Article Details
Open Directory Website Submission-DMOZ |
| Date Added: October 25, 2008 04:30:46 AM |
| Author: |
| Category: Computers & Internet: Web Directories |
| Why is it important to get listed in the DMOZ Directory?DMOZ is a popular free open source search directory edited by human volunteers. With a PageRank™ of 9 it should be on your priority list when it comes time for site submission to directories.As an authorative hub a link from a DMOZ directory category to your website will give your site a boost in PageRank™ and may assist in getting search engine spiders to crawl your site faster and more often. Google also uses DMOZ data for its Google directory.What does this mean? It is well known in seo circles by having a site listing in DMOZ you will also get a listing in the Google directory, effectively creating two high PageRank™ backlinks. Hundreds if not thousands of smaller sites also use Dmoz directory data. So from a single listing in DMOZ the potential for hundreds of backlinks can stack up quite substantially. Unlike Yahoo! with it’s paid inclusion via Yahoo! Express, you may submit your site freely to DMOZ for inclusion into their database. This can be a harrowing and traumatic experience for some as the DMOZ directory submission requirements are very tight and strict. Hopefully I can lay to rest some of your DMOZ submission fears. Prior website checks before submitting to DMOZA peek at the site suggest guidelines at DMOZ gives a few clues as to what DMOZ editors look for when processing site submissions.I don’t know how many times I have read on forums and message boards webmasters complaining they have submitted their site/s to DMOZ over and over again only to be rejected. You can bet their site either doesn’t conform to the submission guidelines, was submitted to the wrong category or was just complete crap with no quality content. Here is the DMOZ submission guidelines list taken from their site. Follow it to the ‘T’ and ensure your site conforms.
Your site is set, you conform to the DMOZ submission guidelines, Let’s do this thing! Surf to DMOZ and perform a search using a broad search term that relates to your site. You will be presented with a category full of sites that should relate to your site theme. At the top of the page should be sub-category links. At this point ask yourself two questions;
NOTE* If your website is regional, submit using regional categories first before drilling down.If you think you have found the right category visit some of the sites that are listed already, to be sure they are similar to yours. Suggest URL Congratulations! You have found your niche category that best fits your site. Click the Suggest URL link and let the fun begin. Titling Your Site This is an area where most webmasters come unstuck by using promotional words in their titles. DMOZ editors don’t take kindly to it. Use your domain name as your site title. If your official website title and domain name is Tech Law, then that is the title to submit. As stated in the DMOZ submission guidelines, don’t use all capitals in your title. Site Description When describing your site common sense should prevail. As with writing page descriptions for meta description tags, write a compelling, brief, and descriptive overview of your site. Don’t be promotional and keep the site description free flowing. Always describe your site from a third person view. If DMOZ editors write a description for your site they will use third person view. The idea is for your site to be listed with your description, so make the DMOZ editors task as simple as possible. If you write from a third person view and give an accurate description the editor may not make any changes to it. This also means using correct grammar and spelling. One way to get help for an accurate description is to ask friends to view your website or ask people from forums to view your site. Use their feedback to write a compelling, accurate and non-promotional description. DMOZ is free submission and edited by volunteers. There is no paid express directory inclusion and from what is stated at the DMOZ directory website nor shall there ever be.Processing of site submissions will take a while, even up to six months, sometimes longer. Don’t focus on this but instead continue to build quality content for your site. As one of my mentors recently stated in his ebook.“I usually submit and forget about it.” |
