Why Getting Your Site Listed On DMOZ Is A Good Idea

What’s DMOZ and why should I care about getting my site listed, you ask?

To start with, DMOZ is probably the most respected “Authority Site” on the internet because it is about the only directory that still uses humans to review and approve any site submitted for listing on their directory. Because DMOZ uses a network of volunteer editors to review every site submitted to their directory, Google and other search engines trust DMOZ and look upon sites listed by DMOZ with great respect which boosts the ability for any listed site to rank on the various search engines.

So now, do you understand why getting your site listed on DMOZ is a good idea?

DMOZ_directory_pageWhat is DMOZ anyway?

DMOZ is an Open Directory Project who’s original name was derived from Directory.Mozilla.Org which was the original domain name for the project. DMOZ is an open directory project that is owned by Netscape, however, the growth of the directory is maintained by volunteers which are affectionately called editors.

Volunteer Editors spend many hours reviewing the sites that are submitted to DMOZ for listing. The volunteers use defined criteria for determining if the submitted sites will be included in the directory listings for DMOZ. Because real human editors are used to review the sites it’s more difficult to get a site listed with DMOZ than other directories on the internet. The directory exclusivity that DMOZ portrays to the search engines has resulted in higher ranking for any website that is successful in being included in the DMOZ listings.

Search Engine Ranking Preference

It’s a known fact that search engines have long given preference to “Authority Sites”. For a site to be considered an authority site several characteristics are considered;

  1. How long has the site been in operation?
  2. Does the site have good quality original content which is dynamic in natured and changes with additional content on a daily basis?
  3. How many visitors per day visit the site?
  4. Do the visitors that frequent the site recommend and refer others to the site?
  5. Well designed, this consists of a site that is easy for search engines to navigate (SEO) yet is functional for it’s visitors to use?
  6. Does the site perform well and does it have a reasonable response time?
  7. Self promoting meaning does the website provide an RSS feed, does it notify, by pinging, other website of the addition of new content?

The DOMZ Open Directory meets all of these criteria as well as establishes additional criteria that more Authority Sites should follow. For these reasons Google, Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, and other top rated search engines look upon websites listed by DMOZ as being top ranking websites because of the imposed DMOZ recommendation given to the site by the privilege of being listed in the directory.

Getting Your Site Listed On DMOZ

Due to the popularity of DMOZ and the desire for just about every web owner on the internet to get their website to be listed on DMOZ, the competition is fierce to get your website accepted and listed. However, the rewards you receive if you are successful in getting your website through the human approval process and accepted into the DMOZ Directory can be very profitable.

Consider for a moment what the significance would be to your website if it was given an approval by DMOZ, an Authority Website, to Google. Google would then consider your website as a trusted and respected source of information which would catapult your content, pages, and website onto the top search pages for your targeted keywords within Google. The same would hold true for Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, and the other search engines across the internet.

A Good Idea

My best advice is to review the listing criteria that DMOZ has posted on their directory website. Understand the 4 Steps DMOZ has Outlined for Submitting Your Website URL and review each of the steps carefully, then execute that step ensuring that you have complied with each of the steps defined guidelines. Once you have completed the URL submission then wait, it can take several weeks or more to get your website reviewed. Be patient and do not resubmit your website to DMOZ again as it will only delay the review process further.

If your website submission is rejected, review the reason for rejection, fix the problem and resubmit the website URL for review again. Also, take a look at these common reasons for rejection posted on the DOZ Blog.

Getting your site listed on DMOZ can be a painstakingly long process. Be persistent and forceful as this process can take time, but as mentioned before, inclusion in the DMOZ directory is A Good Idea!

Comments

  1. Great job on this post, Doug! Thanks for sharing!!! Karen

  2. Always enjoy visiting your blog. Thanks for the great content. Keep on giving excellent value!!! Karen

  3. DMOZ is one of the hardest links to get but it definitely worths! People think that it is not valuable any more but that’s actually the first link I am trying to get.

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