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Guide to Listing on Dmoz     
By Rob Fenn (c) 2010

Dmoz is a human edited directory that has been running since
1998. It was created as a cooperative environment that would
allow volunteer editors to keep up with the internet explosion.
Way back, Yahoo used to be a directory - not a search engine -
and Dmoz was an (eventually bigger) alternative to this. The
only difference of course is that we are now well into the
Google era of information at your fingertips. Dmoz on the
other hand, is pretty much where it started.

Dmoz's full title is the Open Directory Project. Dmoz is an
acronym for Directory Mozilla. The acronym reflects loose
association with ex-owner's Netscape's Mozilla project, an
Open Source browser initiative. Originally called 'Gnuhoo' by
founder Rich Skrenta, it was renamed the Open Directory Project
in October 1998 when it was bought by Netscape. It was then
acquired by AOL shortly thereafter, and Dmoz was one of the
assets included in the acquisition.

Unlike a search engine, for websites to be listed in the Dmoz
directory, they have to be submitted first. They are then
reviewed by individuals (known as Editors) who are assigned to
various categories within the Dmoz directory.

Is a Dmoz Link Worth It?

It's fair to say that Dmoz isn't what it used to be. You may
notice whenever you search for something online these days that
a Wikipedia entry is often on the first page. This used to be
the case for Dmoz, meaning it was a good referrer of traffic to
websites. The key words there are that it 'used to be'.
Dmoz's category pages do not rank well at all anymore, so
traffic referral is next to nothing.

It's not all bad though, Google has its own directory which is
in fact just a re-branded version of Dmoz. This shows us that it
is still recognised as an authoritative website and that is
demonstrated by the high Page Rank of some of its pages. In fact
many websites use Dmoz's data which means if you get in Dmoz,
you may inherit far more backlinks than you expected.

One of the reasons why it is still considered authoritative is
that you can't pay to get in as with many other directories.
Providing a reciprocal link isn't an option either, so the
theory is that Dmoz is more or less incorruptible. The fact is
though, with many thousands of websites being submitted every
week, there are simply too many for the Editors to handle. This
means websites aren't reviewed often and so Dmoz's content is
out of date, especially compared to modern search engines.

So, perhaps Dmoz is not the be-all-and-end-all it once was, but
lets not get too negative. It takes minutes to submit, so there
is no harm in trying!

How to Submit to Dmoz

Before you submit your website, make sure you give it a thorough
health check. Have you checked it for broken links, bad spelling
and missing graphics? These are all things your website can be
rejected for so don't shoot yourself in the foot!

In order to submit, you must visit the category you wish to
submit to and click on 'Suggest Url.' It's important to
follow the guidelines, if you miss one element you will be
rejected. For the full steps to submitting, visit:

http://www.dmoz.org/add.html

Ensure you don't spam your submission with keywords or be
'creative' with the title. You may get away with this in other
directories, but not with Dmoz. If you're reading this
article, you should already be aware of the basics of Search
Engine Optimization, so the description you give Dmoz should be
related to your website as well as the keywords for which you
want to rank.

For help in writing the best entry, the easiest thing to do is
to simply take a look at entries already within the category you
are aiming for. If they're in, they've obviously done
something right! This is also a good time to ensure the
category is the right one for your website. Take a look at the
websites within the category and make sure they are similar to
yours. If not, it's best to find a more suitable category.

How Long Does It Take to be Accepted?

Dmoz is well known as an authoritative directory website.
Needless to say then, it is very popular and thousands of
websites have been submitted. Despite having a large number of
editors, the fact that each entry is reviewed by humans means
the process is longer and the backlog builds up. Considering
Dmoz has been running since 1999, that backlog has grown year on
year. With this in mind, waiting a year for entry is not
unreasonable.

After submitting your website to Dmoz it is worthwhile looking
at your web analytics program and searching for the telltale
sign of your website being reviewed. The address to check in
your logs for is 'editors.dmoz.org'.

Is There Any Way of Speeding the Process Up?

Not really. The biggest mistake to make is to get impatient and
presume you've been forgotten about, and then re-submitting.
You could easily be rejected for this. Likewise, even though
deep links and multiple categories are not banned from Dmoz,
it's probably best to avoid the potential downfall of doing
this.

However, there is one way to get into Dmoz quickly (relatively
speaking). Naturally, people are drawn by the high Page Rank of
a main category. Thing is, these are the sort of categories that
take literally years to get into. It can be as little as a few
weeks to get into a lesser Page Ranked sub-category. It's very
simple, fewer people submit their website so the backlog of
submissions is much shorter.

As an example of this, our last submitted reviewed website by
Dmoz was first submitted 4 months beforehand.

I Think Dmoz Rejected My Website, Why?

In many instances, websites aren't really rejected, they're
just taking a while to be reviewed. Some of the busier
categories will mean you have to wait months before having your
website reviewed. This is why it is important that when
submitting to Dmoz, you take care in writing the best entry for
getting in, not the best entry for your search engine
optimization campaign!

Another common occurrence is that your website may be in a
different category to what you actually submitted to. It's not
uncommon to see a website moved to a more local category, if you
have a .co.uk. domain for example. Make sure you use the Dmoz
search tool before presuming you didn't get in.

If you are sure you have been rejected and it isn't down to a)
a bad description or  b) your website being littered with broken
links, then you can contact the editor of the category. Simply
visit the category you submitted to and scroll to the bottom to
the editors' names. Sometimes you will see a 'volunteer to be
an editor' link, in which case you need to go up a level to see
the editor for the parent category instead.

When you click on an editor's name, you will have an option to
email them. You can also see their activity on Dmoz under their
'Bookmarks.' This will help you find the best editor to
contact (if there is more than one). It goes without saying when
contacting them, be polite and professional!

There are myths and exaggerated stories about 'corrupt'
editors who only accept websites after receiving a fee, but a
minority of editors may be managing categories that are related
to their professional background. Unfortunately, that may mean
some direct competitors of theirs might get rejected, no matter
what the rules are.
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Rob Fenn is an SEO specialist, working within the Webtacular
(http://www.webtacular.co.uk) department of the website design
firm Sixth Sense ESP (http://www.sixthsense-esp.co.uk), which
focuses on Internet Marketing for SMEs. Outside of SEO, Rob is
also a Google AdWords Qualified Professional.
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