advice about Dmoz please...

Russ · Oct 28, 2005

Hi

I have tried a couple of times to get listed on Dmoz, once about 7 months ago and again a couple of months ago, so far there is no site of my listing. I find it difficult to navigate and cannot find anywhere that leads me to an answer as to why I am not listed, does anyone know how I can find out what is going on?

Also, is it that beneficial to be listed in it?

Any help appreciated. Thank you...

russ

gary · Oct 28, 2005

You're going to have to be very patient! Make sure you've submitted to the correct category and followed the instructions to the letter and eventually it will be added. Our site got listed after about a year.

Russ · Oct 28, 2005

gary said:
You're going to have to be very patient! Make sure you've submitted to the correct category and followed the instructions to the letter and eventually it will be added. Our site got listed after about a year.

Gary

Thanks for your help. A year seems like a very long time, do you think the wait has been worth it?

Russ

gary · Oct 28, 2005

Not sure yet - it was only added about a month or two ago!

Deleted member 3454 · Oct 28, 2005

As I understand it, each submission to DMOZ is reviewed manually by humans rather than a computer program. The reviewers are also volunteers. So it depends on the workload of the reviewers in your category.

Take a look at http://www.dmoz.org/about.html - that explains how DMOZ works.

keirms · Oct 28, 2005

It took our site a very long time to get listed. There was no editor for our category so I emailed an editor in an adjacent category and asked for their help. She passed me to another editor and hey presto we were listed within in a week.

Not sure if this will work every time but it's worth a go.

Good luck!

Keir

Ozzy · Oct 28, 2005

I'm a volunteer editor on DMOZ myself, and I only loggin to check my categories once a month and sometimes longer if I have been busy.
It is really is a painful task when you get so many spammers submit listings to your category, and you have to research every single website to ensure it is a legit website.

For example, some very clever people submit their main website, then about 10-20 other "portal" websites. You sometimes have to dig 5-10 pages deep before you find youself back at their main site... and heh presto its spam and you have to delet it.

Every submission you have to check where the site is hosted, do a WHOIS check on the domain, read their T&C's, check contact information, and even place dummy orders to check that the site is complete and also not a doorway page. Each site takes anything from 30-60 minutes to check.

So when I loggin to my account with dmoz I know I am writing off a few hours of my time to knock off a handful of sites awaiting approval.

Russ · Oct 28, 2005

Richard

Thanks for taking the time to explain what it is like from your side of the fence.

Do you think it is possible if I have submitted myself twice that I will be rejected? If so what should I do?

Cheers budd.

epiphany · Oct 28, 2005

Personally I think dmoz is a bit of a joke, I submitted myself over a year ago and I got in contact a couple of months back as I was worried the entry was never going to be looked at and was told that it hadn't been lost but it still hadn't been looked at.

clairemackaness · Oct 28, 2005

Ozzy, can you check us all out and see how were going?

Ozzy · Oct 28, 2005

I'm only allowed to view entries in the categories that I edit, so sorry but I can't check yours for you.

No you dont get banned or blocked for submitting twice, the duplicated just get deleted (manually).

As for it being a joke, its volunteer run. Would you give up several hours a month to edit a category and filters thousands of spam messages each time? If so, volunteer yourself and help dmoz catch up with the backlog of applications. There is currently several hundred thousand websites that still need reviewing !

broadband-engine · Oct 29, 2005

Hi

I suppose a very good reason to get into dmoz is the fact that the index is syndicated all over the internet. A listing there would result in your link appearing on the many 1000s of sites that syndicate the dmoz directory.

I just need to get in there now!

broadband-engine · Oct 29, 2005

Hi Richard

How do you go about submitting to a category with no editor??? there are links on the page so someone must be approving them???

Cheers

BMS · Oct 29, 2005

Ozzy

What categories do you work on ?

epiphany · Oct 29, 2005

Well it's funny you should mention that Ozzy

This is really the main reason I have a thing for dmoz. After they told me I was still on the list I decided that the only thing to do was offer my services to edit the category. I took my time to apply, as you know there is a lot of stuff to fill out, it took me well over an hour in which I meticulously documented all my my online admin experience including several enterprises in which I dedicated tens of free hours ever week for many years. I feel I would have made a genuine difference to this category BUT. and this is what really annoys me. I got an automated email saying my application had been refused because the category I had applied for was too big for a new user

So that pissed me off as I am sure you could imagine, they really never even considered my application, but the fact that I had to go through the whole application process again (which as you know doesn't just take a few minutes) just put the final nail in the coffin with dmoz for me. In the last few years I have moved away from directory links to having quality links on sites with relevant content.

