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    About DMOZ  |  Open Directory Project Blog
    Since 1998, the Open Directory Project has been the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a passionate, global community of volunteer editors.
    Jul 29th 2009 5:24PM
    For site suggestors, one of the most important (and sometimes confusing) parts about submitting is determining whether a site's content is unique by ODP standards. For this post, editor crowbar has prepared some tips and examples to help clarify.

    Emily

    - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    You'll often hear us referring to the "unique content" of a site as being one of our main focuses in considering whether a site should be added to the Directory or not. Unique content is both simple and complicated to explain because what we are talking about and looking for pertains to the category itself, and with over 590,000 categories in the Directory, it means we could have 590,000 versions, each of them different.

    As it states in the Guidelines we follow:
    "Consider the relative value of a resource in comparison to other information resources available on your particular topic. Relative value refers not only to the quality of the site, but also to its ability to contribute important, unique information on a topic.

    In general, ODP editors should enter sites that represent the following:
    • Original, unique and valuable informational content that contributes something unique to the category's subject.
    • Contrasting points of view on major issues. The ODP attempts to cover the full breadth and depth of human knowledge, representing all topics and points of view on those topics. "
    (Source: http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/include.html#include)

    What this means is that our primary goal as editors is to build useful categories for people who are looking for information about either a Topic or a Geographical Area of the world, and we serve only these people, no one else. In our attempts to do this, we need to look at two things:
    1. The content on a site that we're reviewing for possible inclusion.
    2. The content that already exists in that particular category.
    From our Guidelines:
    "Is the site's content/information identical to other sites? - A site should not mirror content available on other sites."

    We see this often on cookie cutter, pre-made site designs. If the information is the same on each site, why would the information seeker want to waste their valuable time looking at it again (even if it's by a different owner), so we look for any unique content that might be on it. If we find it, we'll list the site; if not, we'll delete the site suggestion. Perhaps the site owner owns two or three sites with the same information on them; in this case, we will only list one of them, provided it meets the listing criteria. Editors do not consider how well a site is designed, its page rank, how much traffic it gets, how large or small it is, or the desires or needs of the site owner. Those things have nothing to do with building good categories of information for people looking for specific things, and that's all we're interested in.

    Sometimes local business owners are confused about what defines "unique content" for their sites – being the only business of their kind in their town vs. the actual content on the site.

    If you are confused about the term "unique content" because your type of business is the only one in town and you can't compare your content to another business's content in that category, it might be helpful to think of your content in the terms of "original content" instead; in other words, does your site have information created by yourself that no other site has?

    In a Regional listing it is very easy to provide unique content just by answering the questions: Who are you and what do you do?

    A non-generic personal description of your business does two things: first, it provides the unique, original content we're looking for, and second, it gives us the information to write a better description of your business for your listing. Who knows your business better than you do?

    Our job is to boil that description down to two or three sentences that will tell the information seeker what you are, and what can be found on your site. The purpose of that is not to entice someone, but to give them the facts so they can decide for themselves if you have the information they're looking for. A preview of the site. Not opinion, but of facts, which is why we are only interested in the content on your site.

    If there is exactly one real estate agent in a locality, but the agent's site has nothing more than contact information and MLS search (and other template content), we would still not list it.

    The number of businesses of a particular type (whether 1 or 100) in a given category has no effect whatsoever on the listability of an individual website. In order to list the website, the content of the website must be unique, and must be more significant than what one would find on a business card or in a telephone directory.

    An example of non-uniques would be a hotel booking site with information about a particular hotel, in comparison to the site of the hotel itself, we would always choose the site of the hotel itself.

    Also, we often re-evaluate listed sites, and those considered listable in the past may not remain so a move or even a delete is an eventuality.

    Can you give me some advice about what kind of unique content I should put on my site?
    Surprisingly, yes I can. Even though I don't know your particular site, and editors can't be expected to help you build your site, I will give you some personal opinion.

    1. Always keep your eyes strictly on providing as much valuable information and help as you can to any possible visitor, because that's who we try to serve in building categories. If you have a website, then you know what those things are, and we will spot it as unique content (if it's there). Shift your thinking from gaining something from your site to giving something to the information seeker.
    2. If you have something different or valuable to offer, point it out on your main page where we can spot it easier.
    3. Personal opinion or experience in a topic would be considered unique content.
    4. It is better to write the content yourself, or have it exclusively written for you.
    5. Don't copy content from other sites (including so-called "free content").

    None of these things guarantee a listing, but I believe they would be very helpful. Just remember that editors are building categories for information seekers, and in doing so, they really don't need all the sites that exist, only the ones that make the category itself more useful for the information seeker.

    No one should ever build a site for the purpose of getting it listed in the Directory (just like one shouldn't build a site just for Google); instead, they should build the site for their visitors. If that site happens to become more listable because of what we've mentioned here, then we've accomplished what this blog post intended.

    Posted by Emily Kayser  |  Comments (29)
    Jul 10th 2009 2:31PM
    DMOZ provides a wealth of local and regional resources to users in towns large and small across the US and around the world. In this post, editor crowbar talks about the experience of building out these local categories.

