what is the point of DMOZ?

what does listing in directories do for your site?

why would listing in directories such as DMOZ help?

 

Directories were big at one time because there were not any search engines. some directories are still good because google and other search engines give human edited directories credit. I think directories such as Yahoo, BOTW, and DMOZ are worth submitting to and could help your site in rankings, though good quality content is king.

 

The only point of DMOZ is to provide "information seekers" (people who want to find information about a Topic or Location) a category (collection) of sites that a human editor considers have unique content for that particular category (one of a kind things that other sites in the same category don't have).

It is not a service for site owners, web masters, or SEO, no site has a right to be listed, nor does the directory want every site.

Editors build categories that they find interesting, because it is a hobby, not a job, and we could care less about your wants, needs, or desires because we aren't trying to satisfy you, we're building categories for "information seekers", no one else.

In our efforts to do this, we have the option of finding (what we consider) to be good sites wherever we happen to find them, and have not one obligation to even look at any site that is suggested to us, it is totally up to us.

Our "only" focus when reviewing a site is whether it has the unique content on it that we are looking for, for that particular category, nothing else.

We don't care who owns the site, how well it's designed, who suggested the site, how badly the site owner/builder wants to be listed, what is fair in the site owners eyes, how long ago the site was suggested, whether your competition is listed, when the site was created, how large it is, it's PR, or any other thing a site owner might be impressed by. Only the unique content it may or may not have, in our eyes , matters.

As editors are volunteers, we will work where and when we want to, at our own convenience, and are only accountable to the Directory and each other, not to you. You are not doing the work, we are. All you are doing is bitching and complaining from the sidelines about something you have no understanding of.

I, personally, think it's way overrated. The best way to drive traffic to a site is to have a site that's worth visiting in the first place. If your site offers the same thing a thousand other sites offer, then it shouldn't exist, period. If you're not a star, then you're just one more junk site cluttering the Internet.

From an editors perspective, if you have something unique and unusually helpful to a visitor, put it in the description, (if you suggest the site to the Directory), so the editor can spot it should he decide to look at the suggestions in a category.

Don't ask us to suggest something. If you don't know your business/topic well enough to know what your visitors will value, don't expect us to.

 

I would have thought a directory is good because it provides users with a categorised index of sites they may find useful.

Are you saying DMOZ is good because it's crawled by search engines?

 

Your right they are good for that, well most of the big directories but how many people still use directories to find sites. do you think directories play a role in search engine results? I use directories but most people that I have asked think of directories as sections of a website.

I just think that for people trying to find resources and information they use search engines and that directories play a larger role in that then just a categorised index of sites.

 

Just two remarks: Yes, DMOZ is good because it's crawled by search engines. But for example for me it is sometimes the place to look for some cathegorized links - usually if I find a good link here (using Google then I am trying to find more such good links directly in DMOZ.

 

Not many even know what a directory is, but they sure know how to Google, .

A directory is very helpful in seeing a broader picture of a topic (and related topics) or of a geographical area, but only if the searcher is aware that such a thing exists.

 

Google used to help support the site and gave weight to any link got wound up in there. I don;t think they do anymore.

 

Well, isnt it still the largest directory on the web run by volunteers?

 

Well, isnt it still the largest directory on the web run by volunteers?

 

I don't know... that's certainly something that they say, but *shrug* the numbers listed on the main page never go down, only up...so talk about an exaggeration

I wonder how many sites are really listed...and of those sites I wonder how many were placed by BOTS (and yes, bots place sites... I guess they feel that robots can be volunteers too *smirk*).

 

I heard people saying you get more traffic if your site is listed in DMOZ because a lot of people use their RSS feeds which means your site will get more exposure.

 

There is zero difference in traffic if your website has 4 or 11 deeplinks listed at DMOZ so unless your website falls into Adult or some other high traffic category I doubt you would notice any increase in traffic.

That sadly also tells us how many people are actually using DMOZ for anything serious.

When it comes to traffic compared to DMOZ link at wiki is worth its weight in gold but if you give permission to Wikipedia for use of your content there is a good chance that Google will declare your source website a copy of wikipedia and remove you from SERP!

 

Other then Google and Alexa and you name one? And of the ODP itself, google, and alexa have you ever used one to actually look for a site? Do you know anyone that actually has?

You can't really say it gives exposure, as people don't use directories all that much these days, so it certainly doesn't give all that much traffic directly, and with directories downgraded, it really doesn't give all that much indirectly either.

There is no current evidence that submitting to DMOZ does anything more then submitting to any other free directory....other then maybe you have a better chance of getting listed in any other free directory

 

I think you're probably right. I use the Google search exclusively when I need fast answers to a specific question, but as an editor who is aware of the directory, categories show me a wide area of information I didn't know existed.

People are basically lazy and in a hurry, as I am, we want fast results with the least amount of effort, Google fits that bill nicely.

Google isn't in the directory business, and probably has no desire to be (just think about what a massive effort in time and money they would have to invest), when they have a readily available and free resource like the ODP they can use instead.

Dmoz offers this data it collects freely to anyone who wants to use it, includling all search engines. Dmoz does not serve Google, or any of you either, so editors continue to build the Directory using the criteria it originally started out with (building categories for info seekers).

That puts all of you in an unhappy situation because you can't contact Google to get listed in their directory (they don't really have one of their own), and the dmoz directory that they use has a different priority than your happiness because we serve a different group of people.

As far as editors go, we continue to build and try to maintain the directory, but we are in no particular hurry because we don't provide a service to anyone, but are building a resource. Whether anyone uses it or not, or thinks highly of it or not, really isn't a concern, I think, as it doesn't affect the building of it.

 

DMOZ is good because it's crawled by search engines?
Dmoz also helpful to find location,topic and particular category about particular site.

 

And because it is one of the oldest most comprehensive volunteer edited directories on the World Wide Web!

 

DMOZ is the biggest directories what i hear.

but sometime i am confuse, how many people use DMOZ ?

I think only few ppl that understand what is directory can use the DMOZ..

it's my opion

 

Your opinion seems pretty good

DMOZ is reportedly the largest one out there, at least the largest human edited directory (even though many sites have been added automatically) and than there is the little matter of the reported numbers on the front page never going down even when thousands of listings are removed. The numbers there only go UP.

As for how many people use DMOZ, it pretty much falls down to editors and webmasters with a few random users tossed in for good measure (and mostly from older websites that linked back to the ODP in days gone past). Though, for the better part, if you ask what a directory is outside of most webmaster circles you'll find that no one knows, and if they do know what one is there is another good chance they can not tell you what the ODP is.

*shrug*