ISULONG SEOPH

I’m generally happy with the quality of the sites being submitted for inclusion to my web directory. I approve listings manually so more or less what gets included are worthy to be in. I’m not saying my directory is the ultimate link directory but some of us do dream of being listed in an elitist group.

I haven’t got any link directory inclusion request this past weeks. Perhaps the submitters got tired of resubmitting again and again their crappy and spammy directory sites.

How do I determine quality sites? I have my criteria. It may not in agreement with everybody but then again everything is a matter of preference. Let’s just say that one of my criteria is that it shouldn’t feel like a machine did it, from design to content.

Anyway, I still don’t have any monetization plan for the site yet other than adsense which proved not effective for a directory site. I just got my paypal account so my best bet would be a paid or featured listing. My time is currently occupied with more important things so monetization will be taking a backseat for months to come.

There has been an increase in numbers of url submission to my general purpose web directory. From the looks of it, more than half are directories and they begin to smell like I’m being spammed. Little did they know that I have been checking each and every link submitted. I used to approved everything including fellow web directories. It was only lately that I noticed a pattern. The directory submitted use similar layouts. There’s nothing wrong with accepting other web directories since I do submit this directory to other web directories but giving the impression that everything is automated and was not being well thought of, puts me off.

From now on, I’ll will only allow functional and usable sites on my directory. Those with real purpose rather than just a bunch of links to other sites. I will not be touching those who had escaped me in the past. Consider it a prize for getting in early.

PHP Link Directory, the software I use for my directory project has updated their free version to 2.1.2. I will be updating my copy after I find a good upgrade howto on their site.

I don’t know if it’s my host or the script itself is the problem but the Pagerank updater for PHPLD is broken. None of the sites submitted has a pagerank. Although, it’s not necessary, it’s way cooler to see which sites listed have good ranks.

If time permits, I might fix the issue myself or just write a whole new script for it. In my previous project, I integrated a script that fetches toolbar pagerank. And by the looks of it, they were based on the same public domain script I found in a forum.

OT: My directory project is slowly getting new listings daily. It may take a little more time before monetization of the directory is considered. First on the list: get a decent pagerank. To be able to do that, get some reciprocal links or promote the directory in other directory. Another stumbling block for monetization (not only for the directory but for other sites) is that I’m in a country that can’t receive paypal. Yeah, it sucks.

Ask anybody who calls themselves SEO whether reciprocal linking is good or bad and you’ll get almost instantaneously a “it’s bad” response. Yes, reciprocal linking is considered bad. I’m not talking one or two reciprocal links. It’s somewhere around tens to hundreds of links.

Try getting 100 reciprocal links and search engines will flag you as link farming. But what about those big network blogs. Say, B5 Media or Gawker Media. Visit one of their member blog and take a look at their sidebar. Count how many links to their other member sites/blog are there. Is that link farming?

They’re all interlinking with each other. They’re reciprocal links. Now wonder, it’s easy for them to get to PR 7. But should they be penalized? Of course. Are they? I don’t know. Now, if they can get away with it with their uber popular blogs, maybe we can too. Hmmm. I would like to experiment on this one.

I have a couple of sites listed in DMOZ. I was ecstatic when I learned one of my site was approved for listing in DMOZ. Two other sites follow, thereafter. Even my personal site is listed in DMOZ even though I didn’t remember submitting it for listing in the popular engine.

Does DMOZ still has that X-factor that made it hugely popular and most sought-after web directory? Google has recently took away Pagerank from their homepage. I’m not sure if it’s the same story with their inside pages. Not that pagerank is all that important. Google could still be giving them special treatment sans the pagerank but it’s the pagerank that sells them most, followed by exclusivity.

To satisfy my curiosity on how link/web directories work, I created one. Mix Directory my free human-edited link directory. It’s not very clear to me, however, if link directories are still being considered by search engines, but being a SEO practitioner (a little), this is all part of an experiment.

I don’t expect a lot of listing in Mix Directory since it only has a pagerank of zero at the moment. I have already sent some link love to it from some of my sites. It’ll have a bit of that green “google dust ” next pagerank update.

There’s only one problem I have with it now. My categories are so disorganized. I’ll be looking for a pre-made category list later and make myself comfortable with my directory program’s admin interface.