Is DMOZ still relevant?

[esoomllub]

I am really leaning towards the school of thought that DMOZ is not relevant anymore (at least no where near as relevant as in the past). Why do I think this?

• I realize that a link from them is another place where your site is listed, and that their directory feeds Google as well as many directories that basically clone their listings. But in my mind (and at least many others given postings in some recent threads), the potential PR boost may not be worth as much as it once was.
• There are categories at DMOZ with over a year of backlog (at least one of mine was in a category like that when I last checked on it 10 months ago). The web just may be too big to adequately maintain a human based directory. They are all volunteers, with the vast majority doing a wonderful job, but the sheer volume of sites on the net is daunting for all but the largest of data centers... how can human editors keep up?
• In the past I used DMOZ as a search resource, and it seemed to me that many people were doing the same. Given the lack of depth to their directory though (as compared to the total net), it does not make sense to me to use them as a search resource. I think they have good quality sites listed, but do they have 50% coverage of the quality sites? 75%? 25%? Is the fact that you will get quality sites in your search worth more than the fact that your search will only include a portion of the quality sites available? Remember as well that your search will be against the listing, not your site.
• If your sites are getting traffic via decent content, decent linking with related sites, and/or providing a hook for users to come back, is it cost effective to spend hours and hours of time submitting/waiting/adjusting to get into DMOZ. Seems to me that your time is better spent on making your site better.
• Does anyone really use the Google directory anymore (the DMOZ surrogate)? I had to work to find the Google directory the other day (ok, it's only one click to get there, but they used to show directory links right in search results). By removing the prominence of their directory, are they implying the DMOZ directory is less relevant? Are directories in general the resource they once were?
• If PR is not the boon it once was, DMOZ would seem to carry far less significance. Again, it's a cost effectiveness question. Submit and move on makes sense, but to continuously try to get in seems a waste (from the traffic and postings on resource-zone, one can easily see the effort many webmasters spend on trying to get in).

I have a couple sites in DMOZ as that was the first thing I tried to do when I took a site live. And I used to keep checking to see if my site was in, and trolled on resource-zone.com to see what others were saying. I just visited resource-zone again last night for the first time in maybe 9 months or so to check out one of my sites. It was rejected. In the past I would have relooked at the site and tried to figure out what to change with the goal of re-submitting. I didn't even check to see of some of the other sites I submitted were listed -- I do every few months when I am looking to blow off a few minutes on the net. I have not submitted any of the sites I have created in the last year to DMOZ. I guess I probably ought to do a drive-by of DMOZ and submit them, just because.

How many of you actually get all worked up about it?
Does DMOZ really directly drive traffic to your sites directly?
Indirectly (my Google traffic comes from search engine results)?

Sorry to ramble. I'm just curious if I am totally out in left field about this?

[Larwee]

esoomllub as I was reading this I was thinking that you were typing the exact same things that I would have said about this subject. In fact I was planning on starting a thread related to DMOZ.

Much of what you said is true. Some people might not agree with it or want to agree with it because they hate for things to change or because something is stuck in their heads as being true and they refuse to believe it isn't true.

DMOZ was most likely once very important, but so many things have changed now.

There are many more directories. There are more big search engines. There are also more sites with links that deliver traffic.

Also, while PageRank might be important in the minds of some people, it is not as important as it once was.

Forget about DMOZ and forget about PageRank.

All a person needs to do is concentrate on making their site the very best they can and as a result everything else with take care of itself.

There will be people who will link to you just because they like the site and those links can bring you extra traffic.

If you have made your site with people in mind and are doing the best possible the SEO that happens as natural result will help you.

Search engines are extremely important and ranking high in the search engine results pages is what really matters. Being in DMOZ isn't going to make you and not being in it certainly isn't going to destroy you. However, being listed at or near the top in the search engine results can really help.

You might notice that a great many of the very large leading sites are NOT listed in DMOZ. But this didn't keep them from having good positions in the search engine results pages.

