Most of the people when submitting to directories tend to use keyword rich titles (even if the directory guidelines say that it isn’t acceptable) thinking that it will help them with the SERPs. Aaron Wall has recently written a post about Google depreciating Anchor Text and I agree with him for the most part. However I have a slightly different theory about it. Google isn’t depreciating anchor text, it’s depreciating anchor text when it looks unnatural. Let me explain this theory of mine a bit more. All of us at some point we have visited one of the thousands of arcade or Myspace resources sites etc. These kind of sites tend to link exchange a lot and every owner wants to get a keyword rich title for his link. The result is a block of links that looks like:
Flash Games
Free Flash Games
Cool Flash Games
Flash Games
Addicting Flash Games
etc
Now tell me does this look natural to you? Obviously not and I suppose Search bots are clever enough now days to filter these results and devalue these links, so in this case anchor text might even hurt you (just my personal opinion).
On the other hand think of blog post that goes bla bla bla this is my favorite sites for playing Flash Games
Much better and I believe that in this case the anchor text really adds value to the link in this case.

Now how does this affects directory submissions? In some rare cases, submitters actually submit their sites at the right categories (yes I know it’s shocking but it’s true). So for example let’s assume that there is a category Games/Online Games/Flash Games
If everyone submitted their sites using a keyword rich title then we would have the same effect as the first example and a keyword stuffed page full of links with the same or similar anchor text. Doesn’t look good to me. I believe that it’s obvious that I believe that using the actual name of the website might be more beneficial.

Of course there is a third choice as well. The Title, Keyword Keyword one. This in terms of SEO benefits might even the best (don’t take my word for it). Plus it has an advantage in terms of SEM. Let me explain this with another non directory example.
Let’s say again that I am visiting the Game site at the first example and I see all these links with the same anchor text (just a regular visitor not a search bot). I obviously won’t visit all or maybe none of those links. Let’s now say that one of them has asked the owner of the site to use a title like Brandablenamehere: Flash Games. I am still not going to visit BUT I have seen the name of the site and that is related with flash games. Big deal you might say, and you are wrong (or might be wrong who really knows ). The reason that this is important is that if I see the name again the next day, and then again at another site after two days etc it’s becoming a brand in my mind (obviously the flash games niche isn’t the best for this example), and brand recognition is really important in Marketing.

So what would I do, I would definitely include the sites name in the title and if I am allowed to do so by the directory’s guidelines I would also add two to three descriptive keywords and vary these keywords between directories that allow keyword rich titles. Would I go just for the Keyword Keyword title? Not really, but I suppose most people would disagree with me.

Disclaimer: The contents of this post are just the personal opinion of the author (me ) and should not be construed as medical advice or substitute for professional care. If you are having symptoms of a heart attack each time the SERPs change please ignore the above post and consult your family SEO .

Now here are a few common mistakes when adding a title for a directory submission taken from examples in my current review Que (Things that you shouldn’t do)

Here is an example of a site trying to target multiple keywords in the title and thinks that I might actually approve it (specific keywords were removed)
Service 1 Location 1, Service 2, Service 3, Service 4, Service 5, Location 2
They don’t even mention the title of the site or even try to spam me with just one keyword they are going after at least five keywords and guess what, they have just lost a link and I guess if this is their standard practice many more in other directories (the site is not bad btw)

Here is an example of what I call an advert title:
Submit Your URL Here
What does that tell you as a title, great huh? and no it’s not the domain or the name of the site that is obviously a directory (tragic) and for Christ’s shake it’s not a term with an overture or something.

Of course there are always the separated multiple keyword titles like keyword 1 / keyword 2 / keyword 3 / Site name(the site name is optional )
Yes those are great, why? because I don’t even have to visit the site to reject it, thanks for saving my time.

Another great practice is the “Category Title” where they submit for example in the web design category and the use as a title for their site “Web Design“. Imagine having a directory page with 50 sites titled web design you may get some decent rankings for the term unless SEs penalize you for keyword stuffing.

To be continued…… (too many mojitos to go on now)