Getting Listed in DMOZ

Difficult, Difficult, Difficult

[dwebb01]

Hi there,
I am new here, glad to join such a wide range of intelligent people. I have been building websites for a couple of years, and now I am trying to become a better marketer. One of my biggest issues is Google PR. I though it would help to get into DMOZ, but what a pain. Either my site gets denied, or there is not an editor for a category, so I never hear anything. Anyone have any suggestions to building PR using Directory other then DMOZ, and any great tips for getting into DMOZ?

[ska_demon]

I think people read a little too much into pr. This has been discussed on the forum many times. PR is just googles representation of the quality of inbound links to your site. It has no real bearing on your rankings.

A good example: I have a site PR5 that ranks #30 for a keyword. The site at #1 for the same keyword has PR1?

PR is great if you want to sell it. But, people are becoming wise to the fact that it is pretty much useless except for maybe giving webmasters a warm fuzzy feeling about how much google may like their site.

You want quality relevant traffic? I would hope so ;oP

So, rankings is what you need. There are 1000's of directories out there to submit to so go ahead and submit to the most relevant. Over time you will build up more and more IBLs and your traffic will increase. You may find your PR will improve as well.

To get into DMOZ;

Follow the guidelines to a tee.
Submit ONCE and only ONCE else the editors will more than likely throw your site out for the hell of it. No one likes a directory spammer.
And finally wait and wait and probably wait a bit more. Patience is a virtue when it comes to getting a dmoz listing.

Welcome to WebmasterWorld BTW you will find answers to all your questions here I'm sure.

Ska

[cbpayne]

Either my site gets denied, or there is not an editor for a category

How do you know the site was denied?
No category is without an editor.

[dwebb01]

I don't know if my site was denied, just never heard anything back? You can look at the bottom of a category, and it either says:
Edited by SO AND SO

or VOLUNTEER TO EDIT THIS CATEGORY.

So I assume that if you post to a category with no editor named, it could sit for a few years. I have posted to some of these and haven't heard anything back?
Duston

[cbpayne]

I don't know if my site was denied, just never heard anything back?

You generally never do hear back. Its probably just still not reviewed, so every time you submitted you probably put yourself at a disadvantage as new submissions generally overwrite the old with the new date. If the editor chooses to sort the suggestion pool by date (most do), you just keep pushing your site to the back.

So I assume that if you post to a category with no editor named, it could sit for a few years.

No category is without an editor.

[victor]

So I assume that if you post to a category with no editor named, it could sit for a few years.

That, and your other questions, suggest you haven't read the guidelines.

If you are trying to suggest URLs to DMOZ without following the guidelines, frustration will result.

That's like trying to assemble flatpack furniture by guessing.

[trillianjedi]

any great tips for getting into DMOZ?

1. Submit once, to the correct category and within the guidelines.

2. Write your description carefully. Read the guidelines - they want objective descriptions and not hype. Have a look through the category that you're submitting to, and copy the style of description writing. The easier you make it for the editor, the quicker you will get in.

3. Forget all about it for 6 months.

TJ

[surfgatinho]

You can follow the guidelines until you go insane.

I have, what I have been told many times from independent sources, one of the most authoritative sites in my field yet can I get a listing? Nope, no chance.

I wouldn't care so much but IMHO Google puts so much weighting on a DMOZ listing that a site needs one to cut it.
Correct me if I'm wrong here but I have sites that are listed and they appear all over the SERPs. However the ones that aren't - different story!

[cbpayne]

Are you talking about the site in your profile - its listed.

[glitterball]

Just checked resource zone to post another "I have waited another 6 months, what is the status of my site?" post, only to find that they are no longer allowing those questions. - understandable really, it probably was a waste of someone's time to come back with the standard responses.

I am now waiting 3 years for a site to be listed.

In frustration, I just resubmitted. It is not a case that the category is never updated, numerous competing businesses that did not exist a year ago have been listed.

[pagode]

> In frustration, I just resubmitted.

Why?
If your site isn't listed after you suggested there are 2 possibilities:

1) it is still waiting, if an editor reviews sites in date of suggestion order you have now put your site back at the end of his review list, result an even longer wait

2) it was rejected, suggesting the site again will not make it listable, suggest it enough times and you will be seen as a spammer and might be banned forever

Tip:
Suggest only once to the best category. In less than 1% of the suggestions a technical error might have happened. To eliminate this small change suggest the site again after 6 months if it isn't listed yet. Do not suggest any more.

[glitterball]

Why?
If your site isn't listed after you suggested there are 2 possibilities:

1) it is still waiting, if an editor reviews sites in date of suggestion order you have now put your site back at the end of his review list, result an even longer wait

2) it was rejected, suggesting the site again will not make it listable, suggest it enough times and you will be seen as a spammer and might be banned forever

Tip:
Suggest only once to the best category. In less than 1% of the suggestions a technical error might have happened. To eliminate this small change suggest the site again after 6 months if it isn't listed yet. Do not suggest any more.

You're joking, right?

You are telling me that I should be patient after waiting for 3 years.
Many brand new competing sites have been listed in the last year that are actually operating completely illegaly. The site I am looking after is the most established business (the business is older than the website) in this area.

[cbpayne]

You're joking, right?

No joke - very good information.

You are telling me that I should be patient after waiting for 3 years.

You are under the mistaken assumption that DMOZ is a listing service and that a DMOZ editor's job is to process and list submissions - DMOZ is not that.

