Short answer: a submission is the form we filled in. A published listing is the directory's public page for your product. A verified listing is one we fetched ourselves and confirmed links to your site and names your product. Only the last one counts as live.
Submitted, published, verified
| Stage | What it means | Who confirms it |
|---|---|---|
| Submitted | An operator filled in the directory's form with your listing, creating an account there when one is needed. A screenshot is kept as proof. | Us |
| In review | The directory has the submission and hasn't published it yet. Many directories review by hand, some for weeks. | The directory |
| Published | The directory has a public page for your product. Its own email saying so is a hint, not proof. | The directory |
| Verified live | We fetched that public page, stored a snapshot with a checksum, and found a link to your domain and your product's name on it. | Our crawler, DistriovaBot |
Approval is never guaranteed: each directory decides what it lists.
What counts as evidence
By default a listing is verified live only when all three hold:
- the public listing page was fetched and a snapshot of it was stored;
- that page links to your product's domain;
- that page mentions your product's name.
A "your listing is live" email only prompts a check. It never marks a listing live on its own. Each piece of evidence is kept with the submission, so you can see why it counts.
How often we look
After a submission, until the listing shows up:
- every 3 hours for two days,
- every 6 hours until day 7,
- daily until day 30,
- weekly until day 90.
Once a listing is live, its link is checked again on days 1, 7, 14, 30, 60 and 90, and a missing or changed link is looked at again the next day. Our crawler respects robots.txt and waits at least 6 seconds between requests to the same site; the details are on the DistriovaBot page.
When a listing never appears
If nothing is found after 90 days, we stop looking and an operator decides with you: resubmit once, or close the submission with a credit for another directory. Credits don't expire.
Who does what
- By hand: filling in each directory's form, creating directory accounts, and handling anything a directory asks for (like a confirmation email).
- Automated: looking for the listing on the schedule above, storing evidence, classifying the link, and re-checking it.
- Yours: the listing details you approve, and the badge wall on your homepage for directories that ask for their badge.