May 8th 2008 9:10AM
"DMOZ Is Like Gold"
Isn't that awesome!
We would like to thank to the good folks over at ISEDB.com for the love they sent our way in their post on 'How To Optimize For Google.' A piece that takes a holistic look at optimizing for search engines and today's this portion spoke to all the types of webmaster tools-including directories that are available.
Not that I'm biased, but I think we can all agree that the most exciting take away is that search engineslove place a different value on free, human edited directories. The point is easily debatable. Perhaps a link in DMOZ is as valuable as any other link on the web or maybe it is worth more. Purely sharing the comment and curious what you all think.
Link to article here. Ctrl+F - type in DMOZ and you're there.
Quotes below ( underline added by me -strikethrough to show "what not to do" )
Getting a site into DMOZ is like Gold.
Google loves links from DMOZ and your site will reap the benefits.
The big catch however is actually getting your site into the directory in the first place. Find the perfect category for your siteand check to see if it has an editor. If you see a link "Volunteer to edit this category" try and find another relevant location. Pages without active editors take much longer to get listed into. Once you find the perfect directory submit your site every 4-6 months until listed. If you are lucky you will get in eventually.
UPDATE...the one part where this article is off ( and not helpful in getting your site into DMOZ ) is in the multiple submissions...this actually won't help your chances at all.
Also, there is a great post from Bob Keating to check into on 'Why Hasn't My Site Been Accepted Into DMOZ" specifically including this passage here:
No one is monitoring the category. While a few categories in DMOZ may not have a listed editor that doesn't mean there's no one minding the store. All editors listed higher in a category's hierarchy can and do edit subcategories. In addition, many editors have permissions to edit anywhere in the directory.
We would like to thank to the good folks over at ISEDB.com for the love they sent our way in their post on 'How To Optimize For Google.' A piece that takes a holistic look at optimizing for search engines and today's this portion spoke to all the types of webmaster tools-including directories that are available.
Not that I'm biased, but I think we can all agree that the most exciting take away is that search engines
Link to article here. Ctrl+F - type in DMOZ and you're there.
Quotes below ( underline added by me -
Getting a site into DMOZ is like Gold.
Google loves links from DMOZ and your site will reap the benefits.
The big catch however is actually getting your site into the directory in the first place. Find the perfect category for your site
UPDATE...the one part where this article is off ( and not helpful in getting your site into DMOZ ) is in the multiple submissions...this actually won't help your chances at all.
Also, there is a great post from Bob Keating to check into on 'Why Hasn't My Site Been Accepted Into DMOZ" specifically including this passage here:
No one is monitoring the category. While a few categories in DMOZ may not have a listed editor that doesn't mean there's no one minding the store. All editors listed higher in a category's hierarchy can and do edit subcategories. In addition, many editors have permissions to edit anywhere in the directory.
1. Interesting. Flies in the face of the advice being given on other forums that its just another backlink, that you should submit to the best category, whether it has an editor or not, or that once you have submitted you shouldnt resubmit regularly. Guess that was shaky advice....
Oh well, now the word is official from the ODP that this what we need to do... Thanks for the post!
Posted at 11:13AM on May 8th 2008 by Ian
2. "Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts"
The information in the article is woefully out of date, and should not be endorsed here.
Directory links can have value - and one from ODP almost certainly does, but talk of 'gold' is naive. Because of rampant directory abuse, ALL directory links have much lower value than they used to, though 'edited' directories are recognised for adding value to Google searches.
And I'm almost sure I shouldn't have to remind readers that just because a category has no named editor, it does NOT mean that no-one will see a submission.
It might be more honest (and useful) to say that external submissions to all categories are low priority, due to the 95% spam nature of external submissions.
Unless you know different?
Posted at 11:24AM on May 8th 2008 by Andrew Heenan
3. Hey Andrew - thanks for the comment.
"gold = naive" - like I mentioned, their words not ours.
But I think you'll find similar comments from those who have their site in ODP.
And your other comments are completely correct, and we've actually have tried to help shape perspective that external submissions are appreciated...but not among the primary sources our editors use to populate categories. And that just because no editor is referenced for a particular category...that doesn't mean that no one is minding the store.
Bob Keating did a great post on this a while back, link is below.
Thanks again for the comment.
http://blog.dmoz.org/2007/10/08/why-hasnt-my-site-been-accepted-into-dmoz/
Posted at 11:52AM on May 8th 2008 by austinontheside
4. Thank you, bbqgrant - it's great to see another post here. :)
However, it is rather unfortunate that both the lauded article and the official ODP guidelines (http://www.dmoz.org/help/submit.html - "Last update: 2004") are at odds with the above-mentioned post by the Editor-in-Chief.
This inevitably results in confusion, which then requires further explanation, and often unnecessarily heated discussion.
It would obviously benefit everyone if all the "official" resources gave the same message, so I wonder if there are plans to implement any of the much-needed corrections and updates to public ODP documentation that have been suggested, discussed, and agreed upon by volunteer editors over the last couple of years?
