Do DMOZ Links Count More?

Having links from DMOZ, are these "The links of all links"?

[peschli]

A new guy jumped on the scene, and now he is ranked #1 for our keyword. As I went through his sites links on google, I noticed a lot of his links are from DMOZ directory listings. And he is linked into a dozen different categories. Is it safe to be listed under a wide number of directories on DMOZ? Are these links "the links of all links" and will skyrocket our rankings?

[flicker]

Googleguy has said that links from DMOZ are treated exactly like links from any other site. I don't see any reason to doubt him on that.

If you're saying that the same URL is listed twelve times in twelve different DMOZ categories, though, you should probably go over to the ODP public forum and report it. The only time one URL should have that many listings is if its content is available in lots of different languages (in which case it would merit a listing in each appropriate World directory and wouldn't need to be reported).

All in my personal and unofficial opinion, of course.

[jbinbpt]

Their FAQ is specific on this..

You should submit your site to the single most appropriate category that is directly relevant to your site's content. Please only submit your site one time. The ODP editors reserve the right to use their editorial discretion to determine which category or categories your site will ultimately be placed.

I am curious if they are listed multiple times in the Google directory also.

[Spine]

How new is he? It's been noticed before that a new site with a few links can do really well for a month or two after googlebot finds it. After that the site is on a level playing field with the rest, it's like google gives the benefit of the doubt.

[peschli]

Well this is good to know, he has been around for about 7 months or so. People who are linking into his site are not very well known or even high in the rankings, as for ours we have very large companies ranked very high in the search engines linking to us. It leaves me scratching my head.

[DVDBurning]

Check the whois information on the site, and all sites that link to it. You might be surprised to find that the owner, or the web server that hosts these sites is common to many of the sites.

This kind of Google Spam network is very common unfortunately.

[GodLikeLotus]

peschli
<A new guy jumped on the scene, and now he is ranked #1 for our keyword.

Your Keyword, welcome to the world of competition.

Just checked how many links the BBC have in DMOZ: Would you believe 4094.

About the DMOZ-Google Directory, I have yet to find another way of getting the extra Description and Category next to results in the SERPS.

It is a real problem, editors with a conflict of interest. Would you list your competitors to help them get above you in the results?

[angiolo]

Having several listings in DMOZ could be legitimate.

You can have a look here:

[****...]

[patoruzu]

If a single site covers a great variety of issues it could be indexed in more than one category of DMOZ. There’s lot of examples. I have a site whose home page was indexed in two categories, although I submitted it in only one category. It was a decision of DMOZ. In addition, a bit later an internal page of the same site was indexed in a third category of DMOZ, although I didn’t do anything. There are sites with various internal pages indexed in different categories. Eventually it increases your PR, mainly because these pages in DMOZ are listed by other directories.

[edited by: patoruzu at 8:31 pm (utc) on Jan. 5, 2004]

[angiolo]

Oooops.

I didn't remember that we are not allowed to post URL anymore. I apologise for that (Sorry Brett..).

In any case you can find the URL, searching for the last part of that URL on google.

[flicker]

Wait, are you complaining that this guy's >URL< has 12 listings with the ODP, or that his >site< does? There is a difference... it's theoretically possible that his site has enough subsections with enough genuinely valuable informational material to justify deeplinking them, as the BBC site does. But NO single URL should have 12 listings in the English-language section of the ODP as far as I know. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ has three, by the way).

If his URL is listed 12 times (and not in different language sections) I'd really suggest you bring that up, or at least sticky it to me and I'll take a look into it. It's probably not the cause of the Google ranking thing, but it still really Should Not Be.

[peschli]

Well this site consists of about 20 pages and his categories in my eyes are kinda sketchy for what he is llisted unbder. None of his pages go into a sub directory. And there are no keyword Meta Tags and no 'ALT' tags.

I'm sure these are helping him, but I just thought it was interesting that alot of links to his pages are coming from DMOZ directoies. By no means am I complaining, just analyizing and bringing it to a discussion point with you Google goers.

[g1smd]

>> there are no keyword Meta Tags and no 'ALT' tags <<

Search engines have long ignored the meta keywords tag.

The <title> and meta description are important though.

There is no such thing as an alt tag. There is the alt attribute which can be used with the <img> tag, and when that image is part of a clickable link, then the alt attribute text can be important too.