Keri, that link in your post is broken. I see it as:

http://../blog/seo-link-directory-best-practices

You're right, I probably should block bots from crawling that xml file (yes, it duplicates what is on my blog). On the other hand, it may be a bug in SEOmoz's crawler that it's reporting a warning about a missing meta description tag in a .xml file, too. (so FYI SEOmoz, if you're listening...).

Hi Barry,

Here's the URL

I don't know if .xml files are suppose to have a meta description tag, or if they use just the 'description' tag within the 'channel' block.

The SEOmoz crawl diagnostic tool is complaining that I'm missing a meta description tag from a file that is an RSS xml file. In my <channel>section I do have a <description>tag. Is this a bug in the SEOmoz tool or do I need to add another tag to satisify the warning?</description></channel>

I never pay directories for inclusion, nor do I pay people to do directory submission for me (unless you're just trying to get into 1000 low-value spam directories, it's not worth it). You need to do it yourself so you get the categorization of your site's listing correct (each directory is a little different) and optimize/maximize the characters that each one gives you to write a description of your site (and/or add tags/keywords). It's a high-touch operation for human-moderated directories that are actually valuable.

Directory submission is a background task and subject to time management constraints and other things you need to get done. I would do all of the relevant non-weak directories first. Then, when you have time, get around to the relevant weak directories. Every do-follow inbound link you get has some value. Especially if it's on a different C-class IP address, or from a trusted source (human moderated directory). I wouldn't obsess about directory submissions, but I would put it on the list of things to do for when you have a few minutes (do a few per day or else you'll get burned out on it if you do them all at once).

As for UK vs non-UK, it may help you to have some .uk directories but regular old .com directories should help, too.

SEOmoz maintains a list of directories here: http://www.seomoz.org/directories

Need a bit more info. Is it an html sitemap (for users) or a sitemap.xml for robots? And you're saying that the sitemap shows up in the SERPs but other pages on your site do not? What is the query you're doing? Is the site new? Does the root domain point to the pages you think should be showing up in the SERPs? Give us a few more details...

Paul, I assume you mean making the image file name the same as the alt text? And both for the phrase that the page is optimized for, right?

5C is the hex code for '' (backward slash). Maybe you have a backward slash where you mean to have a forward slash '/'? Ascii codes here: http://www.asciitable.com/

Two places capitalization comes into play:

(1) on-page use (title, h1, body text, img alt text, etc)

(2) external anchor text

I didn't think it mattered from Google's point of view for on-page usage (is this correct?) but I notice that OpenSiteExplorer' s 'anchor text distribution' tab shows different counts for the same keyword if it's capitalized in different ways (eg seomoz.org is listed separate from SEOmoz.org). Is that just OSE or does Google treat the keyword/phrase different based on its capitalization, too?

And if so, then should I be creating external links to my site with the 'regular' and 'Capitalized' versions of my key phrases?

5C is the hex code for '' (backward slash). Maybe you have a backward slash where you mean to have a forward slash '/'? Ascii codes here: http://www.asciitable.com/

Paul, I assume you mean making the image file name the same as the alt text? And both for the phrase that the page is optimized for, right?

SEOmoz maintains a list of directories here: http://www.seomoz.org/directories