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A site I manage has a DMOZ listing, but it is not for the home page. [In other words, if the home page was www.example.com, the DMOZ listing is for www.example.com/file.htm]
My question is should I attempt to submit the main home page and / or other pages from the same domain, or is that considered spamming or is otherwise verboten? Can one submit multiple pages from the same domain or does only the root domain qualify for submission?
Finally, how important is a DMOZ listing and is it worthwhile investing in the time and effort?
Thanks for your comments.
[edited by: pageoneresults at 1:46 pm (utc) on July 8, 2004]
[edit reason] Examplied References [/edit]
Best,
James
[edited by: pageoneresults at 1:46 pm (utc) on July 8, 2004]
Welcome to WebmasterWorld!
I have a program that extracts information from Dmoz (Yes, I'm one of the jerks making Dmoz so slow). I have seen MANY instances of sites listed in multiple categories, even though it's not supposed to happen.
Try another relevant category with your homepage. Links from Dmoz help a lot, and more than one to your site would be nice.
-M
[search.dmoz.org...]
Most commonly, the choice to deeplink is taken by an editor, not through multiple submissions. Certainly it's best to go for a listing for your homepage before worrying about anything else.
In your specific case, I don't think it would be unreasonable to submit your homepage to the most appropriate category. If that's the same category as where the deeplink is listed, it would be better (and quicker) to submit an update request for the page already listed to change it to the homepage.
Here's the relevant part of the dmoz guidelines on deeplinking:
[dmoz.org...]
Finally, how important is a DMOZ listing and is it worthwhile investing in the time and effort?
A DMOZ listing is not the be-all and end-all of search engine ranking. However, relative to the time and effort required to submit a guidelines [dmoz.org]-compliant description, it's definitely worth it. No need to get hung up on how long it might take to get listed - just submit properly and forget about it, then concentrate on other promotion strategies.
1. A free link
2. A link that does not have to be reciprocated
3. A link that *may* have reasonable PR
4. A link that gets repeated by all the 100's of DMOZ clones (eg Google Diectory)
5. A link that is possibily on-topic or on-theme
6. A link from an authority/expert site
7. A link that *might* get you some traffic
8. A debatable boost in Google
> and is it worthwhile investing in the time and effort?
What time and effort? - it only takes 5 minutes!
One point here. You may be thinking to narrowly. The OP is very vague about his site. However, if it the the typical sort of site webmasters around here have, namely a commercial one that if listed in the ODP it would land in a low PR cat with lots of sites listed, the benefit of the link likely would be very minor. With Google all links help, and because of that an ODP link sure can't hurt. However, if the OPs site is targeting competitive keywords, its gonna take more than an ODP link to get much of anywhere with Google. IOW, if we want to debate the boost in Google, the extent of the debate is precisely how significant it is.
However, Google ain't the only fish in the search engine pond. Lots of people use Yahoo, which uses Ink SERPs. And, Bill Gates is rattling sabers and has a new search engine in beta now that he has publicly stated he is gunning for going after Google's market share. As Bill Gates has literally *billions* of dollars to throw at any endeavor he wants, THAT is significant. Particularly if being a serious player in the search engine game is an ego thing to him.
Leaving some open questions. What is the relevance of an ODP listing in Ink? And, FAR more importantly, WHAT will be the relevance of an ODP listing in the future search engine of Bill Gates? Consider the implications if the answer to the latter is "a LOT"...
I've seen what appears to be a very tangible benefit for Google that's got nothing to do with PR or anchor text. I've not mentioned it, nor do I intend to elaborate, except to one person who confirmed the possibility.
>>and is it worthwhile investing in the time and effort?
You bet it is! If it's a legitimate site just submit, leave it alone and go on with life.
>8. A debatable boost in Google
I originaly said 'debatable' to avoid any debate!
In other threads I have seen people argue, somewhat aggressivly, of the huge boost that being in DMOZ gives you in the Google search results. Just as many people argue that a DMOZ link has no more value than any other link of similar PR and links on a page as far as Google is concerned and does not give you any special boost Google ...
However, a DMOZ listing can potentially give your site a good PageRank. There are many sites on the web that have PR5 based on nothing but having a DMOZ link. This is pretty impressive for a 100% free listing.
