Co-op site using DMOZ clone?

Hi

I came across a backlink from (I presume) a Co-op site which was hosting a DMOZ clone: I assume this is to increase the number of pages = increase co-op weight. The co-op ads appear at the foot of each DMOZ page.

Is this spammy? I think so.

I won't publish the url in case I have made a mistake, but PM me and see for yourselves.

 

Why is that Spam? Thats perfectly acceptable although a lot of those clones are seeing their pages dropped more and more.

You can't just throw a directory up and get it indexed anymore. The last two updates have seen these sites take a beating.

 

It isn't exactly quality content though is it?

Do we want this in the Co-op? Google obviously doesn't want it in their index.

 

Why would google have a DMOZ clone on their own site if they didn't want it in the index?

You are right that it is not ideal, however the Google algo will get rid of it.

 

google will drop the dmoz clone if it sees it as duplicant content

 

All Amazon feeds, RSS sites, news syndication sites, shopping portals etc. don't have unique content either. Do you classify them as spam? Every news site posting a Reuters article is duplicate spamming as well.

I see no reason why a clean legit clone shouldn't be in the co-op. But as said, Google will get rid of most of it and you get free links. (Google deindexed say 90% of the site so their weight drops but they keep all links on all pages so they are free-free links, BONUS!)

 

Use common sense, don't do things like:
Automatically generate pages of content just to have them. Design pages for endusers, not search engines.

Bring quality sites to the ad network. I know this is vague, but basically means we have the right to reject any site from the ad network for whatever reason.

From the TOS. A DMOZ clone could fall under the first, maybe the second item?

 

If that site helped somebody find something, then it is quality to them.

It isn't Spam, Move on

 

I agree with the whole quality content idea...I also think weight should be influenced by visitor traffic or Alexa rankings. That should help cut down on the clones...

 

Can't be measured externally

Just about the easiest thing to manipulate. This would be a HUGE mistake

 

I imagine this thread is in reference to my site on the Co-op Network, which is a "DMOZ" clone.

I had no idea that it would cause so much angst. I will be happy to remove my site from the Co-op if people are really opposed to web directories.

 

No, don't take it out. Quality is subjective and your site (assuming a clean legit clone) is not spam.

 

Erm; your site is but one of at least 5 . I wouldn't worry about it. I see far worse; and dmoz does allow you to copy their stuff.

 

I can manipulate alexa rankings in my sleep....

 

I also have one, Phynder. Nice, clean pages; I hired a professional coder to do the mod-rewrite so every single page is engine friendly. With the coop I am giving people the chace to have their link on one of my pages indexed by all the main search engines, why take it out?

There is always a whiner, don't worry about it.

 

I've had a dmoz clone but have really not done anything with it (it's about 7 years old). It's been out there collecting dust. I have been wanting to revamp it and make an actual site for it for a couple of months, but didn't know what the best script is. What do you all use? Is there a better one out their then the odp cgi one that I have from then?

 

jvmills,

Why ask a question if you are not open to the input of all that responded. So far you are the only one complaining and it seems you have made up your mind despite all others saying it's not a big deal.

Everyone else doesn't seem to see what you find so evil.

From what I understand the COOP weight is based on how many pages are indexed by Goo and the PageRank. If Goo doesn't like those pages it won't index them and the site weight will go down.

If the site has low PageRank the weight will be very little. So that alone should correct and not reward sites that don't deserve any weight, right?

If Goo thinks the site you don't seem to like is SPAM it will remove them from the index, or at the very least penalize it. It won't get any PageRank if it is not linked to.

DMOZ allows their index to be included on other sites. Google and others take advantage of this great quality directory of sites and include it in their web site because the directory is accepted as having links to great sites and is of value to visitors.

Otherwise Google wouldn't include it.

Why should Google get away with using the directory, yet other sites are considered spam???

I don't think so. And it seems others don't think so.

 

Evil!! Calm down.

Just raising a question of quality/content was all. I took the earlier advice in this post and "moved on".

 

Isn't this dead yet?

 

Any tips on alexa rankings?