Is DMOZ still relevant in 2009?

Does it make sense for SEOs to clamber around it in want of inbound links?

[anand84]

How important is DMOZ as a search engine optimization strategy today? Does Google even care about it today? Personally, I have not submitted any links ever to DMOZ,but then I am still a small timer, and so might not be right..

[Craven de Kere]

Dmoz content is freely distributed and is mirrored many other places, for this reason alone it is a link that carries more value than average. But it's not magical.

[KFish]

@signor_john what I said was more technical than a usability issue. Agreed average user does not know about a Google directory - but it does exist (directory.google.com) which comes from DMOZ - and cant be ignored.

[tigger]

had this discussion started 10 years everyone would have been defending Dmoz - now its a directory that virtually never lists a site - not unless your friends with the editor

[onepointone]

Just look at google trends/trends for websites to see where the value of dmoz (& directories in general) is headed. Or use compete, quantcast, whatever.

[2clean]

Tigger, a good listing in DMOZ used to put your on the front page of Google. Hence lots of "editors" contributing to the "community". When Google realised this causal link, they dropped DMOZ's power and many "editors" also left DMOZ as well (or just spammed DMOZ to a point of getting kicked themselves).

Submit to it, and make sure that you submit to the correct category and follow the guidelines. I can't believe a directory such as DMOZ does not have any influence in some search engines, so it's worth spending a bit longer on the submission just in case.

[tigger]

2Clean

the sites I've submitted over the years have been the correct cat along with hitting the mark with the guidelines! - Dmoz mite as well stop submission and just have it a closed shop for admins & editors only

[Rosalind]

Are any of the directories any better. There was comment earlier suggesting they were, but I do not believe it.

YMMV, but there are a few niche directories that are more up to date and comprehensive. Basically ones that have been set up and run by dedicated enthusiasts. It boils down to this: if you want to build a good list of useful bookmarks it's now much easier to set up your own directory than it is to wait around for Dmoz to approve you as an editor, plus you don't have to worry about sticking to their rules.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of someone who would potentially be a good category editor. Where would you be posting those links in 2009?

[Wlauzon]

..Are any of the directories any better..

Not really. The fault is not all DMOZ's - a lot of it is just that general directories have fallen out of favor.

A while back I did an in depth check of the top 300 referal domains, and there was only one directory of any type in there, and that was a niche directory for that particular product.

We get more hits from random discussion forums, blogs, etc than from any directory.

[Slinger]

DMOZ has been on life-support for years. It's still breathing but it's brain is a vegetable.
It can only communicate by blinking.

Another way to imagine DMOZ is like a doorstop. Many times a doorstop can be a useless item like a large rock or sea shell.

You can imagine DMOZ like a pile a garbage at the dump being held together by the wetness and mold and fungus growing all over from lack of editing.

Another way to think about DMOZ is something that was cool and had worth back in the 1990's, for example the early mobile phones that weighed a few pounds. They were cool at the time but now their day has passed.

Another way to think of DMOZ is a complete waste of time.
Did I say complete? Yes, complete.
100% waste of time....unless of course you like submitting your site and NEVER EVER hearing back from them NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU SUBMIT YOUR SITE.

Am i yelling?...lol

[g1smd]

If you keep on submitting, you get flagged as spam... it says that in The Guidelines.

I'm not surprised that you don't ever hear back if you so flagrantly flout their rules.

[Moncao]

I wonder how many of the positive replies come from DMOZ editors?!

[tigger]

>I'm not surprised that you don't ever hear back if you so flagrantly flout their rules.

I've never broken their rules sites get submitted twice over a 12 month period purely because I've got better things to waste my time on than keep resubmitting sites - but on the odd chance LOL a site may get listed to waste 10 minutes over a year is not a bad gamble

[JerryOdom]

I consider DMOZ being worth submitting to. I'm all about free.

[cnvi]

The problem with DMOZ is that the vast majority of joe public isnt using DMOZ. Joe public uses G, Y, and the new B.

I stopped wasting my time in DMOZ a long time ago primarily because I was an editor at DMOZ for a long time and I saw first hand how poorly it was run and the ridiculous rules that are imposed on editors.

On today's Internet, DMOZ is a complete waste of time and has zero value. I would rather have ten relevant reciprocal links rather than one link from DMOZ.

If DMOZ had any value they would have been acquired a long time ago.

[vetofunk]

This may be a good test for those of you who are interested. My family owns a jewelry company and we have 4 sites; 1 local company site B&M and other 3 are full ecommerce sites focusing on specific types of jewelry. They were all listed in DMOZ.

Well about 2 weeks ago DMOZ removed all of them except the local B&M site. One of them was in DMOZ for the past 4 years (site is 5 years old) the other for 2 years (site is 3 years old) and the last was just added about 2 months ago (site is 6 months old). They are all on page 1 for their competitive main terms.

I am going to see if I start seeing any drop in positioning from this loss. This could give us an idea if DMOZ is really worth it's weight.

I would suspect that the newest site would lose some positioning, but I think the other two older sites have built up enough trust to weather any possible storm.

[Bentler]

DMOZ is well organized and reviewed by editors, so it provides data that's ideal for assessing relevance and quality in certain sorting algorithms.

[gayleann]

I've had 2 sites get listed on DMOZ. After listing, these sites were also listed almost immediately by a number of small directories. Traffic on both sites increased, but since dmoz was only part of our efforts,and most of the referrals were through Google, it's hard to say how much of that effort was due to DMOZ.

[bhartzer]

I always look at the dmoz category where I want to be listed...and review all the sites listed there. Oftentimes there's a domain listed that is available to register (the you can redirect to your current site) or you can acquire sites in that category. If it's listed in dmoz there's a good chance that it has other links going to it, as well.

[JS_Harris]

DMOZ listings get copied by tons of other directory type sites which leads to more inbound links but I don't think I'll ever go visit DMOZ to find anything i'm looking for, Google does that chore well enough already.

That would make the value of DMOZ to me somewhere between belly button lint and the time it took to write this (just being honest).

[michaelj72]

because dmoz has been around for so long i believe that the search engines still give the listings/links there some decent 'value' or 'weight'. in general the older the link, the more valued, and the older and more trusted the domain the greater the value. it's true that the directory surely isn't what it used to be, one has only to read many of the comments about dmoz on the top seo forums on-line to know the extent of the discontent with the place, but a link there is still quite valuable in my opinion.

i was an editor there for a while years ago but dropped out from lack of interest/change in life, but never found the experience to be negative. i wish google or someone would go in there and clean the place up and get some editors, man, the whole country of mexico has like only 2 editors. it's a shame

[Optimus]

DMOZ is a disgrace to fairness and relevance on the web. If you wish to submit your site to a category, do a check first on some of your competitors in dmoz. If you find one or two of them have listings across quite a few categories, then chances are that site has a staffer who is/was a dmoz editor, or they "paid" an editor to get the job done. If your competitor has many listings, you will never get considered.

If you try to communicate with them, one of their self righteous senior editors or moderators will launch a verbal attack on you. And trust me, they can be full of vitriol!

DMOZ once had good value, now it's reputation is in tatters, as is evident from most comments in this thread.

It is now merely a cabal of corrupt individuals.

[idolw]

DMOZ is the purple cow in its last days. It grew great and is now being monetized by the community. If you have a site in a competitive category there is no chance to get listed even if you are #1.