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Does Dmoz Still Have a Place in Search?

The Open Directory Project Seeks Respect

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By · May 20, 2009 · 297 Comments

Dmoz.org, also known as the Open Directory Project, is widely considered to be the mother of all directories. Well, that was the case at one time, anyway. Dmoz has dropped significantly in popularity over the years, and is the subject of much criticism by webmasters looking for inclusion. What do you think about Dmoz these days? Is it still valuable? Tell us what you think.

WebProNews publisher and iEntry CEO Rich Ord talked to Dmoz founder Rich Skrenta shortly after its 1998 launch. "Dmoz was originally launched as Gnuhoo which it then quickly changed to NewHoo. It was a directory that was for the people and by the people when it came out, so it was considered to be the answer to Yahoo’s more closed directory," says Ord.

Now many users are taking issue with that "for the people" part, and the numbers reflect it. Looking at Compete data, Dmoz has declined sharply in unique visitors, visits, and page views over the last six or seven years. According to Compete, Dmoz hasn’t had 3 million unique visitors in a month since March 2003, at which point it had over 15 million page views and over 3 and a half million visits. In April of 2009, the numbers read: over a million unique visitors, 10 million page views, and under 2 million visits.

Just over the past year, unique visitors and visits have seen significant decline. Look at the graphs:

Unique visitors

Unique Visitors

Visits

Visits

Looking for Respect

Dmoz is looking for a little "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" as a recent post on the Dmoz Blog puts it. Editor glippitt talks about how Dmoz is still a valuable search tool. "Everybody loves Google, everybody loves Wikipedia – so why doesn’t everybody love Dmoz? Many people might be quick to tear this question apart, but the post raises some thought-provoking points.

Dmoz isn’t about replacing Google or Wikipedia. But this editor claims it has its place alongside them. "There’s all sorts of relevant information to be found on the web, and the broader the topic the more useful Dmoz is," says glippitt. "Use it as one of your search vehicles and you may be surprised how much more efficient and productive your searches become. Just don’t expect it to be the perfect combination…there’s no such thing as a silver bullet in search – not even Google."

But the biggest knock against Dmoz hasn’t really been that it’s not a potentially great resource. The users who bash it typically claim that Dmoz doesn’t give those who submit sites enough respect. "Your site is a black hole. Fix that, and everyone will love Dmoz," says Jim Francis, commenting on the post.

Another knock is that the directory is frequently gamed, and authoritative sites are left out while sites with less than stellar content are there instead. Basically, it’s getting abused in Digg-like fashion. But Dmoz still (at least on the surface) says it puts community first.

Grant Belaire "I care about the community and the experience we provide because I think that authoritative, subject matter experts CAN provide an experience on par and in certain circumstances far superior to the algorithmic search," says Grant Belaire, Director – Audience Growth.  "And Dmoz is by far the single best example of that on this planet…or any other that I am aware of."

Google and Dmoz

There have been a lot of questions in the past as to just how Google valued Dmoz links (and whether or not they were de-valuing them). Jean Manco, a UK building historian, and a Dmoz editor since 1999 has a very interesting look at the relationship between Google and Dmoz. In the rather lengthy piece (last updated just a few months ago), she says:

In its endless battle against spam, Google needs every weapon it can lay hands on. Recently Google patented a method of including an element of editorial opinion in its algorithm. Dmoz was specifically mentioned.

Yet no one knows better than Google that Dmoz only lists a fraction of the Web. So Google is not about to rely on Dmoz alone for any crucial element of its algorithm. That is a safe bet.

The point is, marketers don’t appear to be looking for Dmoz links at the rate they once were. Many will tell you it’s quite hard to get one anyway. This could be another contributing factor to the decline in interest for Dmoz. Dmoz has been working on a Dmoz 2.0 for sometime, but staff has not responded to my requests for comments about this.

Do you think Dmoz still has a place in search? Share your thoughts.

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There are 297 Comments. Add Yours.
  1. Guest
    Reply

    DMOZ is great for finding niche subjects, though i have never seen it appear in search results over the years. its more of a directory of subjects that can help you develop a list of subject areas for your niche web site.