Too many people keep repeating old information. Sometimes this old information is just no longer true but if people keep hearing it they will believe it is true. As a result there are people who think DMOZ is the ultimate prize and that a high PageRank is also an ultimate prize. Neither is true.

I ramble a bit at times as well.

[Rivux]

You guys talk as if dmoz is dead and its not worth the 15 seconds it takes to submit there. Sure it may not be as great as it once was, but it is still better then the vast majority of directories out there, especially the paid ones that people have no problem submiting to.

So to say that its useless is incorrect, it may not be as valuable as it once was, but it still has value (just like any link does) so why not take the few seconds and submit a site?

On a side note, I had a site that only had a link from dmoz(and google and whatever other sites pull their content) and just that one link got the site a PR6. I then sold that site for nearly a thousand dollars (and the only value was the PR and dmoz link) so as far as Im concerned, it is a rather amazing directory, cuz it makes me money.

[Larwee]

I am not saying it is useless. I'm only saying it is not as important as it once was.

I'm also saying that DMOZ is no guarantee of fantastic miracles happening just because one gets into it. Also, it isn't the end of the world if a person doesn't get in.

If a person wants to apply there is nothing wrong with that. They may or may not make it in for any of a number of reasons.

I am saying it isn't the end of the world if they don't make it in and they shouldn't spend any time being worried about it. They should just rely on other sources and using other methods and sources they can do just fine.

[Rivux]

Originally posted by larwee I am saying it isn't the end of the world if they don't make it in and they shouldn't spend any time being worried about it. They should just rely on other sources and using other methods and sources they can do just fine.

I agree completely, but I thought it was a given. You worry about the things you have control over, you don't worry about the things you don't have control over. Why anyone would sit and fret over dmoz or any other listing for that matter is mindboggling. They have bigger issues to deal with if they worry or lie awake at night thinking of dmoz.

What I disagree with is people dumping on dmoz because its not 'as great as it once was'. The fact that we have threads talking about it and the fact I posted in this thread is ludicrous Its a directory, it has value, submit, forget and move on to the next directory. But I guess a good gossip story about a once mighty directory is fun for some.

[esoomllub]

I did not mean to imply it was useless either. I brought up the subject here because I wanted to get opinions from other people trying to make a living from the internet. If you were to bring this up on resource-zone, you seem to get bashed by the armies of DMOZ (somewhat sarcastically stated). I go to DMOZ maybe once a quarter now, as opposed to visiting it nearly daily before Google became such the gorilla of search.

If you take a walk over to resource-zone, you can see how many (many) (many) people do fret over it. I used to be at least on the fringe of that camp. And I agree, it is worth the 15 seconds to stop over and submit your site (it is a small amount of time now since they upgraded servers last year -- when the submit functionality would only work once in a while). It's just not even near the top of my priority list anymore, and I am curious how others view it.

Any thoughts on why Google does not include directory links in search results anymore? I can't even remember when they stopped. It just strikes me as odd that they now relegate "directory" to 2nd page status. Revenues I'd guess, but I think that adsense revenues would be reasonable if they included adsense in their directory (they don't from what I can see)

[Steve_S]

Great points by all.

1. Plenty of folks still use the rdf data dump which is FREE and or a portion of same. If carefully chosen and spidered for broken links/sites it's a marvelous way to "seed" a directory or even create a subset with a very narrow focus.

Unfortunetly, the willfull and reprehensible disregard for the very specific ODP licensing agreament and requirements is rampant. Some of these folks tell long winded stories about the numerous hours it took them to create these listing when in fact many scripts permit you to do it with just a few clicks.

For further details on compliance please see:

http://dmoz.org/become_an_editor/

http://dmoz.org/license.html

http://rdf.dmoz.org/

2. I'm not sure weather any other folks have actually run a Directory which accepts human submissions but it's darn hard work and you spend a significant amount of time fighting Spam and editing copy which is non compliant and better suited to ebay. Perhaps it's best to remind yourself that your listing is FREE and all of the Editors/Meta folks are volunteers with no compensation. Like Rivux said so well, submit and forget. Follow the guidelines before you submit.

HTH