Enigma121 · Oct 29, 2005

ukshopsnet said:
Hi

I suppose a very good reason to get into dmoz is the fact that the index is syndicated all over the internet. A listing there would result in your link appearing on the many 1000s of sites that syndicate the dmoz directory.

I just need to get in there now!

Yeah, another useful point.

A listing in DMOZ also gets a listing in Google Directory after a few months - this is of massive importance if you are optimising for the big G.

broadband-engine · Oct 29, 2005

I used to have the dmoz directory on one of my sites and it did get good Google PR over the time I had dmoz listings on there. So people out there were getting a good inbound link from my site... repeat this over and over and over again, a site could get lots of one-way inbound links pointing at them simply by getting their site on the dmoz index. That can only do your website the world of good if you have optimised the link text in dmoz to the the on page SEO of your site.

For me, that is its greatest importance. I really need to get on there!

Ozzy · Oct 29, 2005

Hi Epiphany,
They do have a policy on not allowing new users free rain on a higher level category without being tested on a smaller sub category first.
One reason would be that you could go right in a remove comeptitor websites, "cool" all your own sites and reak all sorts of havoc

My suggest is to apply to a small sub category of the main one you want to work towards. Then moderate that category for a few months, build it up with lots of relevant sites with good quality descriptions to them all - so I suggest it be a category you know a lot about.
Then when you have done a lot of work on that category, apply to the next tier up, and so on.

I moderate the UK company formations category, and I used to be a "green buster" on the top level Hospitality category (that is a mamoth category) but I retired from that one as I didnt have the time for it.

Being a moderator on a top level category gives you control over all sub-categories below it, which is why they want to see how you do on smaller categories first.

Give it another go, but "aim smaller" and work your way up

Being listed in dmoz is worth it too, because it is used my thousands of other sites including Google.

epiphany · Oct 29, 2005

I will re-apply once I have forgotten my annoyance of having to fill in the application again

It would have been perfect if my details had of been saved and I was allowed to log in and apply for a different category or even if an admin could have allocated another category to me that had a complimentary area of knowledge needed to run it.

I do realize there are massive security issues involved but my resume included contacts of a few well known sites I admined that dmoz could have checked up on. I just feel a little more care and a little less automated emails in their entrance procedure would reduce their backlog.

and please call me Terry

Ozzy · Oct 30, 2005

Hi Terry,
I'm not saying its perfect

Far from it. However, they do have thousands of people a day apply to moderate and even more a day to have their site listed.

I would estimate 85% of applicants for moderators are spammers, and I know the same goes for those who want their sites lsted.

hairsoup · Nov 1, 2005

i am a dmoz ed also (of a small category, 20 sites or so).

one of my big gripes is people putting superlatives in their description "The internets #1" and such. Only about one in twenty submissions have descriptions that dont need to be edited.

Also make sure your submitting to the right category, i know the directory structure can be confusing, but really make sure there isnt a more suitable category.

Another reason your site may be rejected is that editors are very picky about what they put into their categories. If your sites content is very similar to sites currently in the category you might be rejected.

The directory is vastly undermanned. When I first got in there were submissions that had been waiting over two years.

Russ · Nov 2, 2005

Cheers for the feedback everyone...

I am quite sure that I have submitted to the right category, hopefully with an accurate description (I just tried to be informative about the site). I guess I will just have to be a little bit more patient...

Thanks again

Russ

Srivvy · Nov 21, 2005

I know I'm a bit late here, but one of the most important things to consider is going to your most appropriate region first.

In your case, go to essex or even chelmsford categories first, rather than going to the employment agencies category without a geographical setting.

Russ · Nov 21, 2005

Srivvy said:
I know I'm a bit late here, but one of the most important things to consider is going to your most appropriate region first.

In your case, go to essex or even chelmsford categories first, rather than going to the employment agencies category without a geographical setting.

Thanks Srivvy, how does your site work?

Russ

Srivvy · Nov 21, 2005

Hi Russ

I'm sorry, I dont understand the question.

How does our site work in what way?

Russ · Nov 21, 2005

Hi

I was looking around Jobs from UK employment agencies - Employment UK. and was curious about how the different sites feed in to yours.. Do you crawl them or do they subscribe to you?

Srivvy · Nov 21, 2005

Ah I see

A number of job boards are crawled and recently posted vacancies are displayed.

As you are in the recruitment field, I will PM you about a three way link exchange.

Russ · Nov 21, 2005

Srivvy said:
As you are in the recruitment field, I will PM you about a three way link exchange.

Yes I am in the recruitment field but only for the last 15 years... Have a look at www.appointdirect.com and www.mvauk.com

I am happy to do a three way link exchange with well ranked sites, what did you have in mind?

Russ

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