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>>Affiliate links should never be added to the directory.<<
What directory are they talking about?
It looks as though affiliate links are OK as long as they are minor compared to good content. I suppose it depends on the person reviewing the site to decide what that means though.
I'm on DMOZ; I just don't want to lose it.
Anne
Increasingly, Google is letting outside factors define your site's relevance to a particular set of keyword phrases; The reasoning being that it cleanses the serps of seo influenced results and hopefully returns more meaningful results.
Seen in this light, the pendulum swings back in favor of a dmoz listing being important. Of course, others will no doubt argue that a link from a topic related web site would do just as well. And this is true, but I think this is dependant on how much more authority Google decides to give to a dmoz listing. And that's the big question mark
Actually, it's not a question mark, Google weights a link from the ODP according to the PageRank of the specific category page in which your site is listed.
What's wrong with this picture?
how much more authority Google decides to give to a dmoz listing
Sorry if my statement wasn't clear enough: I was referring to a future algo tweak, hence "how much more authority" Google decides to..."
Which was written in the context of "off the page" factors having a greater hand in deciding where you rank. My fault, I should have added more detail.
Perhaps this is clearer, "How much more authority Google decides to give to a dmoz listing" in the future, as part of a tightening of the algo to give off the page factors more relevance.
That's the big question mark, in relevance to a discussion of links from dmoz and links from a regular page.
Seen in this light, the pendulum swings back in favor of a dmoz listing being important because, if Google decides to give "off the page factors" an even greater weight than it currently does, then dmoz may end up receiving greater authority as a determinant of what relevance your web site has to a particular keyword phrase.
This scenario is an extension of Google's recent trend toward giving greater weight to off the page factors in determining relevance.
Of course, others will no doubt argue that a link from a topic related web site would accomplish the same "defining effect." And this is true, but I think this is dependant on how much more weight Google decides to give to dmoz, as an authority. And that's the big question mark.
This scenario is an extension of Google's recent trend toward giving greater weight to off the page factors in determining relevance.
What this is leading to is, seen from the view of the direction that Google is currently heading in, by using off the page factors to define a site, is it really that wise to blow off dmoz entirely?
I don't know that there is any concrete proof to show that google uses themes, but I would definitely believe that if they are not already, they are looking into it. Check out 'Google Labs Sets' at [labs.google.com...]
I think it is certainly a possibility, and a justified one at that. DMOZ could certainly be a good start to defining theme sets, and thus carry some good weight in the algo factors defining SERPS.
When I think of theme, words like "topic" and "relevance" come to mind. Is there a better word or words to define this phenomenom where "off the page" factors, regardless to the extent, define what your site is about?
Maybe this should be in a thread all it's own.
This scenario is an extension of Google's recent trend toward giving greater weight to off the page factors in determining relevance.
I had the impression that the opposite is occurring: Google is giving more emphasis to on-page factors and less to off-page factors (i.e., PageRank) to combat the effects of PageRank being sold, crosslinking between domains, etc.
"...you've simply *got* to be in DMOZ"
To which SlyOldDog wrote
Twaddle. I have a site ranking in Google on the 1st page in a very competitve category with 3 inbound links - none of them from DMOZ.
A bit curt, but fair enough SlyOldDog - but your site can't possibly be in the Google Directory, with that nice extra text and description. As for your site being on Page 1, that's great, but with my inbound links (not that many) plus DMOZ I'm at No 1 on Page 1!
Human edited directories (and let's not forget Zeal) will always carry weight on the Web - whatever their faults.
By the way, there has been some discussion in this thread about problems/sites being dropped after requesting changes in DMOZ e.g. category moves. I strongly advise against requesting category moves - if you're in the directory leave it be - your site can end up lost somewhere between 2 different editors: my site was out of DMOZ for months because an editor decided to change its cat and the new editor didn't get round to doing anything.
ODP is an excellent starting point for new web sites because it gets you instant recognition on Google, but once you have a few other inbound links from quality sources I don't think there is any need to fear being delisted from ODP. Of course the example I gave you is not our main web site. I just wanted to illustrate how few links you need to rank well.
Just a note to the other comments here about directories being a strong factor in Google's rank. Our Yahoo categories are now pagerank 1. That's down from pagerank 4 when we listed last year. It seems the directories are being marginalised. And if Yahoo doesn't even believe in their own directory, why should Google?
I think Google will use Yahoo next...
