Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

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want to submit your home page, but it’s possible that a different landing page will also

work. In rare cases, if your site has landing pages with unique content, directories may

include multiple listings for your site. Use the HTML page title and meta description

tag you prepared in Week 1 as a launching point to write your title and description.

Make sure to consider what your competition is saying (or not saying) about them-

selves when you fine-tune your suggested listing.

Now, and here’s the important thing: once it’s filed away in your worksheet, for-

get about checking up on this submittal for the next six months. It’s just not worth it.

Yahoo! Direct ory

There’s plenty of debate among SEO professionals about whether the few hundred dol-

lars for a Yahoo! Directory listing (oh, wait, it’s not the price for a

listing

, it’s just the

price to be reviewed…no listing is guaranteed) is worth it.

We’re going to stick our necks out and give our own answer to the question: If

spending a few hundred dollars (or more for adult sites) per year is going to be a signif-

icant portion of your SEO budget, don’t do it. If, on the other hand, a few hundred

bucks is a small drop in your online marketing budget, a listing may be worth the cost.

And here’s some good news for nonprofits: If your website belongs in a noncommercial

category, you can submit for free.

However, keep this fact in mind: Once you have a listing in the Yahoo! Direc-

tory, the directory title and description, rather than snippets from your website, will be

displayed on the Yahoo! search results pages. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Possi-

bly more bad than good because, even though you suggest your own listing, it’s ulti-

mately the Yahoo! editor’s call and you have no control over this text. On the other

hand, a complete sentence rather than a snippet might read better in your listing

description, especially if for some reason you weren’t able to put text on your website

during your basic optimization. You will have to make the judgment based on your

own website’s characteristics.

If you choose to submit your site to the Yahoo! Directory, start by selecting the

best category for your site, as described earlier in the section “The Open Directory Pro-

ject.” Click “suggest a site” near the top of the page. Follow the instructions to submit

your site and payment information.

Now:

Submit your site to the ODP. Open your Link Tracking Worksheet and document your submittal or

update request.

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