There are many reasons not to use fully automated directory submission software.  Listed below are some of the more significant disadvantages and problems associated.  The information provided will hopefully be helpful for both submitters using or thinking about using automated submission software as well as the individuals and companies that operate web directories.

• The availability of automated submission software causes significant spam submissions for web directories.  Any individual or company that operates a web directory has either had to deal with spam or implement a spam solution.  This is not to say that you would spam web directories, but the fact is that some do extensively.  This fact in itself is a problem for the web directory owner, but it is mentioned at this point to keep in mind for the following points.
• Using automated submission software can lead to many rejected submissions.  No matter how good the automated submission software is, form field names, category selection methods, and such can change, which will cause the site to be broken in the submission software.  This, in turn, will cause submissions to be entered incorrectly, incompletely, or not submitted successfully at all.
• Automated submission software’s biggest obstacle is category selection.  Other than providing category selection for every single directory that must be selected by the user (which can take just as much time as using a semi-automated directory submission tool), there is no perfect solution for the software to intelligently select the correct category.  There are numerous ways this can go wrong, and it very frequently will happen.  When this occurs, the software will usually submit to the "Top" (homepage) as the category, which is not normally possible.  This can lead to submissions being manually categorized by the directory editor, which may result in a different category than the one desired (if you’re lucky) or complete rejection of the submission (more likely).
• When a web directory receives spam, some solutions (or manual actions) can result in the IP address of the submitter being banned, which will prevent future submissions.  Even if you’re not spamming web directories, if the above occurs (incorrect category selection), it amounts to the same consideration, especially when submitted to the "Top" category.  If this occurs, not only could your submission be rejected, but it may not be possible for you to submit the current or any future listing, even if done 100% manually.
• Spam submissions are a significant inconvenience for web directory operators.  The usage of these tools causes extra work for the web directories one way or another.  This will frequently delay submission approvals on a daily basis, during a period when anti-spam measures are being implemented, etc.  Therefore, not only can this cause delays for those who use automated submission software, but it can cause delays for everyone else too.
• Web directories frequently start as free, and then later change to paid.  Since automated submission software cannot handle payments, those solutions will completely fail when a paid directory is encountered.  In addition, some directory scripts only allow one submission per domain, full URL, or title, even when the existing submission is in the pending queue, and many web directories have problems with clearing aborted submissions for various reasons.  This scenario will prevent you from resubmitting the aborted listing, even if done manually later.
• As mentioned previously, web directories usually need to implement anti-spam solutions in order to effectively operate a web directory.  These solutions typically check for specific words in the titles, descriptions, and/or URLs of submissions.  On occasion, this can cause problems for legitimate submissions, no matter if automated or manual.  This can be caused by your submission data actually containing a word (or part of a word) the web directory operator expected to be spam or words setup in the anti-spam solution being poorly thought out.  The fewer people that use automated submission software, the more likely these measures will not be requires for web directories, and therefore prevent the problem.
• The fact that automated submission software is used to submit spam causes web directory operators to implement image validation or other checks to ensure submissions are from humans.  This causes inconvenience for everyone.  Automated submission tools cannot successfully submit to sites that use most types of image validation.  Therefore, this leads to fewer total submissions or failed attempts for those using automated tools.  Furthermore, it results in major inconvenience for everyone else as well.

There are more facts and disadvantages that could be mentioned, but the above should be enough to deter anyone from considering a completely automated solution.  The best approach for web directory submission seems to be semi-automated directory submission tools.  These tools fill most of the data for a single web directory as you visit, and allow you to check for the category, enter any image validation, etc., preventing the above issues.  This approach can significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to submit web sites to directories, while still yielding more successful submissions, approvals, and fewer problems.  Some of the semi-automated tools also include directory management solutions to mark web sites submitted to directories, and make it easy to submit future listings to directories, etc.  Be careful when selecting a semi-automated solution to use, though.  You should seek one that is provided by a reputable and trusted company that will be around to provide updates.  Semi-automated tools should also be configurable so that if a submission form is not properly detected, it can be reconfigured by the submitter, rather than having to request and wait for an update from the company.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 5:07 am and is filed under Tips for Directory Submitters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.