It’s a not-so-well-kept secret that one of the best approaches for getting better rankings in the search engine listings is to enter through a back door by working with the two most important structured directories: the Open Directory Project (ODP) and the Yahoo! Directory.
A directory differs from the index used by a search engine because a directory uses a structured way to categorize sites, sometimes called a taxonomy. In addition, sites are included in a particular category in the ODP and Yahoo! directories only after they have been reviewed by human editors. You can search within directories (just as you can search in a web index such as the one compiled by Google). But it’s common to use a directory by following its taxonomy, drilling down through subjects to find what you want. For example, suppose you wanted to find resources related to alternative photo processes, such as creating daguerreotypes (a nineteenth-century print technology). Using the Open Directory taxonomy, shown in Figure 3-12, you would drill down through the categories Arts→Photography→Techniques and Styles to find topics including Alternative Processes.
Note
You can think of the index of the Web compiled by search engines such as Google as being like the index of a nonfiction book. In contrast, a taxonomic directory is much more like the table of contents for the book: it is organized according to the book’s structure, and you can drill down by part, chapter (within the part), heading (within the chapter), and subtopic to find the information you need.
The Open Directory Project (ODP) is the most important taxonomic directory on the Web. Formally hosted and administered by the Netscape division of AOL, the ODP is run along the lines of an open source project and is inspired by the Debian Social Contract.
The credo behind the ODP is that “humans do it better.” The ODP believes that web automated search is ineffective and getting worse, and that the small contingent of paid editors at commercial web search engine companies cannot keep up with the staggering rate of change on the Web—decaying, stagnant sites; link rot; new sites; sites intended as search spam; and so on.
The ODP is run and maintained by a vast army of volunteer editors. These editors follow internal checks and balances to preserve the integrity of the directory. See http://dmoz.org/guidelines/ for more information about the ODP review process and guidelines for site inclusion.
Note
You, too, can become an ODP editor in an area of your interest and expertise. See http://dmoz.org/help/become.html for more information about becoming an ODP editor.
The ODP taxonomy (categorization system) and the sites included in the categories are freely available as data for use by anyone who wants to run his own search engine, as long as the terms of the ODP’s free-use license are complied with. (For terms of the license, in case you want to use the ODP data in a search engine of your own, see http://dmoz.org/license.html.)
Google and most of the major search engines do use information derived from the ODP, but they use it in their own way. Google in particular uses information from the ODP to form one of the less well-known facets of Google, the Google Directory.
Note
Google uses its own search technology for searches within the Google Directory and, in this way, differs from the ODP.
Most significantly, inclusion within an ODP category means that your site will very likely be included within the Google web index (as well as the Google Directory and in other major web indexes).
So, it’s worth submitting your site to the ODP if only because it’s the best way to get indexed (and appropriately categorized) by Google. You’ll find a FAQ about how to add your site at http://www.dmoz.org/add.html (this FAQ is also available via a link from the ODP home page).
The first step is to locate the best category for your site. For example, suppose you have a site like the Photogram area of http://www.digitalfieldguide.com (Figure 3-13), whose purpose is to display images created using an alternative photographic process.
The best category on the ODP I can find for this site is the category I’ve already shown, Arts→Photography→Techniques and Styles→Alternative Processes. The category page is shown in Figure 3-14.
Note
You can start looking for the right category (to get close to the best possible category) using a search term—for example, “photogram.”
On the category page that you think is best for your site, click the “suggest URL” link, shown at the top of Figure 3-14.
This will open the “Submit a Site to the Open Directory” page, where you will be asked to verify the category you selected (as determined by the page from which you clicked “suggest URL”). You’ll need to enter your site’s URL, title, a brief site description, and your email address. As the editors note, “A well-written, objective description will make listing your site easier.”
When your listing page is complete, click Submit. The process is now complete, except for the waiting. You should check from time to time to see if you’ve been listed.
Note
If I make it sound like you might have to wait a long time to get listed in the ODP, well, you might! The ODP depends on volunteer labor, and rumor is that it is getting slower and slower. However, inclusion in the ODP is a virtual guarantee of inclusion in many search engine indexes and other directories. So have patience! The ODP is worth it.
The Yahoo! Directory, a somewhat lesser-known part of Yahoo!, works in pretty much the same way as the ODP, except that it is privately maintained. Sites added to the Yahoo! Directory tend to end up in the Yahoo! index as well as other important search indexes.
To suggest your site for inclusion in the Yahoo! Directory, open the Yahoo! Directory’s home page, shown in Figure 3-15.
Note
You can also find the Yahoo! Directory by opening the main Yahoo! home page, selecting Directory as your search category, and searching for a term. The search results you will be presented with are from the Yahoo! Directory (not the Yahoo! web index), and the display will show where you are in the taxonomy, so you can browse through related categories.
Next, find the best category for your site, either by drilling down through the Yahoo! Directory taxonomy, shown on the left of Figure 3-15, or by searching within the Yahoo! Directory, using the search box shown at the top of Figure 3-15.
Note
You can use directory search results as the starting place for pinpointing the perfect category.
When you find the right category page (for example, for a digital photography site, the category page for Directory→Arts→Visual Arts→Photography Digital), click the Suggest a Site link shown on the bottom right in Figure 3-16.
Clicking the Suggest a Site link starts the site submission process. You’ll first be asked if you want to pay for inclusion or continue for free (for noncommercial sites). You’ll have to decide for yourself whether the fee is worth inclusion.
The next step is to verify that the site you want to suggest does not already appear in the Yahoo! Directory. This is verified using a Yahoo! Directory search. If your site cannot be found, you can continue.
You’ll be asked to verify the listing category and to log in with your Yahoo! username. (If you don’t have a Yahoo! account, you’ll need to create one.) Finally, you can complete the form with information about your site, shown in Figure 3-17, and submit.
Figure 3-17. You should provide a brief description of your site, along the lines of the elevator pitch described in Chapter 2