    DIGG is rife with terrible content and businesses run by scammers. i hope DMOZ vets their entries with much more care.

  2. DMOZ would have a place if the people that are supposed to be reviewing sites submitted actually did that.

    I tried a few times and after getting NO answer I just dismissed it. I am doing just fine without them.

    • I agree 100% with Ana Echeverri. I can live without DMOZ

  4. I am very satisfied with DMOZ content quality so whatever publication negative to them I will not be affected anymore.

    In a fast days, I used it with my company search in Auckland and 90% goes back with conversion. I think it is a matter of skills in searching the companies through directory like this.

    Thanks DMOZ and Webpronews

  5. I’ve tried and tried with Dmoz including quality sites but continually give up after no response. I think a lot of webmasters feel the same way. It may have become too overcrowded for them even to maintain anymore.

  6. I have tried for about five years to get even one single site in DMOZ and have never had success. I carefully select a category, I carefully choose a very relevant and objective title and description and make sure I am following all the rules to a tee…. and …(crikets) nothing! I gave up. If you read around the web you will find the answer for this is simple. Editor bias and/ or laziness is the primary reason. There is no real peer-review (multiple people reviewing each others decisions to avert bias), so one person can control the fate of any submission either by denying it because they have a vested interest in not helping that site, or by never doing their job and just tossing them out. Who really knows, who really cares. DMOZ is a waste of everyone’s time. I would like to see a real human edited directory that does what DMOZ was supposed to do without all the bs.

  7. There is no doubt over the fact that Dmoz is still very important for webmasters. But what I know from my own experience is that it is very very difficult to get listed in their directory. Infact, I tried doing the same few months back and I followed all submission guidelines properly. But still I don’t know why my site wasn’t approved. This is absolutely frustrating for anyone. I get a feeling probably, Dmoz is more strict than one could imagine. I think they should be more lenient with their system. And one more thing which may not be so important but still may count – the site user interface. The user interface looks boring. It should look more impressive.

    If Dmoz could work on these two things seriously then scenario would have been quite different than what we are seeing today.

  8. I’ve had the same experience as Coreweb above. In the past few years I’ve submitted both corporate and personal sites (nothing at all being remotely spammy) in relevant categories and nothing. I knew at least two other developers who’ve had identical experiences. It gives the feeling as if the entire project has been abandoned. If DMOZ wants respect, they should recruit some more volunteers to actually update their site.

    • I send an application to become a volunteer for Dmoz a few weeks ago. Never heard anything back.

      • DMOZ is a waste of time. The only people who accept applications are the people in your same industry. Why would they accept their competition?

  9. I think the value of the link outweighs the value of being listed from a directory point of view. If it had any functional value, it wouldn’t look as basic as it does – it would make people want to use it.

    The chances of someone reviewing your site seem very low though as only few ever get through.

  10. Guest
    Reply

    DMOZ is a rotten egg! After you submit your site and carefully write an accurate description of your site, a “volunteer” editor will change your site description and do whatever they want with your listing, and then those flawed results show up on search engines like Google. Thumbs down to DMOZ!!!

  11. The Holy Grail of links has turned into the holey sippy cup. We’ve stopped the chase and produced worthy, relevant content for seo. The rumors of corruption and the fact that the only people concerned about dmoz are webmasters vying for links for seo, has us completely indifferent to it.

    We stopped caring about a year ago, not because we didn’t get listed, (I can hear the snickers already) but because not 1 single client or person for that matter, outside of the web development business has ever even heard of it and would never visit the site. So they have or at least are, effectively rendering themselves irrelevant.

    • So elaborate on MasterMoz. Is their engine a source for any major engines like Yahoo etc? I have never heard of them and I make my living on line. If a client pays them $29.95 for a listing where will it appear other than in their directory that few know about so far?

      DMOZ at least had the distinction of partnering with some major engines for content. ( Even though their reliability has taken a nose dive )

  13. Guest
    Reply

    It could take YEARS before your site gets accepted into this directory….so in my experience, I have to say they are a waste and it is because of this single fact, why their credibility has completely collapsed.

