Why is DMOZ Important to the Web

Submitted by kosmos on Mon, 05/12/2008 - 13:33

Why is DMOZ so Important to the Web

DMOZ (The Open Directory Project or ODP) is a human managed directory that compiles data of online sites, and then sends its results to search engines. The unpaid volunteers at DMOZ are bombarded with numerous sites a daily, so do not expect the process to be an easy one. Sites have been known to take up to a year to get listed. Don't get frustrated though, because being a DMOZ listing is comparable, and just as important, as a Google listing. Arguably many webmasters view that a listing at DMOZ is even more important than a $300/year paid listing at Yahoo.

DMOZ data is now used by the majority of major search engines. Hence, DMOZ is arguably the most crucial submission that you will make in your web marketing campaign. This one directory has compelled thousands of individuals to dedicate months to pleading and begging with DMOZ editors to obtain a listing in the directory. The benefits from a quality listing in DMOZ will eventually come from a ranking's boosts from other search engines than the DMOZ site at http://www.Dmoz.org alone.

Google gives a large boost across the board to sites that appear in DMOZ.
AllTheWeb gives a sizable boost to DMOZ pages/sites.
AOL Search is a hierarchical Web directory, organized by subject. All AOL user-submitted Web content is maintained by the Open Directory Project or better known as DMOZ..
Hotbot and its parent Lycos also use's DMOZ data.
Altavista also uses DMOZ data to power it's site.
Inktomi has used DMOZ data to purify their listings or you could say quality control.
Netscape...and more. Now can you see the quality DMOZ offers to the web community and the value behind a listing?

The above is pretty much the crème de la crème of the internet search engines. There are also hundreds of smaller engines and directories that use's the DMOZ data too. Yahoo is now getting away from being 'Powered by Google' and is now using the technology it purchased from Inktomi for its search results, so you can now see how important DMOZ is to the web community.

Once DMOZ has indexed your site, expect that your site will gradually find its way into the results of other search engines as well. Google directly acquires content for their directory from DMOZ. Search engines and other directories that use DMOZ's data make their own adjustments. However, it is still apparent that a DMOZ listing can boost rankings for these search engines, especially those that take into account link popularity (i.e. Google).

The benefit of getting listed in DMOZ will result in hundreds of links pointing to your site from other directories and engines. As a result, your rankings will increase for that engine because of the perceived value of your site by the engines and directories. Why not, if two hundred individuals told you to shop at a specific store for a gift, you'd take that into account very seriously, wouldn't you?

How to get the Most out of DMOZ

Many webmasters and site owners mistakenly submit only their homepages to DMOZ. Keep in mind that unline the search engines, DMOZ does not have a spider and hence cannot detect any links from a particular homepage. Thereby, submitting only a home page would add only that homepage to the directory.

To amend the problem and increase visibility, DMOZ accepts numerous pages from one site as long as they are in different categories. These interior pages must:

Offer genuine value to the online community.
Offer information, products, or services that are distinctly different from the homepage offerings
Are submitted to an appropriate directory
Preparation for your Submission

With the above facts under consideration, it is highly recommended that you and all whom are considering submitting to DMOZ take the extra time and care in preparing your web site. Your site will be reviewed by human volunteers coming together in essence to provide quality content to their directory and to bring some order to the web. Most of them are unpaid and do it for no other reason than for editorial status on the web and maybe to contribute back to the internet community at large. Some editors are only in it to get their sites listed and break the balance and harmony DMOZ is trying to create. If these editors are caught listing unqualified sites, not only will their site get removed, but possibly all other affiliate sites associated with that editor will also get removed or worse banned from the directory. So, it's best to get in legitimately and make sure your site provides unique value to the internet community. If your site is unique, provides resource articles or tips and tricks, no broken links and is up 99.98% of the time then soon your site too can be a member of the DMOZ community. The volunteers at DMOZ symbolize the best of what an internet community should be and thus, so should your site.