What can I do to get my site listed in DMOZ?

“I am desperately trying to get my site listed in DMOZ as I’ve heard it’s a good place to get a listing from a SEO perspective. I’ve submitted it twice now, but with no success.

“So now I’ve tried to contact the editor of the category I want my site to be featured in but got no answer.

“My question is: Are they still accepting new websites to DMOZ? Is it because my site is Australian based? Is there anything else I can do to get my website listed there?”

You’re right, it is a really good idea to submit your site to www.DMOZ.org because if you’re lucky enough to get your website included, it’s a sure fire way to get search engine ranking improvements. This is because Google’s algorithm looks highly favourably at a DMOZ inclusion!

The reason is because DMOZ is a human edited volunteer directory – someone has to look at your site and assess its quality before allowing inclusion. That’s something Google’s algorithm isn’t able to do… (just yet!).

Getting your site included in DMOZ is the single most important “off page” SEO activity you can ever do. Period.

DMOZ (or the “ODP” – open directory project) is a directory, not a search engine. Think of DMOZ as Yahoo in the early days, but a kind of an “open source”, not-for-profit organisation.

They are definitely accepting Australian sites into DMOZ, but please remember to be patient. Depending on the category you’re submitting to, the DMOZ volunteers usually have a huge amount of submissions to get through and it can take weeks, months (or in my experience on occasion, even years!) for them to get to your submission. Do it once, then go away and get on with something else.

Just why your site hasn’t been included is a little tricky to answer because I’m not sure of two things:

1. How long ago did you submit your site?
2. Did you follow the submission guidelines to the letter?

Submitting to DMOZ is very easy, but you must follow the rules. And you simply must make it as easy as possible for a DMOZ editor to include you in the directory!

Step 1. Read the submission terms and conditions!

Step 2. Once you’re confident you satisfy the requirements in Step 1, the second step is to find the right category to submit to. The easiest way to find the right category is to search for your direct competitors. Wherever they’re listed, you should be too. Otherwise, search for your most important key phrase and list there.

Once you found the right category to list with, you’ll see a link in the top right hand corner of the page “suggest URL’.

 Step 3. Start your submission! Below are some tips from the DMOZ blog regarding correct use of titles and description for your listing.

Titles

Good (fictional) title examples:

• Lisagirl Chocoholics Bakery.

• Theo Broma Transportation and Trucking.

• Fudge Factor Accountants.

• A Review of Chocolate Consumption in 2009.

• Chocoholics Anonymous.

Bad title examples:

• LISAGIRL CHOCOHOLICS BAKERY (all capital letters).

• Welcome to Theo Broma Trucking (uses phrases such as “Welcome to” or “Homepage of”).

• The fudgiest numbers on the web, from Fudge Factor Accountants (uses advertising).

• ThEo bROmA TRaNsPoRtAtiOn aNd tRuCkInG (incorrect capitalisation).

• Lisagirl Chocoholics Bakery, in Smallville (uses location or phone number).

• Chocolate Consumption, 2009, Why People Eat Chocolate, Review (a string of keywords).

• All About Chocoholics Anonymous (not the official site or organisation name).

Descriptions

Describe the business or website, and describe the website’s contents. Don’t use hyperbole, advertising language, or a string of search engine keywords. Keep it simple!

Here, (the editor) has placed a good and bad (fictional) example together, for comparison. Each person’s writing style is different, and descriptions may vary depending on the category.

What you see here are only examples and are written in (the editor’s) style. If you really don’t know what to write, look at listings in the category where you’re suggesting the site for ideas.

Good:
Photo gallery displaying a personal collection of chocolate candy bar wrappers acquired between 1964 and 1979.
Bad:
These are my pics which are of the wrappers I got from eating choclit candy bars

Good:
Bakery and restaurant, both exclusively offering chocolate foods. Includes menus with photographs, and recipes of their most-ordered dishes.
Bad:
LisaGirl Chocholics is on 123 Main Street, Smallville, open 6am to 5 pm, and we only sell chocolate foods. This website has tantalising meneues with mouth-watering photos, and recippes for the favoritest dishes.

Finally, don’t continue to bombard the editor with emails, they will likely get upset and simply remove your listing from their “to review” list and that will be that.

Your last option is to become an editor yourself! It’s a big commitment and you need to be highly ethical in the way you go about assessing sites for inclusion. You certainly can’t “overlook” competitor sites etc! More detailed information can be found here.

Just be patient, and check back every few months or so.

Chris Thomas heads Reseo, a search engine optimisation company which specialises in creating and maintaining Google AdWords campaigns and Search Engine Optimisation campaigns for a range of corporate clients.

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