Posted at 1:05PM on May 8th 2008 by makrhod
5. DMOZ is like gold if you can actually get listed. We have been trying for five years.
Posted at 3:51PM on May 8th 2008 by Ian
6. In my experience it's all due to .. eh .. (no) communication .... either to get listed, be an new editor or be re-instated as an editor.
Having up-to-date documentation like makrhod points out may be the main reason for all this confusion ....
.... so we could turn DMOZ into true gold, if we were allowed:)
Posted at 3:03PM on May 8th 2008 by Nora
7. Thanks for the corrections. Its a shame that there is so much conflicting documentation and messages given in so many unofficial forums by so many different people, and nothing official that is up-to-date enough to use as a reference - makes things even more confusing than they really are.
Posted at 4:38PM on May 8th 2008 by Ian
8. Nice. How long does dmoz take to approve or disapprove a submission?
I submitted my entry last week, and as far as I can see it was
accurate to the dot. There were no misleading content, I had kept
everything in there as minimal and simple as possible. Thanks!
Posted at 1:15AM on May 9th 2008 by alex
9. thats right, thats like gold if your site listed there but need long time and hard work to be listed
Posted at 2:42PM on May 11th 2008 by awans
10. Hmm - so I can't work out then if this is a genuine, thriving, busy, valuable community and project - or all a bit weak and wobbly?
Assuming the positive side, I'd have expected your original blog Bob, with a promise of weekly postings since Sept 24 2007, to have produced a wee bit more - or am I missing some links?
And keeping faith with taking you at face value, since I noted elsewhere that one good reason why listings might take a while was if volunteer editors were noted as required at the bottom of that category, I applied. The (apparently automated) reply says that either that is too big a category for a new editor (300 total listings) or there are already plenty of editors busy with that category (so why a year to list one new one and so many glaring omissions)?
Nothing else in your guidelines would lead me to believe that we might have been reviewed and declined, and I wasn't keeping score, but I'd have said that category hadn't changed that much in a year. (Salesmanship)
But if you are still a tip-top resource, active, well-staffed, reliable, "open" etc., - why so many problems with communicating what's going on, getting people listed or explaining why not, dispelling urban myths, maintaining a quality reputation (at least one top SEO specialist I know personally says it's not what it was), and so on?
I'd still be happy to help - if I could.
Kind regards
Neil Warren -
Posted at 12:22PM on May 11th 2008 by neil
11. dmoz verry good
Posted at 3:48AM on May 12th 2008 by VIETNAMTRAVEL
12. To me looks easier to be listed in dmoz (2 month) than to have the category corrected (more than 6 and still waiting) by the editor! Even when there is an obvious macroscopic mistake.
My personal view is that is better to have a "good directory" than a "full directory" (if there are not enough editors to do the job, as it's seems), and maybe corrections should have the priority... this would keep the "gold" going.
Anyway thanks for your work, that in most cases is excellent.
Posted at 3:52AM on May 13th 2008 by Claudia
13. DMOZ need to be updated to DMOZ 2.0!
http://www.framemory.com
Posted at 4:29AM on May 15th 2008 by ekree
14. Well, i'm a bit annoyed about dmoz. On the one hand, the directory has a great (overpowered) Google trust and has the will to become "the biggest hand-made directory ever". On the other hand, there is no professional skill to write a little bot/ crawler for example, that is able to at least eliminate 70% of the 95% spam of the external submissions.
I'm annoyed, because I'm also waiting to be registered to dmoz with about 8 Sites, that contain serious content and the categories were accurately chosen.
For the moment, dmoz seems to me as an association of nepotism more likely than a directory.
Regards
Posted at 4:36AM on May 15th 2008 by Peter
15. @neil: A category with 300 listings (including all sub-categories) is, for various reasons, usually considered too large for a new editor. Did you read the part of the application instructions that says: "Your chances of becoming an editor are greater if you apply for a small, underdeveloped category to start (generally categories with less than 100 sites)"?
Posted at 6:06AM on May 15th 2008 by chaos127
16. @neil: A category with 300 listings (including all sub-categories) is, for various reasons, usually considered too large for a new editor. Did you read the part of the application instructions that says: "Your chances of becoming an editor are greater if you apply for a small, underdeveloped category to start (generally categories with less than 100 sites)"?
Posted at 6:06AM on May 15th 2008 by chaos127
17. thank you http://jonturkler.wordpress.com/
Posted at 3:27PM on May 17th 2008 by mehmeter46
18. that's right
Posted at 2:35AM on May 21st 2008 by shelia
19. I noticed Quantcast is using DMOZ descriptions but is not following DMOZ's attribution rules. Anyone know how they are able to do that? Are they getting special treatment? Or can anyone do this? Here's an example http://www.quantcast.com/nytimes.com
Posted at 2:27AM on May 22nd 2008 by Chris Johnson
20. Yes, and God forbid you should request a url update once you're listed, because you're out of luck.
I'm sure your volunteer editors are overworked, and blah, blah, blah. Yes, well you took the job. Do the work.
It takes a few seconds to update a url. Our Google rankings are crap until you follow through.
Me? Two months and counting, waiting for DMOZ to update my url.
Posted at 2:45AM on May 22nd 2008 by slobjones