5 Basic Tips For DMOZ Listings
With all of the recent buzz about linkbaiting, social media optimization, and the wealth of new vertical search engines launching on the market, sometimes it’s easy to glance over the basic do’s and don’ts in the world of search engine optimization. We’ve discussed link building and directory submittals before in the past, and it’s time to revisit some of this discussion.
Hands down, the top three directories where a site should be submitted are Yahoo.com, Microsoft bCentral Small Business Directory and the Open Directory Project (DMOZ).
Quality sites can be added instantly into bCentral and Yahoo via payment, but a link in the DMOZ can be a little difficult, especially if you don’t know any editors.
Akash Kumar, CEO of Search Engine Optimization Company Vista Divine Inc., was awesome enough to lend the world his 5 tips for getting listed in DMOZ:
1. Submit your site to a proper category. Most of the sites submitted to Dmoz are rejected due to having submitted to improper or wrong categories, so you must find out the most relevant category for your site before submitting it to Dmoz. If you are unsure about which category you should submit to then just do a search in Dmoz for the sites similar to yours and note down the category to which they have been submitted to. If you have done this one correctly then you are having the most relevant category for your website. Now just go on and submit to the category you have got.
2. Make sure that your site has original and quality content. People nowadays are looking for more and more quality content and they get annoyed with the sites having nothing more than a bunch of affiliate links or sales letters. If your site lacks in content then you have no chance of making into the directory as the directories nowadays are looking for the sites which have a strong base of original and quality content, if your site doesn’t has sufficient content then make sure to add a few reviews, articles and other additional information about your services and products.
3. Get your web site professionally designed. If you have done the above two steps properly then your site is already deserving a listing in Dmoz and it adds more to your credibility if your site is professionally designed. You might have seen many unprofessionally designed sites making into Dmoz, so this not really a factor for your inclusion in the directory but as we know that the editors of the Dmoz directory are also human beings so a professionally designed site does make a good impression on them and thus increases your chances for inclusion in Dmoz.
4. Be sure to put your contact information on the web site. Now just putting an email address is not enough. If you are doing a business you need people to trust you by showing them your physical address, so that they don’t think that you are a run away business. Many times the editors reject sites if they don’t see any physical contact information on the site, so it is very much necessary for you to put up at least your phone number on your contacts page, also putting your physical address would be much better.
5. Check your site for broken links and spelling errors. Before submitting your site to the Dmoz directory make sure to check your website for broken links and spelling errors, though the editors are looking for quality but they are also human beings and will be annoyed by lots of errors and clumsily designed sites, so be sure to check and correct the errors if any before you submit your site to Dmoz.
Do you have any more tips on how to get approved for a listing in the Open Directory Project? If so, please share with us below.
Some good points there. Although I think #6 should be “Patience”.
Thanks.
Some exellent pointers. I have to say, that the amount of “patience” required is not to be under estimated. There is no way of contacting DMOZ and it can many months before being listed.
we try to be fair to the sites we view- but to a point you are correct. Dave’s addition of “Patience” is important. My very strong small niche category gets 25+ submissions a day and I just dont have time to look at 150+ sites a week. I get to as many as I can but realize we are doing this for free :)
That said a friendly well written email to the editor can do a long way!
Read my article for more tips. I got this info right from DMOZ
Mr SEO’s article adds some more valuable points.
Hello everyone,
I hope that you liked my article I might be writing some more interesting articles on SEO, Search Engine and Directories, so do keep an eye on my site.
Cheers
Nice post, it inspired me to finish up my own guide on how to get listed in DMOZ. You can read the article here: http://www.sembasics.com/sem-guides/link-building-strategies/directory-submission/11-tips-to-getting-your-site-listed-in-dmoz
One very important point is to have a good description, which follows the DMOZ Guidelines in http://dmoz.org/guidelines/describing.html . If the description doesn’t follow the Guidelines, we’ll write a description which does, but as said, we are human beings, and if there are a long queue of submissions to be reviewed, many of us will choose first the easy ones, that is said the submissions with a description which doesn’t need to be altered, or does need to be altered only a little.
The tips are generally good. However, as a DMOZ editor, I don’t particularly care whether a site is “professionally designed.” My primary concern is content. A website needs to say SOMETHING relevant to the category.
I have observed that approval in some categories is quicker than in others. I try to have a decision on a submitted site within a week or two of receiving it. But I believe delays are multipled when sites are submitted to the wrong category. An editor reviewing the site will forward it to the correct category (or something he/she feels is closer to being correct), and the process starts over again.
I’m not sure what prompted Pete’s comment (#2). Each category with an assigned editor has a contact mechanism. Editor IDs should be found at the bottom of each category page. If one is not there, I would recommend that a visitor move up a level in the hierarchy and check for an editor there.
Finally, I believe the cause for many rejections is an incomplete site. There might be pages under construction or chunks of the site that simply don’t work. Broken links are terribly annoying. I won’t approve a site that can only result in frustration for web visitors. Webmrs should not submit unfinished sites.
A minor point: Suggestions are not rejected simply for being submitted to the incorrect category. They are forwarded on to the correct category where they will wait with other suggestions. Submitting to the wrong category increases the wait time because the suggestion needs to be touched by more people.
excellent article, is there a waiting time on becoming an editor for a specific region?
Great article. I have a problem with having my physical address located on my website though. I work out of my home, and as a woman I don’t exactly want that information public knowledge and pasted all over the internet. I have a general city and province location, and there is a way to contact me through the site. I believe this is for my own protection. It will be a shame if I get rejected because of a lack of physcial address. Is there any way to get around that?
