Dmoz - still important to Google?

Will ODP listing help Google rankings?

[Xenozenith]

Some say that dmoz is a must to get higher Google rankings. Others say dmoz is defunct and Google doesn't really care about it anymore.
Anybody have the scoop?

(I spent a considerable amount of time getting my new site listed in dmoz, because the category I needed to get into (or even other remotely related categories) had no editor. I finally succeeded, but did I waste my time?)

-Xenozenith

[Nick_W]

Well, it's a link right? - And links are good. So, you've got a link. Go get some more ;-)

Nick

[tigger]

I think so, I've a few clients that are ranking high on Google thanks to Dmoz that are beating sites that have a much higher PR

[Legin]

As far as I'm concerned Dmoz is a must.. It is not only 1 link but possibly as hundreds.. Dmoz results come up in hundreds of small portals around the world. Over time when hey update their listings to the latest versions google will count many of those links too.

[vitaplease]

DMOZ is often the highest Pageranked link available for free.

However, if someone searches for your company name in Google,
they are first presented with the DMOZ category(ies).

That might distract...it also might lead to new searchers searching for your competitor and checking out DMOZ/Google directory and seeing your site listed first because of your high Pagerank.

(In my case the searchers are also presented with another company, spelled slightly differently - very annoying - so called spell-checking help)

[WindSun]

Despite all prior messages, the simple fact is, is that it depends.

For a site just getting started with few incoming links and/or low PR, it can be important. For an established site with more than a few dozen links, it will make little if any difference. It does get you listed in the Google directory, but there again for established sites it does little if anything.

The one reason to try and get listed, especially for a new site, is that it seems to ensure that you will be crawled by Google. Almost nobody uses DMOZ directly - we get about 3 hits a month from direct searches, out of 300K+.

DMOZ used to be more important as an incoming link, but Google seems to have downgraded it to the status of just one more link. Also, it is very difficult to get listed on a DMOZ page with a high PR - and if the PR is less than 4 it won't do anything for you.

It is not only 1 link but possibly as hundreds

Actually, that is highly over rated. In fact, I am not even sure that Google looks at all those other directories that use DMOZ data. We have around 4000 incoming links on one site, and not a single one is from one of those directories.

[edited by: WindSun at 12:34 pm (utc) on Mar. 4, 2003]

[taj79]

Yes dmoz matters a lot.
I give u an example.
There is a geocities webpage which has only internal backlinks
except 2 external links as shown by google.
the external links are
a) dmoz
b) google directory

[GodLikeLotus]

The first 3 results for our main keyword are sites which are all in DMOZ in the Same catagory.

[Legin]

Actually, that is highly over rated. In fact, I am not even sure that Google looks at all those other directories that use DMOZ data. We have around 4000 incoming links on one site, and not a single one is from one of those directories.

If we do a search for links to our site it list lots and lots of smaller dmoz powered directories.. Surly these links all help?

[rfgdxm1]

No, the ODP is by no means a must to do well with Google. In most cases, the ODP link means little. Most ODP cats have low PageRank, and because the cat has a lot of sites listed, each outbound link transfers very little PR. However, in the case of an ODP cat with a PR of 7 and few sites listed (such do exist), obviously such a link could be very helpful with Google. However, odds are extremely high that if your site could get listed in an ODP cat with high PR and few sites listed, this would mean that your site is on such an uncommon topic that the keywords people would search to find your site are so uncompetitive that it wouldn't be hard to do well for them even without that ODP link.

[dbcooper]

Google and DMOZ: when will the fascination end? [webmasterworld.com]

[jp29997]

only my experience here...last year our popular niche site was #32 in Google for it's keyword. The only SEO step we took (besides growing our business naturally) was to pursue a listing in the correct category of DMOZ-not an add just move it out of the place it was incorrectly indexed, when that was achieved and Google updated their own directory (a total time of about 2 months), we moved from #32 to #8.

To me, that's a dramatic improvement due entirely to DMOZ.

[Hollywood]

DMOZ is a joke, the people over there are so badly manipulated by stuff pockets it is amazing. A dying regime if ya ask me.

Some sites have 5 listings that are all about the same but they will never add your 2nd or even third site, oh, ummmmm... unless ya have a present for them.

[ettore]

>> A dying regime if ya ask me

You can always apply to the UN for a resolution...

[adding dying regime to my list - wow, a new entry...]

[cornwall]

>>No, the ODP is by no means a must to do well with Google.

I agree with that. It is a link, but appears to get no more weighting from Google than any other link of the same weight

[europeforvisitors]

I have four travel-related domains, two in DMOZ and two not. All four have a PR of 6 in Google. Granted, there are degrees of PR6 (some of my domains could be PR6.001, while others could be PR6.999), but I get the distinct impression that a DMOZ link is useful rather than critical--at least for a site with hundreds or even several thousand pages, some of which are acquiring PR from outside sources and sending it back to the home page.

PR and being crawled aren't the only reasons why a DMOZ is useful, of course. Two other benefits are:

1) Being listed in the Google Directory.

2) More important, having the DMOZ/Google Directory description shown above the often random "snippet" of text in Google's search results. A description such as:

WIDGETLAND
An encyclopedic guide to widgets by expert Frank A. Whatsis.

is obviously more useful in hooking readers than just:

WIDGETLAND
Blue widgets purple widgets yellow widgets red widgets Visit our sponsors...