Web Promotion Questions and Answers

Question:

Why do web directory editors cut our descriptions to something useless?

First Looksmart totally botched our $199 listing. Today we showed up in Yahoo, after our similar $199 review and they did the same thing! What is going on?

I submitted this for a description:

"Free domain name registration when selecting from several inexpensive hosting plans; cheap domain registration without plan. Secure tools for suggesting domain names and searching WHOIS."

What they gave me was:

"Offers registration and hosting plans either separately or as a bundle."

What do I do now? Does Yahoo have a way to appeal?

Answer:

What you did was over-use a keyword so the editor had to change it, and to 'punish' you for making him work he short-changed you a bit. This happens because, simply put, the editors see a lot of abuse and end up getting touchy.

Using the words "domain registrations" 3 times made him class you as a spammer in his mind. To get a good directory listing don't think like an SEO professional, think like an editor who just wants a good, clean description that he's proud to see in 'his' category.

You submitted:

"Free domain name registration when selecting from several inexpensive hosting plans; cheap domain registration without plan. Secure tools for suggesting domain names and searching WHOIS"

He'd have probably accepted:

"Provides domain name registrations, free with hosting plans. Secure tools for suggesting, searching, and WHOIS look-up of web domains."

If the description you submit doesn't NEED to be changed to prevent an obvious unfair advantage or breach of editor guidelines then the editor probably won't edit it - he has plenty of other work to do.

The thing to do now is to contact them again and request a change to the description.  By all means level with them and say that you made an honest mistake before.  Editors are just people with a job to do and are as reasonable about it as most other folk.