If your site has been submitted, an editor is under no obligation to use the suggestion when bulding a category. They have many more sources of sites to use. After suggestig a site, there is nothing more you can do (except make your site better than the other sites in the category)

[iblaine]

Submit your site. Then pray.

I am personally hoping dmoz goes offline for good. It has way too many problems to serve its original purpose.

Do a search for 'dmoz forums' and you will find additional information and help.

[oddsod]

As the Alternative Webmaster Glossary [experienced-people.co.uk] defines it, the ODP is "the world's biggest group of volunteers who get together to not do anything". Also defined as "That place where you submit a site and forget about it. (And they forget about it too)." :)

[cbpayne]

"the world's biggest group of volunteers who get together to not do anything"

Have you not noticed that DMOZ just passed the 5.1 million sites listed mark! Thats not doing nothing. Thats an awesome achievement. No other directory comes remotely close to that. It also makes DMOZ the fastest growing directory and no other directory comes remotely close to that growth rate.... this means the DMOZ way of "business" must be working very well to achieve that awesome size and growth rate!

[pagode]

>You are telling me that I should be patient after waiting for 3 years.

No I tried to explain that either by suggesting the site over and over again you yourself are a big part of the reason it still isn't listed (that is if the site is listable at all which I don't know). My advice: do not suggest the site anymore.

[oddsod]

Have you not noticed that DMOZ just passed the 5.1 million sites listed mark! Thats not doing nothing. Thats an awesome achievement.

OK, sorry, we shouldn't joke about anything ODP related. I ....er... forgot about that.

[Lorel]

I think people read a little too much into pr. This has been discussed on the forum many times. PR is just googles representation of the quality of inbound links to your site. It has no real bearing on your rankings.

A good example: I have a site PR5 that ranks #30 for a keyword. The site at #1 for the same keyword has PR1?

This doesn't bear up with my research. If you check the top 10 sites in any category for PR, backlinks, keyword density and other important SEO factors you will begin to see how a PR 1 site can rank above a PR 5 (probably because the PR 5 site didn't focus on the later). For sure top ranking in the SERPs is not all based on PR but a PR 5 getting plenty of backlinks and with good SEO should be ranking at the top of the list.

[glitterball]

This is going to my last post as these endless debates with DMOZ volunteers on forums (there are 1000's of them) serve no purpose.
They only serve to further entrench the 'siege mentalities' of the DMOZ volunteers and probably slow the addition of new sites to the directory because the volunteers are too busy debating with webmasters in public forums.

Finally, in response to some of the comments:
My site is the best in it's field and has been for about 2 years. I submitted once and waited 3 years - perhaps I should have waited longer, but many, many new sites have been added to this category in the last year - obviously I cannot go into details here, but if you knew how obsurd these new additions were, then you would understand my frustration.

[texasville]

Hey! This whole thread was worth it if for nothing more than msg#15...Thanks Oddsod...I needed that laugh! Long, hard day...sometimes a chuckle just picks ya right up..

[g1smd]

So the other 5 million listings appeared by magic then?

[pcgamez]

glitterball-I've been waiting two years now for my site to get listed. There are maybe ~12 sites in the level of my category. Go figure.

[gpmgroup]

So the other 5 million listings appeared by magic then?

Not all websites are equal CNN.com for example has over 230,000 DMOZ listings I believe.

I think also DMOZ may not be as homogeneous as many webmasters imagine. In the same way that all websites are not created equal entry requirements and approval times are likely to differ significantly from category to category.

[g1smd]

>> "approval times"

This tends to suggest that you feel that the ODP is a listing service. That is one thing that it is not.

[gpmgroup]

Having read quite a few of the previous threads on DMOZ I choose my words very carefully as not to inflame any sensitivities and move the discussion on from the usual round of “us and them” from BOTH the Editors and the Webmasters.

I don’t believe “approval timea” indicates that I think DMOZ is a listing service for webmasters.

DMOZ does not notify webmasters that an Editor has decided a site may not be suitable or explain why to the webmaster. Looking therefore at the submission process without the benefits afforded by Editor Tools and the Resource Zone, there is only one measure which can be defined – The time from submission to approval by an Editor for inclusion within the directory – therefore my choice of words “approval times”

I see Google has started a pilot program to offer guidance on why [some] sites are not included in their index perhaps this will become industry best practice and DMOZ will be keen to follow suit.

[g1smd]

Sites that are "close" to includable, often have had, and will often continue to have, a quiet note dropped to the webmaster (sometimes "from an ODP editor" and sometimes from "a concerned surfer") with some hints and tips.

But, just as Google are only contacting certain types of sites, that have made certain types of errors (and are not contacting other sorts of sites) then the ODP will likely follow (ummm, is already following) the same sort of route:

Matt Cutts said:
This is not targeted to sites like buy-my-cheap-viagra-here-while-consolidating-your-debt-and-buy-some-posters-about-online-casinos.com, but more for sites that have good content, but may not be as savvy about what their SEO was doing or what that "Make thousands of doorway pages for $39.95; software was doing."

The ODP focus is likely somewhat different, but still following a roughly parallel path.

[Lorel]

Looking therefore at the submission process without the benefits afforded by Editor Tools and the Resource Zone,

The Resouce zone has gone into the Twilight Zone as of last May, i.e., closed down, kaput, zilch.

[pcgamez]

I think it would be helpful if DMOZ just allowed people to join simply to process the queue for a category. I'd be fine with processing 1k entries before mine was allowed.

[Eltiti]

The Resouce zone has gone into the Twilight Zone as of last May, i.e., closed down, kaput, zilch.

Oh, I thought that only the status requests had been discontinued...