I’ve heard bribes work best.
I have one PR6 DMOZ listed site. I also have lots of other HIGH quality sites that should be DMOZ listed but never get included… If you know of a way to really get a listing then click my name and email me – I’ll pay for your help.
Some good points there.
Thanks
Thats really very very interesting and should help my site getting listed in DMOZ directory. I would be more than happy to follow these tips and will return back to this site after some time and will let you all people know how far these good tips helped me in getting a nod from DMOZ editors.Thanks for the information.
hey nice article…thnx
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Great Article. I am going to submit my website http://www.yogameditationpower.com right now.
Great Article. I am going to submit my website http://www.yogameditationpower.com right now.
I had no idea how much value a directory provided for websites. I submitted http://www.louispurses.com a while ago but will try all of your great tips!
Good article.. I’ve just tried to submit my new dry cleaning business. http://www.pinstripe.net.au I’m a little worried that some of our services are national and other are local (sydney vs. australia). Hopefully the DMOZ ppl figure that out easilly enough.
Some good points, Thanks for the info.
Hi
I tried to submit my site in DMOZ,my category is internet marketing in computers.But i see update listing instead of submit listing.I never submitted my site before.Can any one please help me out?
I submitted my site http://www.leatherman-store.co.uk yesterday and hope it will be accepted, if anybody has any pointers please let me know.
my site is http://www.bdpplz.com where can i submit?
Yeah great tips, NOT. Only way to get listed is by paying money!
What category should i submit http://www.MyBizZone.biz in?
Ive submitted my site twice in the last two months but no luck. I dont wanna do it too often or they might ban me, i dont know. Its in the relevant category, well designed and well explained…there is not much i can do now..
I had a site that I needed moved because it no longer had a forum… we added content because I just didn’t have the time to commit to keeping peace on the forum. When I attempted to move it out of the proper category to the right one, the editor deleted it but then it never got added to the right category. Noone will write me back from dmoz and I lost $4K a month because my traffic dropped. It made a huge difference since my site only gets organic traffic. As a stay at home single mom, this really affected my family finances. How in the world do you get someone to answer your questions on dmoz?
Followed Akash Kumar’s list subitted no listing. Sublitted again and after six months I had given up looking then spotted the link under Zinureturns as YES to DMOZ so thankyou very much
Dmoz seems to be very corrupted. See how many people are trying to find a backdoor entry for dmoz at freelancing sites.
I have tried to get onto DMOZ before and failed. After a major overhaul of my site I’ve just re-submitted. I hope the ‘Editor Gods’ like me this time. I’ve put a lot of effort in and it’s really annoying to get ignored!
this is one interesting article. im almost done with my site and it will be completed soon…thanks for the useful info…cheers
thanks for article but I found doing and saying are tow different things , that’s I have created my own dmoz FDP
now ODP stands for other directory project lol!
I submitted my site (http://www.elites0ft.com) under penetration testing, though it offers other services as well, such as search engine optimization and web development :)
I think there should be a way of notifying submitters if their sites are rejected for inclusion so they could rework before submitting again. This would prevent multiple submissions due to simple impatience which in turn adds to the editors’ workload.
thanks for this article …
I have submitted to dmoz for the last 8 years and have yet to make it in there. I follow the guidelines perfectly too :(
yes, it took agesfor my site to appear any of my clients sites have not been approved. great service though.
Interesting info!
thanks your article is very good and giving much good information for directory to be listed
good organized information in a sequence
I just found out about the DMOZ and its importance. I submitted my site and it was listed ina few days. I didnt know it was suppose to be difficult. My site is well designed and as compared to my competition, we are light years ahead. Maybe that is why it was accepted so quickly, but I will say, i did submit it as requested in the guidelines and they responded quickly
I’ve just become a DMOZ editor, and after going through and reading all the DMOZ guidlines I’d commented that the 6 points listed are all really valid! Quality websites with quality information is what DMOZ is looking for!
getting listed on DMOZ seems a bit like waiting for a membership to one of those exclusive clubs……thanks for the info. very useful indeed.
How can DMOZ be regarded as a legitimate, worthwhile resource when so many categories go for YEARS without an editor? The listings are often old and outdated, while newer, better sites are left out. It’s a disgrace that Google’s directory and so many others are based on something that’s so obviously flawed. It’s a joke.
It's hard to get listing in DMOZ. I have done and followed their guidelines for years and yet none of my submissions got listed.
Thanks for the pointers – also useful to read comments from 'real' DMOZ editors. I've just fixed a couple of broken links on http://www.maternity-wedding-dresses.com so fingers crossed this time!
Great post, hopefully patience is the last quality!
http://www.schieldenver.com/
I've yet to have a site listed – and I agree with kate b, above.
Perhaps I'll change my mind if I ever get a site listed ;)
Submit and forget. No shortcuts. Offering money will certainly get your site banned for ever and if you are that keen to be listed you will not want to risk that.
It can take from a few days to a few years for a review with a view to possible listing. But we are not a listing service for web owners.
Submit and forget. No shortcuts. Offering money will certainly get your site banned for ever and if you are that keen to be listed you will not want to risk that.
It can take from a few days to a few years for a review with a view to possible listing. But we are not a listing service for web owners.
Check the cathegory for “Motorcycle Shipping” in DMOZ.
1. there are 13 poor designed (ugly) sites are listed, which for sure drive away visitors.
2. it’s hard to accept that only 13 sites are about motorcycle shipping.
Conclusion?