The ODP:
So what is ODP? ODP is short for the Open Directory Project. ODP's are based mainly on human-generated directories rather than computer-created indexes (robots).
Some of the top search sites on the Net -- The Open Directory Project powers the core directory services for the Web's largest and most popular search engines and portals, including Netscape Search, AOL Search, Google, Lycos, HotBot, DirectHit, and hundreds of others -- are all using human-generated directories (ODP). ODP makes use of the knowledge of thousands of volunteers who categorized subjects in which they have a deep understanding.
The idea: Someone who breeds tropical fish is likely to know the best fish-breeding sites, and someone who rebuilds Harley-Davidsons would best organize motorcycle sites.
Net Volunteerism:
The work is done by volunteers on the Net using the collaborative model known as "open source" (the sharing of information).
The ODP (using the slogan "Humans Do It Better,") has continued to grow over the last couple of years. In January of 2002, the project had cataloged 3,113,007 sites. Now, its 43,695 volunteers have created more than 451,860 categories.
The OPD shift has been somewhat invisible to most Web users. Over the past two years, a series of purchases and strategic alliances radically altered the playing field, though often without changing the Web addresses involved. So, even if you've depended on one site for years, you might not realize the results you're getting today aren't the same ones you would have gotten in 1998.
With all those alliances, there's almost no such thing as a pure search site using only one method anymore. Almost all sites today are hybrid, incorporating results from different search engines and methods and ranking them based on the site's own system.
Go to the MSN Search page and you're using LookSmart and Inktomi. Netscape is Open Directory and Google. AltaVista is LookSmart, Ask Jeeves and Open Directory, plus AltaVista technology. Lycos is Open Directory and Direct Hit, plus the Lycos spider. Even Yahoo!, with the largest human-generated directory, defaults to Google if there's nothing relevant in their directory index.
How Good Are They?:
Surfers don't necessarily want everything cataloged and cataloged search engines don't necessarily return relevant results. People go to search engines looking for information. Those who understand the advanced techniques of full text search engines would rather have the search engines leave the searching up to them. Let's face it, many of us are looking for that needle in a hay stack when we use these search engines. Most popular sites don't mean most information or information you want. I personally hate catalogs and I rarely use them if at all. Catalogs usually place results randomly or alphabetically and not by relevance.
Full text search engines will never die off. The most popular of all search engines (Yahoo!), realizes this and that's why they provide you with a choice or at least a combination. You can't get popular if you can't get indexed and many of us have unique products and services which don't quite fit the ODP. And because you have little or no control over placement, you MUST concentrate on the robots to fill this void.
What's Bad About the ODP?:
The worse thing about the ODP is that these indexes are created by humans. These humans are your competitors. As long as your competition controls the index you would like to be listed on, you're not going to get listed. The other thing that's bad about the ODP and sites like them is that because they are controlled by humans, the listings are only as good as the human maintaining the directory.
Getting Listed in the ODP:
Listen closely... Do NOT submit to any ODP until you have a completed Web site. Sites that indicate "Under Contruction" don't have a chance of being listed. This doesn't mean you have to fully complete your Web site. All it means is don't show that it is under contruction. If you are like most of us, your Web site is never completed. But having links to pages that don't exist or to pages that are under contruction will surely be dismissed.
Remember what we said above. "ODP makes use of the knowledge of thousands of volunteers who categorized subjects in which they have a deep understanding." So this means those that will visit your site are considered very knowledgeable for the category you submitted to. If you can't impress them you probably won't get listed. If you don't have much content you probably won't get listed either. If you're just selling and not providing valuable information, you may find it very hard getting listed in the ODP. Let's face it, we are all sick and tired of seeing these "Get Rich Quick" and the "Lose 10 lbs a Minute" Web sites that don't provide any valuable content.
It can take from several weeks to several months to get listed in an ODP. You have to be patient and persistent. You have to have good quality content to be listed in an ODP.
We suggest you first submit your root domain (ie,
Scrub The Web Search Engine - Submit URL - Seo Directory). Any other link has a lot harder time getting listed. Free Web sites or ISP domains (ie,
http://www.some_isp.com/clients/~jerry/) will find it very hard to get listed as well.
The Best Way to Submit to an ODP:
We suggest you visit the Open Directory Project.This is a one stop submission. First you start your navigation as if you were your potential visitor (customer, client, etc.). Once you find the category you believe you should be located in, click on the "add URL" link at the top of the page. This one submission will get you indexed with all the big boys who use the ODP. Before actually making the submission, look at the other listings in this category. How are they being displayed? This may help you decide what is the best way to contruct your TITLE.
Pay close attention to your TITLE and Description. Your TITLE should be short and sweet and describe what the site is all about. Your description should provide a bit more detail, but it too should be short (about 20 words max). Take your time developing your TITLE and Description because it's almost impossible to change this later. Don't try to cheat by using a TITLE like "AAA Place on the Web" because that's a dead givaway. The TITLE and Description you choose should be the same as is found on the Web page (or at least very close).