Matt Cutts has a lot to say about directories, but Google still list the "Google Directory" as top directory in its search for web directory. This Google directory appears to be the ODP. Many local categories have no editor, no decision is communicated to the user, wait times are whenever, from the users point of view its a disaster. Add in the alleged cases of corruption, the alleged child porn sites, the clear lack of accountability, the missing public relations, the database crash, poor customer service. Come on, Google, either drop it or fix it.
Tell them that. Honestly. If more of us took a few moments to send a line to Google, Google may listen.
Good idea, you never know. If they do not believe us, what about a customer satisfaction survey of ODP / Google Directory. Matt talks about directory "users", in his post, go on ask them what they think. Do it !!!
Matt Cutts and google doesn't give a hair about our opinion of DMOZ. Cutts goes around saying things like "buying links is spam." Everyone hates that and has been adamant about the ludicrousness of it, yet Cutts and google doesn't change their tune. They care about google's bottom line, and it's going to take a HELL of a lot of dissent for them to change anything about DMOZ. And what would they do exactly? They can't make it a paid service like Yahoo. So what are they going to do, go in there and clean house? It's never going to happen. DMOZ is going to remain the way it is. The most you can hope for is that they change their algo to give less weight to it.
When is the last time any of your search results came up with DMOZ results? not very often i bet! I don't think google places much value of DMOZ entries any more...almost certainly not for SERPS...
Like I said, if enough of us dropped a line. What would you suggest...remain silent to those where it could make a difference?
All I can say about DMOZ is that they simply need to go away. Their editors are pompous and they refuse to add my biggest site to their directory. Google does still pay a significant amount of attention to DMOZ though. Back in the day it was considered an absolute must to be in DMOZ if you wanted to rank well in Google. As mentioned earlier, DMOZ does power Google's directory results. I have also had many friends who got great inbound links from DMOZ and DMOZ powered directories combined. It does pay off, no matter how much you hate them, to be listed in Dmoz.
At times I wonder if they have too much work because my blog is a decent blog and I submitted a year ago and it's still to be listed
As in, last year ('06) sometime, like before the crash? If so, then resubmit it. Seriously. Your submission was lost, and no one has a clue where they all went too. Though, to be sure, check out their latest blog post and and make sure you check out their reasons for not listing. If you'd like to discuss that blog entry see THIS thread. If it's your Q-gasm blog, PM me and I'll sell you links/sig links cheap... There seems to be a 50/50 chance of getting the site banned by offering money. Of course the other 50% would be inclusion So buyer beware!
Usually they ask you, not the other way around. Make a vague statement like, "I don't understand how DMOZ works. Do you pay to get in, or how does that work?" That's your best bet to get in by paying w/out risking your site getting banned by the rare non corrupt editor.
Thanks for your advice..I'll heed it. The Qgasm isn't my blog, it's a friend's. Mine is the I Love New York link