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Besides Google, the other place on the Internet in which
you absolutely need to have your site indexed is actually
a directory rather than a search engine, the Open Directory
Project (dmoz.org). The Open Directory Project is the largest
human-edited directory on the Internet. They even say so themselves!
Whereas the second-largest human edited directory, Yahoo will
charge a hefty fee for indexing your site by humans, the Open
Directory Project (OPD) is free.
Dmoz.org has some great advantages such as once you get listed,
you will also be a part of Google's directory since Google
gets its directory database info from the ODP. In addition,
many other websites on the Internet will also grab parts of
the ODP database so your site will, over time, show up on
many different, relevant sites simply by getting listed on
dmoz.org.
The downside of the ODP is its main strength. Since it is
the largest human-edited directory, it has the largest human
element driving the site. The editors are unpaid volunteers
who may not get around to adding your site to the ODP for
months and sometimes not at all.
Also, the editors may rewrite your website's description,
writing around all the keywords you were careful to pack in.
If there is a problem with your site and an editor rejects
it, more than likely you will not get an email rejection and
will just be left wondering why your site did not get included.
Another drawback to the ODP is that since it is a popular
index, it is frequently overloaded and experiences an inordinate
amount of downtime.
But the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. The best
advice is to find the most specific subdirectory that applies
to your website, submit your site to the ODP and if you don't
get listed within 6 weeks, then submit again.
Remember, in SEO-terms the two most important places to have
your site listed on the Internet are Google and the Open Directory
Project.
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