for those directory owners who use them.
duplicate content penalty. I'm afraid this could be the reason many phpld based dirs don't get high PR or don't pass PR points and stay low in SERPs. Original design is good, but original content is better. Even using different category names may help.
It's okay to model your category structure like other directories, but I would definitely avoid using a category dump or using the same database when operating multiple directories. I see some offering a listing across a network of directories by submitting a single submission to one directory. Could be bad news.
hehehh yes i know take for instance my http://jh183.com/ and the difference after i made my personal catagories.... www.good-like.com the difference is alot more defined and i have added a few extra catagories. This is just the basic you must customize your and not copy others as that way its unique and not a clone link Dmozs wanna be's. thx malcolm
My suggestion is: you can dump the category template to your database, but you'd better add or remove some categories inside to make it different from others.
Quite a lot of new directories use identical categories - what you need to consider is what happens if google (for example) see's two new directories that are pretty much empty and have the same categories (and also the same SEO friendly page names). Potentially Google could view these as duplicate sites and hence both will end up getting banned and disappearing from the search results. I think this is something that google is going to catch on to in the future - after all google is already starting to devalue directories due to the huge number that have started and appeared in the last 6 months or so.