Today more than ever, in the field of search engine optimization (SEO), there is a very important step
that needs to be taken in order to help a website's visibility in the major search engines. That
important step is to submit it to DMOZ, sometimes called the Open Directory Project or ODP. DMOZ
provides a lot of search results for a good percentage of the most important search engines and
directories, including Google. First, DMOZ is NOT a robot-driven crawler but rather a large,
human-edited directory of the Web. For any submission to be successful, a few important points need to
be considered ahead of time:
Step A)
Your full contact information needs to be there. Make certain that your full contact information is
easily accessible, preferably with the help of a clearly identified contact button. An e-mail address
is certainly not enough. Many ODP editors will tell you if they don't see a real physical or postal
address or telephone number, then that website in its particular category is usually tossed away and
probably will never make it inside the directory. Most importantly, if you wish to sell anything, you
need to build credibility and honesty with your clients. In such a case, providing proper and full
contact information on your site is imperative.
Step B)
Do not attempt to SPAM the directory. You should only submit your site once and forget it for at least
two to three months. According to DMOZ rules and regulations, you are only allowed to submit to one
category. However, in certain isolated cases and, if your website happens to be a very large one and
offers lots of information, you may be able to submit a second section of it to a different category.
As a rule of thumb, it usually takes time for most submissions to be processed. This is especially true
of categories where there are many daily submissions. It is recommended you not submit a website more
than once, as it could end up at the bottom of a large list of sites awaiting review and approval, and
sites are processed according to their submissions dates.
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Step C)
Your website needs original and quality content. If you are trying to publish an assortment of
affiliate links or, if your site happens to be a "mirror-site" of other websites that are common on the
Internet, then the chances of your submission being accepted are poor. If in fact you really have to
deal with affiliate products or services, we recommend that you add lots of new content, perhaps a
product review category, an industry news section or any other additional information that will tell
the DMOZ editors that your site has something original to offer and has ample content that will be of
use to their users.
Step D)
Double-check your website for spelling errors and typos. Although DMOZ editors look for great content,
they are only human and may be irritated by these types of errors. Our experience with the ODP tells us
that professionally written and carefully built websites with great content almost always make it into
the directory eventually.
Step E)
Keep a careful record of your submissions to DMOZ. We strongly recommend that you record the date of
submission and the specific category to which the site was submitted. And, if the category to which you
are submitting has an editor, you should always make a note of the editor's name. Such information can
be useful, if you need to inquire about the status of your submission at a later date. One question we
are fequently asked is: "How long does it take to get listed?" With DMOZ, predictions are
difficult. We've seen sites added in as litle as three weeks while other submissions have not been
listed for six months or longer.
Step F)
Select the proper category for any submission. When people submit a URL to such robotic search engines
as Google or Alta-Vista, there really isn't much to consider since their crawlers or "spiders" visit
and index your site automatically, generally in a rather short period of time. However, when submitting
to a directory like DMOZ, a critical part of the submission process is choosing the right category. We
recommend that you check where websites similar to yours have been placed in the directory. When you
find the category that you believe is most appropriate, press the "add URL" button. Watch for
notes from DMOZ editors citing additional category restrictions. These notes should be read carefully
to ensure your site meets the mentioned parameters.
Step G)
Always contact DMOZ through the proper channels. If the category to which you are submitting does have
an editor, this will most often be indicated at the bottom of the page and you should be able to send
that editor a message. Failing that, another way to contact DMOZ editors is through their
online forum. Once there, you can ask about the status of
your submission, but you must provide the submission date and category of your last attempt.
Additionally, you can ask some questions about general DMOZ procedures and rules.
Do your best to follow the steps outlined above and your site should eventually be included in the DMOZ
directory.
About The Author
Serge Thibodeau has been performing professional search engine optimization and priority positioning
services since 1997. Serge optimizes commercial web sites of small businesses, medium-size companies as
well as Fortune 500 enterprises. Serge Thibodeau serves as CEO for
RankforSales.com.
Additionally, Serge has been largely involved as the project leader in the development of Pagina+ (tm),
a powerful search engine optimization service for businesses of all sizes. Pagina+ (tm) is offered by
Rank for $ales's parent company: GCIS Inc. Serge also has a search engine blog at:
SergeThibodeau.com
You can contact Serge Thibodeau at:
sthibodeau@rankforsales.com or toll free at: 1-800-631-3221.
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