Lesson #05 Submitting to Yahoo! & ODP
Written By Cyndalie

Submission to Yahoo.com and Open Directory Project (Dmoz.org) has very similar guidelines. For both, the way you write and submit your title and description can directly affect your ranking results once listed.

Since Yahoo! and ODP are directories rather than search engines, your submission is reviewed by and editor and your title and description are frequently edited to remove excessive keywords and promotional text. So how do you get around often uncontrollable factors and get the most bang for your efforts? Here are some tips that can help.

Is Yahoo Worth It?

Yahoo is a pay per inclusion directory and charges $600.00 per year for adult site submission and $299 for standard commercial site submission and review for inclusion. If they reject your submission the money is non-refundable so make sure to carefully read the Terms and Conditions BEFORE you submit (http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/terms.html). For most webmasters, a listing in Yahoo will bring more traffic than a listing in any other portal. In fact, for retail sites orders have been known to rise up to 30% and remain steady throughout the year. For pay site and free sites though, traffic has to be plentiful to make a profit of the listing, so carefully research and formulate your title and description leaving no room for editors to "improve" it. Give them exactly what they want. The closer you meet their guidelines when you submit the more likely your listing will appear the way you submitted it.

All Around Guidelines

Keep these factors in mind before submitting to either site. Even if you have to make specific changes to your site just to get listed, it can be worth it. Bait and Switch techniques (submitting one page and then replacing it with another after listed) is not recommended, but certain circumstances may arise as future properties are developed. If you are trying to develop a strategy to create "feeder" sites to filter traffic to your Primary Domains, make each dummy domain (feeder site) unique, with its own content and identity rather than redirecting or replacing pages. ODP will not list doorway sites that simply link to another external site after entry and it will not list redirected sites that push to an external domain. Most importantly for both directories are to make sure you site has UNIQUE content and is not simply a mirrored page or console.

Make sure you choose the right category! Do a keyword search for what you want to rank for and find what related sites are listed where and what category best fits your site to compete with them. Being listed in the same category doesn't hurt and believe it or not, keywords in the category location can help your rankings. Your site must maintain 100% uptime after submission. Limit popup consoles to none or one. Have proper age and content disclaimers before displaying any adult content (show you care).

Banner farms will not be listed, so display your advertising in a formatted and defined way (not just 468x60 banners down the page. Unique logo and a good design and easy navigation are highly recommended. Make sure your site works in both browsers. Do not use techniques that try to change the user's home page or activate a download.

Dmoz has extensive guidelines listed for the submission of adult sites. You can find a through guide at http://dmoz.org/help/submit.html including a guide for submitting free image galleries and pay sites specifically.

Choosing a Title

Not much room to move here. Keep your title short and close to your domain name. For example, if your domain is "myxxxdrive.com" they will definitely accept "My XXX Drive" as a title, or you can try to add more keywords like "My XXX Hard Drive". Remember that category listings are alphabetical so try to keep it pushed either to the top or bottom as much as possible. "XXX Hard Drive" will be farther down the bottom and has a keyword in the beginning, which would be the best title to submit.

Choosing a Description

Continuing with my example of a free site submission:
Domain: MyXXXDrive.com
Title: XXX Hard Drive:

You want to have keywords in the description if you want to rank for any keyword phrases. This can get tricky. First take a look at the average length (number of words) that most sites have in that category. Oftentimes one editor is assigned per category and each has their own rules or guides for that category. If this is the Dmoz category we want to submit the example to http://dmoz.org/Adult/Image_Galleries/Hardcore/Free/X/ notice that all of the descriptions average 10-15 words. Some categories even start with "provides…." or "offers…". By taking a look at the set examples, finding the happy medium falls into place. A good description for the hypothetical example above would be "Free xxx hardcore pictures of hot amateur sex and naked bisexual girls." Here we have the chances of ranking for keyword phrases like "xxx amateur pictures", "free xxx hardcore" and "bisexual sex" if it is accepted by the editor.

The Follow Up

If the editor hacked your description giving you no to minimal results, there is a way to request changes in both ODP (Dmoz.org) and Yahoo!. In ODP simply find the category you are listed in and click "Update URL" in the top right hand corner. In Yahoo!, go to http://add.yahoo.com/fast/change to request paid listing changes. Don't push your luck and be patient. Changes usually take 4-6 weeks to resolve. Many webmasters have experienced long waits to get into ODP so give your submission 4-6 weeks before contacting an editor or resubmitting, often feeling that it is the Un-Open Directory Project.

Include your submission details when contacting an editor; it is often the best way to get listed if you have experienced a long wait. And remember, be friendly!

These tips are good for submitting to all types of search engines and directories. It is good practice to create a default keyword friendly title and description to use consistently to develop good link relevance for the keywords used in your title that relate to your site or incoming links.