Correct Noodp syntax

[berrysharpie]

Is there something wrong with:

<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOODP">?

We placed this last Saturday on our site. Site was recached on the 17th and last night we vanished. The cache yesterday said July 13th still so the cache update started showing also sometime when we vanished.

The only change we made was to add the NOODP. Is there something wrong with this that I was unaware of?

Thanks,

Berry

[SilverLining]

No, that looks correct, but try changing it to
<META NAME="GOOGLEBOT" CONTENT="NOODP"> to be more Google-specific.

[berrysharpie]

Thanks Silver...

We wanted to use the more generic one as it is supposed to work for both Google and MSN.

I guess it is just a coincedence that that is the only new factor and our front page seems to have dropped out of Google. Not only that, the cache date is AFTER we put the NOODP in it and yet it still is showing the ODP title and description.

I am very confused and concerned now. So far the lower pages don't seem to have moved much. But I am sure that is only a matter of time now as well.

Berry

[g1smd]

<meta name="robots" content="noodp"> -- that is a nice flag that effectively says:
<meta name="heh look here!" content="we do SEO!">

[berrysharpie]

Well thats certainly an unfair judgement so immediately on a white hat site. So if we are simply not happy with the title and description that DMOZ gives we are immediately SEO and trying to sneak around.

*confused*

I guess I need to remove it.

[reseller]

g1smd

<meta name="robots" content="noodp"> -- that is a nice flag that effectively says:
<meta name="heh look here!" content="The Well Informed WebmasterWorld member"> :-)

[total amateur]

Hi,

On Saturday 15th July inserted
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOODP"> in my index page.

Googlebot visited on 16th. On 18th results show new title.

Position in results remained exactly the same but no longer with outdated heading.

[berrysharpie]

Thank you reseller and Total...

I am glad to hear it's not something that is for being *sneaky*. I appreciate hearing that it worked out well for you Total.

I am thinking we just have a coincedence going on and something else is happening to our index page. It does seem that over the last 24 hours some of the DC's are putting it back. Maybe a glitch of some sort. Never will know with Google!

Thanks again!

Berry

[skweb]

Yes, I inserted the code too and in a matter of days the new title is being displaced. No other change in traffic or serps. So go ahead and do it. There is no correlation between this code and ranking.

[berrysharpie]

Will you see it change in the "site:" results too or just the SERP results?

So far, the page has been cached and it is vanished from most DC's. Just the front page though. I still realize probably coincedence but that is the only change I have seen!

Is there particular positioning? We put as the last meta tag.

Thanks,

Berry

[netmeg]

You see it in site: as well.

I tried it on a couple of my personal sites that were showing DMOZ titles, and it worked like a charm, without losing any rankings whatsoever. So now I feel fairly confident about rolling it out for some of my client sites where that's an issue.

[berrysharpie]

Well now that is just weird. The site has been cached after we put the NOODP and yet the site: has not changed. It's been over a week now. I wonder what is going wrong. I think there must be something else going on in the mix that is messing things up. Hopefully once this new disappearing act stops, it will also update with this ODP change.

Strange...

[coosblues]

I added the tag about 4 days ago, and today my listing no longer shows the ODP, and I've found no change in my rankings. There was some comment above about this being a SEO Tag, but it's in Matt's Blog and he seems to confirm it will have no effect on your site. As an ODP editor I find it odd that I've requested to have one of my ODP tags removed. I think everyone tries at the ODP, but the fact is the backlog is overwhelming to say the least and I don't forsee that changing. I can't get them to change my own listing so how can a non-ODP editor expect better? I believe Google realizes this as did MSN and did the right thing - they gave us a choice. Thank you Google.

[reseller]

Just to say that I have added the tag for around a week ago. This morning I see the "original" title of my homepage is back. Its propagating right now across the DCs.

Has no effect on ranking or traffic as far as I can see.

[berrysharpie]

Ok, thanks a lot guys. I think I will have to chalk this one up as something totally unrelated. It sounds like something else definitely is going on with others that are reporting in the rankings watch area. I guess I fall under that category. Home page suffering, rest of the site seems ok.

Thanks for the replies!

Berry

[berrysharpie]

Just to update if anyone else might have been following...

It looks like sometime over the evening of 7/25 the NOODP tag finally was picked up. It took approximately 7 days for it to take.

Berry

[ichthyous]

Looks fine to me...I added the generic ROBOTS version to all my pages and it's worked great

[Pico_Train]

I've had the code for noodp for a while now on my index page but still nothing.

This is what I have got <meta name=”robots” content=”noodp”>

It's been at least a week. Any ideas or help? Thanks!

[RichTC]

Its a shame i cant do something similar for Yahoo on one of our sites.

The Yahoo directory description tag does nothing to attract visitors to click on the page, the sites own metta description and title are far better.

Perhaps i should invent one and email them?

<META NAME="SLURP BOT" CONTENT="NOYAHOODIR">

[microlinx]

can anyone tell me the validty or lack thereof of using the comdination:
<meta name="robots" content="noodp, index, follow">
?

[g1smd]

The index and follow are the default actions anyway.
Those would happen even if you said nothing.

[Pico_Train]

Another 4 days and this noodp thingy ain't working...advice, help?

Thanks!

[g1smd]

Most other people report it kicking in within 1 to 4 days.

Has Googlebot looked at the page in question yet?

If it has, then allow at least another 48 hours or so for it to take effect.