Should I put location in Listing?

[KevinC.]

I notice that on ODP a lot of people put their cities and states directly into their desriptions.

I know with Yahoo, it's not necessary because they lock you into a certain state. If you live in Nebraska, for example, and if someone types in "red shoes nebraska" you site will come up because your listing is automatically navigated to nebraska.

I'm not so sure with ODP. Is it a good idea to put you city, and or state in desciption or is that redundant as it would be with Yahoo? I don't even think Yahoo allows you to put locations into descriptions as ODP does.

thanks

Kevin C.

[Advisor]

Kevin, if your location is crucial to your listing, i.e., you only sell in a particular area (have a bricks and mortar store), then definitely put it in. If you're selling to anyone anywhere, there's not need and you probably wouldn't want it in then.

Jill

[KevinC.]

Jill: Yes location is critical to me, so what you are saying is that definitively -- when people type in a search term with a location in it in OPEN DIRECTORY, unlike Yahoo, you may actually need that location name in your desciption.

If this is true I would think that Yahoo is better organized than OPEN DIRECTORY.

Kevin

[MsSearch]

hi kevin...

if location is crucial to doing business on the web, i would add it to your description.

if you want to try to target more keywords in your description and location is important, then why not submit to a regional category...so your description can focus more on the services/products you offer rather than where you are located...

If the editors see location is important to your site they may alter your description to include the region your business serves.

just an idea...

[KevinC.]

Ms Search:

Just to clearify the purpose of this thread:

IN YAHOO, you don't see locations in people descriptions. I think it's because ( and someone please tell me I'm right or wrong) YAHOO is really well oraganized.

In OPEN DIRECTORY, you do see people putting in cities and states in their descriptions because you wont automatically come up, even though the user types in "shoes, los angeles", because OPD is not as well oragainzed as YAHOO.

Hence, I'm taking Jill's advice and changing all my Open Directory descriptions to include city, state -- something you don't need to do, and are not even allowed to do in Yahoo. Correct?

Kevin.

[MsSearch]

ok..it was just an idea...

just remember not many people search at ODP...so it's not their search results you want to take into consideration....but the search results of those engines that use ODP data....

[Advisor]

Kevin, let us know if they actually make those changes for you. I know those things often don't get done.

Good luck!

Jill

[rmridgew]

in my case it was done without my request. The reason being, my location is incorporated into my title. if location is extremely important you should incorporate it into your brand. in my case "charleston fishing guide" otherwise you will have to pay for it

I'm taking Jill's advice and changing all my Open Directory descriptions to include city, state

are you an editor?

[KevinC.]

No I'm not an editor. I think it's hard to become an editor -- you have to bring like 3-4 people into the program....

Anyway, I'll put in my request and then go to the beach. I'll request a whole new description with new city, state and keep trying every 8 weeks.

I don't think you have to pay with ODP.

Kevin

[rmridgew]

nope odp is free,

but you would have to post the url to get any advice about that sort of thing from a forum.

it practically takes an act of congress to get an editor to add keywords to your listing

good luck