The_Contractor - 12:57 am on Jul 29, 2005 (gmt 0)

The comments below are all speculation on my part.

dataguy msg#38

crawling the URL after the owner has requested it, using the title and meta-description or body text, but then the owners usually come back and edit their listings to say exactly what they want it to say.

The above could very well be your problem. Using meta info or "exactly what they want it to say" is one of the biggest downfalls to a directory imho. You have to title and describe each site consistently to your guidelines.

JuniorOptimizer msg #:39

The www was a search engine using FindWhat results.

The reason the above could be penalized is obvious

The second was a recip directory. …. Nowhere in the Google guidelines are reciprocal links outlawed.

What makes the above different than a link farm? Having a reciprocal directory is a failing model long term imho. You need to read between the lines …

alwaysthinking msg #:40

I do have in one section of my site, one of those Open Directory clone scripts.

then

Mind you, the other web site did not have ANY type of directory involved..

Googleguy just mentioned somewhere they were going to take a look at scrapers and re-used ODP content. How many links did you have going to the 2nd site from the 1st? Did the 2nd site have many links from other places (non-recips)? Did they share some common backlinks obtained from the same places?

martinibuster msg #:41

Well, without seeing yours and knowing you a bit I can't say much. The thing I stay away from is using one template throughout all categories and having only the listings and title tag change. I also believe in having subject oriented content in most cases to back up the directory topics. Also, I have found in many cases concerning keyword density that "less is more". If going after a two word phrase it is often better to not group that phrase together too much ;)