Google has publicly said many times that a link from DMOZ is not any more valuable than a link from any other site (assuming the same PageRank). But the real value in a DMOZ entry comes from how many other sites are based on the data. For example, a DMOZ link within the /Computers/Software/Accounting/Billing/ section yields 257 total links when you include the websites that use the data, as you can see here: http://www.google.com/search?q=allinurl:Computers/Software/Accounting/Billing/&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 Of course it takes awhile for your entry to show up everywhere since not all websites update on a regular schedule, but a DMOZ entry still has a big value. - Shawn
Yes, these are nice to have but they can easily be very stale. Changing an entry is nearly impossible and as a lot of "users" seem to use one download to get of the ground never to update. So an entry can haunt you forever. Because I use the net to trial a lot and adapt sites or split off sites by actual demand and search paterns my tendency is to submit to DMOZ after a site is established and gone through a couple of "remakes" (and in my case spell checks). Also a lot of these sites using DMOZ use their own slant. Even after two years I find sites that I have in DMOZ only to be in about 30-40% of sites claiming to use DMOZ and their directory structue. M
For example, a DMOZ link within the /Computers/Software/Accounting/Billing/ section yields 257 total links when you include the websites that use the data . . . I just completed an interesting exercise that may be some grist for the mill. dmoz is utterly adamant that "one site, one listing" rules. With the established value of a listing, as demonstrated by the citation above, that is obviously a critical criterion. OK. I sampled some half dozen closely related categories, and got a total of 191 URLs listed. Of those, 14 were exact duplicates of another 14. Another 14 (coincidence) were URLs where one was a subdivision of a larger site included in the 191 (and, from the look of the URLs, not virtually a separate site, either). And there were 2 more that were very similar sorts of duplication. In short, of a random sample of nearly 200 listed URLs in related categories, over 15% were supposedly disallowed duplications, nearly half blatantly identical. (And that 15% is just the spurious duplications: if we say that double-listers should be banned altogether, over 30% of the listings disappear.) Play by the rules, do it right, and you will always get your just reward: several hundred links fewer than the cheaters. (Yes, I have reported all those.) How does this happen? I know dmoz is big, but this kind of cross-checking is scarcely rocket science.
I'm glad you researched that, as I currently saw a jump in my presence on google, but didn't know if it was because of my large CSS reference http://www.tizag.com/cssT/reference.php or if it was because of a couple dmoz listings. I guess I should try a bit harder to get listed on Dmoz, hundreds of actual links per listing is awesome!
Agreed... You won't see the as reported back links by Google, unless you are fairly close to the top of the directory. But a link is a link (even if Google doesn't report it publicly). - Shawn
Some of my older sites are gaining PR as a result of DMOZ data use, it has been this wasy for a long time, but has been greatly helped by the raft of PHP progs that allow you to use the DMOZ dumps with ease.
What would one say it generally takes to get in all of the directories using the DMOZ results? 2-6 months?
Probably will never happen (100%) of them... some never update their data. They leave it "as is" from the first set of data they pull. But I would say 4-6 months for all of them that update on a regular basis. - Shawn
in my category, MAYBE 10 pages use the dmoz data and get into the google serps. it's not great, but not fantastic either.
How do you report - as I have noticed a few listings that should be removed. It is a pretty valuable link - even though the pr is low, they are related pages (duplicate) but related.
From time to time, I see musings in SEO forums that this or that engine gives more weight to older sites than newer ones. I think that for sites listed in DMOZ, the age definitely affords the opportunity to have been listed in more of the one dump wonders on the net.
Getting listed in DMOZ definatly helps! I've been waiting two years to get our site submitted in the category, mainly because of the amount of SPAM received, but anyway, an editor suggested we put our business address on the contact page and submit it to the location, within a week of submitting the site it was accepted. Just thought people who are struggling to get listed, this could be a solution, if not ideal. When the DMOZ directory was updated by Google, the site jumped to PR6, unfortunately, we seem to be jumping between PR 5 and PR6 at the moment. Darren
I have just got listed in DMOZ,how long does it take to get the above said links from other sites. Google already is giving me one backlink of DOMZ listing. R.Anand
It can take a long time, since some sites update once a year, or sometimes never (after their initial use of the data).
I wonder whether a listing in DMoz is worth the effort of getting past some of the more anal-retentive editors; it's no coincidence the Dmoz's logo is a Dinosaur (i know it's a gecko - i just liked the analogy)
Huh? Wazzat? How did you work it? Did you resubmit your contact page? You talked to a LIVE editor? Pullease, more details!!