Hello, When putting together a description to submit to lots of directories how should it be formatted. Short sentence and then keywords separated by commas? Would this be a correct example? (not my site) Website - www.bikemag.com Description - A magazine dedicated to the sport of bike riding. Blogs, pictures, stories, gear, mountains, road, jumps.
Probably not. Try to work it into complete sentences at least. For example: I would also recommend having a few variations on your title and description. The idea is that if someone should find you link in a directory, you want the title and description to be engaging enough that they click the link. I probably would not click a link with a bunch of keywords for the description. (btw, most SE's can use stemming to figure out that mountain and mountains are the same keyword)
I usually won't list any site that can't write a sentence or two for a description. Your method of including a sentence and then keywords is only slightly better. If you decide to stuff the descriptions with nothing but keywords, it's highly likely your site will be deleted in most directories. If I were you, I would make two complete sentences using most of the keywords you want to use. It's not so difficult to do.
I'd worry about getting a human reader to click on your entry based on your description. I'd let the link title punch up one keyword. Come up with different titles for different directories if you want to target various keywords. Not sure I know what I'm doing though...
Directories are after slightly different things with the description. Some want short and punchy descriptions, whilst others want something slightly more substantial. For most, two sentences, totalling 25 to 30 words, is ideal. Try to describe what your site offers, the topics it covers, and who it is aimed at. Write in proper sentences, and don't put capital letters on every word as though it's a title.
Certainly. Good advice. The general idea with a directory is your title should contain your keywords since it is the anchor text that SE's see and use to determine what your page is "about". The description is what you use to help that directory page build relevance about that topic, and it is also the thing that you want to use to get someone to click your link. Take the mountain biking example. If you have a new site, it will not rank for any of its keywords, but a directory you list the site in might. So, if you use keyword rich titles, you will start ranking for your keywords eventually. Until then you need to help the directory page build relevance so that it ranks decently for your keywords. Then you use an engaging description for your link so that when someone finds the directory in a search for mountain bikes, they will click your link. This is how you build traffic, and in effect you create a sling shot effect. Sure, in the beginning the directory will out rank your site, but eventually your site will out rank the directory.