A large thread at WebproWorld forums discusses facts and myths about Dmoz (Open Directory Project) and I thought it should be summarized (and expanded) here.
Facts about Dmoz:
- Dmoz is 10 years old (created in 1998);
- Dmoz was inspired by and derived from the Debian Social Contract;
- Dmoz is administrated by Netscape Communications Corporation (part of AOL);
- Dmoz is maintained by human editors.
- DMOZ is NOT a listing service for webmasters (it is meant to provide useful resource list for browsers);
- Dmoz is open for users, but not for inclusion (hence Open Directory Project).
Submit a site:
- follow the guidelines;
- make sure the site content is unique;
- make sure your site is complete: working links, content rich subpages and quality design;
- news sites should be”current” (updated regularly);
- make sure the site has easily accessed “about” and “contact” pages containing the owner’s contact information, the company’s official name and address, disclaimer and copyright notice;
- make sure your site is NOT one of those listed.
- submit your site: find the most appropriate category to suggest a site and add it there.
- avoid using services that claim to submit your site to Dmoz/ or “guarantee” the inclusion (better do it yourself or consult with experienced people first);
- if you want to increase your chances, try to become an editor;
- it may take a while for your site to get accepted (from a month to a year). So submit and forget about that.
Influence on search engines:
- links from Dmoz directory are of great value and authority and still have a great positive impact on your site overall link profile;
- links from Dmoz result in a number of more backlinks;
- search engines can use your site Dmoz description to form search snippets and their opinion about your site (see the list of sites using Dmoz).
Other links to take note of:
Category
SEO
