Forum Moderators: open
I know that you are allowed to submit more than one page from your site into different categories, but is there a limit to how many pages you can submit a day? If I have 30 subdomains to submit, will I get penalized if I submit them all on the same day? Would it be better if I submitted only 5 a day? Are there any rules I should follow?
Thank you for any help you can offer.
There are no hard-and-fast rules here. If you spam the directory, you could be in deep tapioca. If you are perceived as spamming, you could be in that same tapioca.
Each editor has his or her own interpretation of these policies and a different threshhold for same.
Additionally, each category "tree" has different guidelines. If you were going for Shopping listings, you would get one, perhaps two total. If, however, you were going for Arts listings, you could have better numbers.
That being the case, I really don't think you can get one answer that's going to be correct. :(
I see what you mean however. I guess it really depends on the editor reviewing the site and to what category I am submitting. Thanks for your reply.
>as different as comic books and silverware, for example?
That sounds like one strange site! :)
The key point is are these indeed separate and unique content areas, or merely a logical way of organising the content. Looking at the example you gave my first thought was "collectables", if this is the case I feel you will have an almost impossible task in obtaining the number of listings that you require.
As a fictitious example take an online clothing store, how many listings should they have? Is it one in the main shopping/clothing category or separate listings for:
Men's Clothes, Ladies Clothes, Kids Clothes, Baby Clothes?
To go even deeper should they also get listings for:
Men's Shirts, Men's Shoes, Men's hats, Men's handkerchiefs?
I know from our experience that we sell lingerie online via catalogs. We sell many different products and have at least 3 totally different catalogs. We have only been able to get one listing. It is only one site but we sell Plus Sized lingerie in one section, regular sizes in another and then we have a catalog with another line of items. At first we had a listing in ODP for both our regular size portion and one for our plus sized portion, but as editors changed so did our listing. Some think we deserve a listing to aid plus size shoppers to our specialized catalog, apparently the current one does not. ;)
I am also an ODP editor. I know that when I edit my goal is to list sites in the directory that will aid the surfer in finding what they are looking for. It is definitely a judgement call on some sites as to whether I should list them in more than one category if they are submitted, but my focus is not on how many listings the site deserves but whether or not it will aid the end user in finding a particular product or subject matter in their searches.
I know that on our site all of our catalogs are accessible through our main entry. Apparently the editor of this category feels that is sufficient. My feelings are, and this goes for all sites such as mine, that it is easier for the surfer to find specific selections if they are broken down and given a listing in that specialty category. Of course I'd like to be deep linked, who wouldn't? But this just makes sense in many circumstances.
As Laisha stated, it is definitely up to the editor and it is a judegement call. I've not complained about the fact that one of my listings was removed - well I did once ;) but I received no feedback - and I'm only assuming it is because the editor felt that anything accessible via the main "table of contents" did not need to have a separate listing.
Jill
No, it's classed as spamming because it doesn't follow the submission guidelines.
First, an editor has to ask if such a site _should_ be "deep-linked" in each city? (depending on the topic and site contents, the answer might be "staff has expressly said not to" or "perhaps, if it contains unique and valuable information."
If your site, like most sites seeking multiple listings, falls into the former category -- submitting it to each city is big-time spamming and could get you a _very_ unpleasant reputation within the editing community.
If it falls into the second category, there is still the submitting guidelines!
If you're inclined to give the volunteer editors the kind of respect and consideration that you hope to receive from them for your site, then I'd suggest one of these two approaches:
1) Submit, say, two or three city deep-links at a time: when one of them is added, submit another. If three of them aren't added, take the hint.
2) Submit the main page. Add a note requesting that the editor consider deeplinking it in the appropriate cities. (For good sites, sometimes we do this on our own account. I don't think anybody will be offended by such a request made in that way.
If, on the other hand, you are involved in gambling, tourism, real estate, legal work, or multiple-level marketing, I'd probably have to exhume your better nature before I appealed to it. You won't get more than one listing, but I know you're going to go ahead and submit every page a dozen times anyway. All I can do is think of the karma you're collecting, and mention that when we spot these multiple submissions we can delete them much faster than you made them.