    Emily

    - - - - - - - - - -

    One of the more rewarding tasks of editing in the Regional section of the Directory is to find a small locality (city) with only a few listings, and to put it on the Internet map by hunting down every possible site that exists for it and listing those that meet our selection criteria <link to: http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/include.html> and fits the locality. Depending on the size of the city, it can either be quite rewarding, or quite challenging, but in either case, very important to the people who live there.

    My personal view is that every small town deserves to be represented on the web, and this is my attempt to make the Directory and its editors a little more transparent about what it is we do.

    As a country level editor, it's like looking at a road map of the whole United States, and each editing session is like throwing a dart at the map, wherever it lands is where I'll be working.

    A small city of 15,000 – 20,000 population with only 4 or 5 sites listed would be ideal. My very first category was like that. So where do I start? There are no public suggestions waiting in this one. The first thing I want to look for is the local Chamber of Commerce which usually has a good list of business, charity, and government sites and can be a real goldmine for an editor.

    Then on each one of those sites, I always look for links to other local sites, I'm building quite a large spider web of sites, and it becomes like a scavenger hunt, with one site leading to more sites. The Directory has a standard list of topical sub categories that can be used for each city, such as this one for Tampa, Florida:
    http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Florida/Local ities/T/Tampa/ . These include everything from education resources to transportation companies to local news sites.

    An editor will normally only create these subcategories when he/she has 3 to 5 sites to put in each of them. What the editor is doing is building a category of entities that are located in this city. Most sites in Regional will be placed at this city (locality) level, not at the County, Region, or State levels.

    Next, I'm going to look for educational sites, churches, website builders, real estate sites, and look for more links on them. If I get real desperate, I'll Google some of the zip codes I find on the sites or the first six digits of telephone numbers, both will pop up sites that exist in that area.

    Now, I'll take a look at the sites at the County, Region, and State levels. They will sometimes lead me to other sites located in this locality, and I can also search the rest of the Directory. Many times there will be sites listed in a Topical category that can also be listed in the locality.

    If an editor lives in the area, checking the local yellow pages of the phone book can yield a lot of sites, or the ads in local newspapers. It becomes so engrossing that a couple of hours can fly by before you know it, but the real reward is seeing a couple hundred new sites listed in all the proper subcategories. You have built something for that city and given them an equal presence on the Internet where they can compete, and they will never know it was you who did it.

    The editor will never get a thank you for it, and none is expected, we do it for our own satisfaction. I suppose it's like putting a puzzle together, nobody really cares, but it was fun to do. This is just one activity, in one part of the Directory. Each area of the Directory is a little different to edit in and has its own specific guidelines, and there are many different tasks that an editor can choose to do in each editing session.

    I think it's this freedom of choice and the trust that's placed in us as well as the satisfaction of building something worthwhile that keeps us at it. I hope I've given you some insight into what it is we really do inside the Directory.

    Posted by Emily Kayser  |  Comments (24)
    Jun 26th 2009 12:00PM
    We occasionally get questions from site owners and directory users who have noticed that previously-listed sites are no longer available in DMOZ. There are three primary reasons that sites might be removed, some temporary and some permanent. The list below explains these in detail.

    The site was down when our automated tools scanned it.
    Editors use a number of automated tools to help to keep the directory up-to-date. Occasionally a site is down when a tool checks the contents of a category. The first time this happens, the tool will flag the site but leave the directory listing intact. If the site is down again when the tool scans that category again (generally several days later), it will temporarily remove it so that an editor can provide a manual review & either restore it (if it is back online) or remove it. If you know that a site has recently been down for a few days for any reason, this is the most likely reason for its removal.

    Note that sites that block our automated tools will appear to be down when they are scanned, so they may be removed for this reason. The same thing is true of sites that block editors who are attempting to review them. A page that can't be reviewed can't be listed in the directory.

    The site is being moved to another category.
    DMOZ is a living directory, so it is constantly growing and changing. Over time, some categories will grow larger and more complex and editors will split them into smaller, more specific sub-categories. When this happens, some sites will move out of the original category and into the new one. In most cases, category reorganizations are performed by editors with permissions in both the original category and in the new destination category, so the site simply moves to a new location.

    If you think a site has moved and you're not sure of its new location, you can look for it by using the search feature within the directory. Note that you must use a "domain.extension" format in order for the search to return the correct results. For example, a user looking for Amazon's site would need to search for "amazon.com" rather than "www.amazon.com" in order for the search to return the desired results.

    Occasionally, a site may move as the result of a content change rather than as the result of a category reorganization. When this happens, the site requires a new review and may be temporarily removed from public view until the destination category's editor has approved it.

    The site is now unlistable.
    There are three primary scenarios that will make a previously-listed site unlistable. The first is that the content of the site has changed and no longer meets our requirements for inclusion in the directory. It may no longer have unique content, or the purpose of the site may have changed (for example, if the domain name has been transferred to a new owner who alters its purpose). In this case, an editor would permanently remove the site from the directory. It will continue to be considered unlistable until such time as the site has been altered to meet our requirements.