  14. Wow this was helpful. Was hanging my head in depression thinking we were doing something wrong. Our two largest sites are blue chippers, doing about 200,000 daily pageviews, Google News providers, and regularly linked by mainstream media publications all over the world.

    I’m concluding from this discussion that DMOZ has amorphed into a scam so I’ll stop reapplying every six months.

    They say new editors are “closed” for the categories that fit our sites, so we can’t be an editor to stick our own sites in. The current editors are either lazy or corrupted by competitive instincts since I’m learning here that they are in fact our competitors. They don’t bother responding for whatever reason and there is no appeal process for their uselessness. Appears to be a case of the foxes watching over the hen house.

  15. Robert
    Reply

    Same old song and dance…

    3 submissions and other communication attempts over 9 months… NOTHING.

    THAT is the problem. Not being listed for X reason? I can handle that, perhaps address that IF GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY.

    It is the BLAK HOLE aspect of DMOZ that HAS already KILLED it’s relevance.

    For the peope…?

    Who are they kidding?

    They appear to be be completely asleep at the wheel.

    Don’t just take my word for it, look at 95% of the complaints.

    I don’t know how they could defend their position or expect a different outcome… I know if I didn’t respond to more than half of the iquiries my site receives, I certainly wouldn’t expect anything different.

    Robert

  16. 3 to 4 years ago, when I would start an SEO project, I would quickly see that anyone in the DMOZ had a huge advantage, but I’m not seeing that this year at all. There were also many other directories that would get their links from the DMOZ and their significance is also really watered down. I’ve submitted sites maybe 3 times and never even received a response and these are high quality websites. No I’m not bitter about being ignored. It’s an amazing resource that is just waiting to be revitalized. Though it’s clearly lost its SEO significance, I’m still envious of all the people that got in early

    • Nick
      Reply

      OD used to be THE directory. Now, it is just a pain in the neck. The “editors” make random and indiscriminate changes to a site title and description. It’s futile to argue or ask for changes.

      And they take forever to include a site.

      Now I just use this:
      “meta name=ROBOTS content=NOODP”

      Open Directory… Who needs it!

  17. After about 3 years of repeated attempts to get listed on DMOZ it finally happened. About 2 months ago I noticed the listing although it may have been up for 3-4 months. I noticed a huge boost in my Yahoo search rankings. It didnt do much for google, but Yahoo sure took notice (imo).

  18. Lost in DMOZ
    Reply

    DOMOZ is nothing more than managed by a bunch of arrogant people who think they know more than anyone else, I have submitted sites and years later nothing, I have tried to be an editor declined with a form letter.

    I am assuming becuase I might have an Interest in something that I might find on the Internet DUH.

    Half the links in the area and it was a small area I wanteded to edit no longer even worked, Then you look at some of the others and against there own rules they were affiliates of major site with bid dollars behinde them.

    Then you can go to getafreelance.com and hire a DMOZ editor to get your site in.

    Actually they now are worse than Yahoo, Yahoo is up front and honest, we charge you money, and we include you.

    I know there are some great DMOZ editors out there that take there voluntere position with great pride.

    But if DMOZ wants to be useful again, get some editors, if somebody applies and doesn’t look like a good fit, why not talk to them and see if they could help in another area.

    At least if I was an editor, I had planned to EMail every person submitting and let them know why they were rejected, or there submission had been received.

    Something that DMOZ doesn’t do, desire to do, and is showing that nobody really cares about them any longer.

    It is jyst a matter of time before human edited is replaced with a timely computer operated directory with filters.

    In another year or so DMOZ will looses any placement it currently has at ther rate it is headed.

    Most website operators today don’t even bother to submit, the horror storries are all over the web.

    • Hint. I have two sites on page one of yahoo for advertising noveltie at the same time. I never paid them a dime.

