Why should I submit my site to DMOZ?
First off, what is DMOZ?
The official description:
“The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.”
Basically where sites such as Google send a robot (spider) to systematically index (crawl) your site on a regular (or not so regular in some cases) basis - the ODP is different - It is totally dependent on its editors.
This is what happens:
You submit your site (URL, Description, Contact details) into a submission form - first you have to surf to a category that you think your site belongs. Each category has an editor who will check your submission for errors and omissions. They’ll pop over to your site to make sure you’re not submitting a site that has no relevance to their category. If all goes well they’ll approve the submission and your site should show up in the next update of the directory.
As DMOZ is loved by the search engines, you should get a backlink from them within 2 weeks to a couple of months.
Why does DMOZ have editors?
If they didn’t have editors the directory would be useless and full of spammy sites like most of the FFA (free for all) directories out there.
Put it this way - If you had a directory would you let people post just anything where they wanted? No, I guess you wouldn’t. DMOZ editors make an excellent contribution to the Internet as a whole - If you want to find an authority website on a subject - DMOZ is the place to go. Categorized, sensible listings, relevant and up to date.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that paying $50+ to lots of these new directories is a good deal, IMHO it isn’t. Most of them operate on the ‘Pump and Dump’ principle - Pump the directory full of links (making money along the way) - then Dump the directory by just leaving it to rot or by selling it, domain and all, to the highest bidder. Caveat emptor - buyer beware!
Just because DMOZ is free and sometimes can be difficult to get listed on - don’t be fooled into overlooking it’s true value in getting your site indexed. Most of the search engines use the fact that you’ve been listed by a human on DMOZ to establish your links worth - you’ll get a higher PR (page ranking). Oh by the way - DMOZ is old! It has stood the test of time - Highly revered and loved (and hated) by almost anyone who knows anything about the Internet.
This Article was written by Steve Dorrington (AKA CarpetDog). Steve regularly contributes to the Get Your Site Indexed blog. He’s also written an ebook called The 48 Hour Plan – How to get your website indexed in 48 hours or less.