    The second scenario is that the site itself has not changed, but the listing guidelines for the directory overall (or the particular area of the directory where the site resides) have changed. In this case, an editor would also permanently remove the site from the directory.

    The third scenario is that the site was originally listed in error – either as the result of a mistake, an editor's misunderstanding of the listing guidelines, or abuse – and should not have been listed in the directory in the first place.

    Site owners sometimes express concern that their sites have been deleted due to editor corruption. While this is rare, there are unfortunately times when it occurs. We take corruption accusations very seriously, and remove any editor who is found to have acted in an abusive manner. If you feel that a site was removed in violation of the DMOZ editing guidelines, you can submit an abuse report (including all details and evidence) via our public abuse reporting system.

    Posted by Emily Kayser  |  Comments (20)
    Jun 23rd 2009 5:02PM
    Hey Everyone!

    Editor lisagirl has provided the latest in our series of posts highlighting portions of the directory, this time focusing on the Shopping section.

    Emily

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    "Hello, my name is lisagirl, how may I assist you??"

    "Hi lisagirl! Does DMOZ accept shopping sites?"

    "Why yes, we do accept submissions for all sorts of shopping websites. Have you checked over in the Shopping description section? If you can't find what you need there, check the Shopping FAQs section."

    "Thanks! Is there anything else I should know?"

    "Why, yes! We've covered the requirements below. I'm quite certain whatever you need can be found there!"

    * * *

    To be listed in the Shopping branch, the requirements are simple. The website must have:
    1. A listing of products for sale,
    2. Prices,
    3. A way for the consumer to buy the product without having to leave the comfort of his/her
    house, and (of course)
    4. Unique content.

    If the website only has "here's a few photos of our stock, call us for more info" that won't be listed in the Shopping branch because it doesn't have specific products listed or prices.

    If the website has a list of products but no prices, it still won't be listed in Shopping. It must meet the 4 criteria above.

    If the site doesn't meet them, you can try suggesting the site to a related category in the Business branch (for example, a manufacturer's website) or in the Regional branch (for example, a local grocery store).

    But wait! There's more! If the site is a USA-based business, it must ship across most of the USA. For all other countries, the business must ship to at least one other country. (For DMOZ purposes, the United Kingdom is considered one country.) If the business fails this requirement, you can suggest the site to the "Regional/Country Name/Business and Economy/Shopping" category that corresponds to the country you're looking for.

    Ohhh yes, there is one more tiny little thing: doorways, mirror sites, lists of advertisements and drop-shippers are prohibited in the shopping category. Non-English sites should be submitted to the appropriate World category. If you'd like more details, view the shopping category description.

    Titles? Descriptions?
    You can always try this blog post about writing titles and descriptions. In the Shopping branch, we focus descriptions more than on the products offered, but of course if the website has features that others don't, mention them!

    Where to suggest a site??
    You can either click and surf 'til you find what you want, or try a simple search within the Shopping branch, or see where the competition is listed. The closer you can get, the better. If you don't know where the site belongs, make an educated guess. If you instead submit it to a higher level (such as submitting a site selling ocarinas to Shopping/Music/Instruments instead of Shopping/Music/Instruments/Winds/Ocarina hoping the editors will figure it out, that will only delay the site's review. So please, do your best to get the site as close as you can!

    What sorts of shopping sites does the Open Directory Project list?
    You name it! How about these examples:
    Edible Insects
    Ear candles
    Clothes for lawn geese
    Barbie dolls
    "Green" furniture
    Letters from St. Nick
    and of course...CHOCOLATE!!!

    Posted by Emily Kayser  |  Comments (7)
    Jun 5th 2009 12:00AM

    Happy 11th Birthday, DMOZ

    Hard to believe, but it's already been 11 years since DMOZ launched back on June 5, 1998. In that time, it has grown to become the largest human-edited directory on the web thanks to the tens of thousands of dedicated volunteer editors who have collected, sorted and organized millions of websites into categories on topics ranging from Aerospace to Zoology (and just about everything in between). The directory includes more than a half-million categories and content in more than 80 languages. There is even a hand-built directory of recommended sites just for Kids & Teens.

    There are numerous ways that people get information from the web. Depending on the circumstances, some people begin by using search engines such as Google, AOL, Yahoo and MSN; at other times, a directory-based approach such as the one DMOZ offers may provide the better path to the desired information.

    If this is your first time here, welcome! It's worth pointing out that our volunteer editors select sites for inclusion in the directory based on unique content, so a stroll through the directory can provide an excellent overview of a particular topic. If you'd like to see an example of this in action, you can read this blog post.

    From the beginning, the directory data has been offered free of charge to site owners who would like to use it to enhance their own site. The only obligation is that proper attribution is given to show DMOZ as the source of the data. DMOZ data provides the basis for Google Directory, but is also used on thousands of smaller sites which extract a small amount of data relevant to the topics they cover. You can learn more about usage guidelines and how to retrieve the data at our RDF overview page.

    We invite you to take a look around the directory and see what we have to offer. If you'd like to contribute, you can learn more about becoming an editor and help us continue to build the directory in its second decade.

    Posted by Emily Kayser  |  Comments (38)

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