      I use the tools to add sites and submit them after adding a verification code to the index page. Works…you get listed and don’t spend a dime.

      https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit

  19. I’ve been trying to add my customers websites for years, I’ve tried to add mine. Nothing. Never got a single email from them, not even confirmation messages. I applied to be an editor, 4 times in two years. Nothing happened, content was okay, no duplicate content, no copyright infringements, unique content… so I gave up.

    I believe the actual people managing DMOZ are not managing, they have no idea what’s happening behind them.

    I hope they will put DMOZ where it used to be, because now I find it useless, it’s a pity, they have a large database, they should put it to work.

  20. From my perspective DMOZ is a waste of time. Submitting URL’s is a pain then they don’t appear. Volunteer to be an editor and either get ignored or rejected.

    The idea behind DMOZ is great, unfortunately they don’t deliver. Apparently someone is asleep at the switch.

    Hopefully someone at DMOZ will get to work.

  21. FOrget trying to figure them out. They don’t have enough editors and the ones they do have don’t know what they’re doing.

    I have never once directly used DMOZ to search for anything except my own websites to see if they ever got listed. And when I do find them listed, the description is alien!

  22. We have successfully got quite a few sites listed in DMOZ. Yes it takes over 4 months to get a response ( if you get one ) but we have been quite successful so far.

    DMOZ listing is still looked as a positive thing while ranking a site for its Search engine optimization level and should be seriously looked at while submitting. After all its not like we can submit the site every day if its declined.

    For those that have been declined, its not the end of the world. There are so many other things one can do to get high rankings and still be in top 10 in google.

    • I could only get in via a regional listing, although being listed at a global level would have been more appropriate for a non-local site. Many of my submissions of 3rd party sites were not accepted.

      Some years ago, Dmoz should have written a script telling the submitter how many submissions were waiting in a particular category and for how long. The black hole approach doesn’t work for me.

      There is far too much mud stuck on Dmoz now. I tell readers (national magazine) not to bother with Dmoz.

  23. I had several large home and garden related sites that I aggressively attempted to get listed in DMOZ for years, but to no avail. The one site was getting over 750,000 page views a month from 160,000 unique visitors through organic listings and regular search and had been online for 6 years…yet no DMOZ. I tried every 9 to 12 months for years, and nothing.

    For the past 3 to 4 years, I have not even attempted to list my new web sites with DMOZ since it’s just a waste of my time, plus, to be honest, I forgot they even existed.

    If they were indeed a human edited search engine that only listed quality sites, and actually did that, they would be great, but they never lived up to what they proclaimed they would do… to provide the best options to their users. It’s no wonder the users have gone away.

  24. MiniHooper
    Reply

    I’m not convinced that they are corrupt, but it is certainly next to impossible to get a site listed in the DMOZ. I gave up years ago…

    After carefully following their submission protocol to the T on a number of site submissions (for legit sites), it became apparent they could not, or would not list – or even respond. Very irritating.

  25. Of submitted to DMOZ many times over the years and I have never been included in their directory. Many other web design businesses like mine are listed, but they won’t add me. I fed up with this service.

  26. Respect??? Six Years and waiting to be listed.

  27. I occasionally submit a site to DMOZ and suggest my web customers do so as well. After all it only takes a few minutes and can’t hurt to try.

    That said I don’t put any faith in DMOZ any longer. They are fast becoming irrelevant because they lack so much of what is on the internet these days.

    They are a 90′s directory that has failed to keep pace with the times.

    Any directory that misses or refuses to add so much valid content is of little value any longer.

    Either they need to get their a%$s in gear or close their doors. I suspect there is no steam left in their “engine”

  28. Guest
    Reply

    They are declining because of the way things are set up and run. They are the ones who are contributing, for the most part, to their own demise. In order to survive they would need to rehaul the whole structure of their operations and actually be “for the people.”

  29. Guest
    Reply

    DMOZ needs to stop bullying people. They haven’t been “for the people” in a long time. The service itself is horrid, they need to change everything about DMOZ in order to stay alive.

  30. Guest
    Reply

    DMOZ has been dead for about 2 1/2 or 3 years. There is no response. I hope that Google stops supporting it and provides a new venue to replace it.

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