As a past free directory owner, I got over 350+ submissions every 2 days, so i had come up with a couple of techniques to rid out spam and submissions that do not meet the guidelines on the Submit page. This helps me keep the backlog to 0 sites while maintaining quality.

Here are the steps I followed when I approved/rejected links in my free directory:

1. I skimed through the backlog and check all the sites that have Keyword Stuffed Titles. Then, I delete them.
2. I sorted by Category and check all the sites that have submitted to Top Categories. Then, I delete them.
3. I sorted by descriptions and make sure none of the sites submitted have keyword stuff descriptions. I check the guilty and delete them.
4. I sorted by title AGAIN, checking all the submissions to make sure they have submitted their website name instead of anchor text. (As my guidelines are for submitting the website name only.) This usually takes the longest.

After using those methods, you are usually (not always) left with sites that have taken the time to submit their websites by hand and have actually considered the guidelines you have asked them to read. I usually spend my time most of these sites, and end up accepting most of them after a manual review.

I hope this helps new directory owners to realize accepting every site submitted is a bad way to run a directory and that it is possible to run a truly Free Directory that maintains quality.

Thanks.

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