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I have written to Google who said that they are powerless to correct it and that I should make the change within the Open Directory site. This I have done at least three times without effect. I do sometimes wonder whether Dmoz actually has any authors!
Can anyone suggest how I might get this description changed?
Thanks
That's strictly under your control. What you put on your site is what gets picked up and what'll show up in the SERPs for a given search. It's in your hands.
Apparently that was the description the ODP editor chose to give the site, and Google is powerless to change that. If that's how the editor described the site they must have considered it accurate. My understanding is that they're not particularly concerned with a site's rankings, but in giving the Directory's visitors accurate page titles and decriptions.
That was in their hands and still is. I wouldn't keep asking at ODP in your place. I'd be glad to have a listing at all and leave well enough alone, and go to work on improving the site so that Google will pick up a better description.
That was in their hands and still is. I wouldn't keep asking at ODP in your place. I'd be glad to have a listing at all and leave well enough alone, and go to work on improving the site so that Google will pick up a better description.
The guidelines for submittal clearly state
When I get paid, the checks say Location Services.com
When I write checks, they say Location Services.com
The businesses name is Location Services.com
The site's title is Fullnameof Location at Location Services.com
yet even after having filed an abuse report from within the system (I was an editor at the time)
and through inelegant.org months later, all I got was
Its current status is resolved - This report has been resolved. We do not disclose the details of our findings, but if abusive editing was found it will be rectified. Thank you for your report. :)
Powdork - you might need to make your site title clearer as Location Services, such as making your page title "Location Services - blah blah", then submitting an update URL request. Dmoz editors will pay much more attention to on-page factors than who your checks are written out to. In my experience, I put LocationServices.com as the title only if that's what's used in the title tag and/or the site logo. Put in your update request that the company is called Location Services not LocationServices.com.
Powdork - you might need to make your site title clearer as Location Services, such as making your page title "Location Services - blah blah"It is very clear. There can be no mistake. Additionally my experience is that when you move a site, you don't have to reenter the site's Title. It is done for you. This was done deliberately.
In my experience, I put LocationServices.com as the title only if that's what's used in the title tag and/or the site logo.Absolutely, that is another one of the many reasons I feel this is deliberate.
Put in your update request that the company is called Location Services not LocationServices.com.There is no editor for its new category. The meta would be alerted of any requests involving this site. I doubt if any other editors would undo this meta's edits especially with the notes he included.
John_Caius, I hope this didn't come across as too inflammatory. From your posts here I have always found you to be more of the Good Guys than one of the Good ol' Boys :)
I'd check allinurl:domain.com and see what's turning up as description for individual pages as well as the homepage.
Also, are the inbound links to the site pointing to the URL with and/or without the wwww. in the link? Has ODP included the www. in the listing? Does the site resolve to the same page with and without the www.?
>>As a result traffic has fallen by close to 50%.
That wouldn't be because of the ODP description, since those aren't optimized for search engine placement - and wouldn't account for why there was double the traffic a few months ago. The traffic loss has to be because of something to do the site itself. There's got to be a reason why no snippets are being picked up.
Use css to position your important text at the top of your page codewise. For instance, if you had a site about American parties and people searched using <american parties>, you would want the first instance of <american parties> on your page (codewise) to be surrounded with what you want as a snippet.
Of course, if your not talking about the site in your profile, this may not apply.
Basically the editor describes us a travel guides for a tiny geographic area whereas we offer a range of services nationwide.
The Google description is perfectly fine and logical as it is taken from the our own site description on the homepage.
Sometimes with sites,
when you block out the affiliate content
and you block out the content copied from somewhere else which is already listed
and you ignore the duff information which is already available in more depth on other listed sites ("the main square of widget-town has lots of shops")
all of which is what an editor is supposed to do
there is very little (or indeed nothing at all) which is left. And maybe that very little just applies to one area of a region or industry.
Also content can change over the years. The changes may make it more - or less - likely to be listed, or listed in the same place, or more suitable for somewhere else, or even completely unsuitable.
A little searching and I can tell you why, maybe, you aren't getting the description that you are after:
You are deep inside a category for a specific region of Spain. You would be better to step back a couple of levels and find your category at the national level.
For example, you are here:
Regional>Europe>Spain>Wide Area>Narrower Area>
Even more Specific>Still More Specific>Service>Specific Service
Where you may want to be here:
Regional>Europe>Spain>Service>Specific Service
If, of course, that category in fact does exist at the Country level.
This could be your problem - The category editor has written a description of your site that fits your site in his/her category.
Here's a couple of options...
1. Request that ODP remove your listing. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you really think you're being hurt by the description then this is one way to go.
2. Tighten up your homepage title to reinforce whatever your specific range of services is. That's the most important element of a listing by far. Right now your title is vague and is being truncated by Google anyways.
