Dmoz the Mother of all directories is the only directory in the whole internet that is regarded as a favorite by all top Search Engines. For Google sites in Dmoz get a small level of positive score since all the sites accepted in Dmoz are hand picked and reviewed under strict conditions by Dmoz editors.

I have seen this when Dmoz had a official forum named Resource-zone people used to whine and complain that their submission is not accepted. Also people just bash Dmoz in various forums and message boards for giving credit to some sites and accused of Dmoz editors of even taking bribes to get listed sites listed in corresponding category.

From my past experience with getting sites listed in Dmoz I tell you there is no short cut to a listing in Dmoz, also dmoz is the most genuine directory out there and the corruption rate from my analysis and experience is some where around 0.0001%. That is equal to one out of 10,000 Dmoz editors are corrupted. If you see as per the Dmoz blog at any given time there are around 7000 active Dmoz editors. With a corruption rate of 1 out of 10,000 editors I am sure there are no corrupt or cheating editors for dmoz. If you think Dmoz has not accepted your submission stop whining about it and see what are the areas you have problems with your website. Remember today you come to internet and tomorrow you want your site getting listed is not with Dmoz there are more than 1000 cheap zero value directories out there who will list you for nothing ( fact they are good for nothing directories ) . Dmoz likes good quality sites to be listed no Dmoz editor is against listing any site as long it satisfies their quality guidelines.

Dmoz remains to be most comprehensive directory on the web only directory that is anywhere near to it is the Yahoo directory. But still yahoo directory is not the best directory you can come across since its paid. You pay 299$ for review of your site and most of the sites pass through this review but with Dmoz this is not the case you can never buy a listing in Dmoz.

Dmoz is not run for listing all commercial websites. Dmoz is here to provide best value to its visitors. Dmoz editors don't just rely on site submission for entry into Dmoz. Most of the editors are Web Savvy and they score the Internet in search of quality websites and quality articles to list them in their category. In fact some of my previous discussions with some Meta Editors revealed there will be atleast 30% of articles / news / websites / other stuff listed in Dmoz are through Scanning the internet.

So let me get you a checklist on what it takes to get into Dmoz.

1. First and the most important point is Dmoz Quality guidelines make sure your site doesn't violate it. If it does there is no point in even submitting the site to dmoz since it will never be accepted. Some of the guidelines. Duplicate sites - Sites that has mirrors or duplicates and has an exact copy currently running your site cannot get into Dmoz
   Affiliate sites - A site fill with affiliate links and affiliate information will not be accepted into Dmoz. There is no exception for this make sure your site is not a MFA ( Made For Adsense ) or affiliate site.
   Status of Website: Make sure your site is current and that its fully completed an incomplete site when reviewed by a editor will mostly be rejected or will be put in backlog. Its very important that you impress the editor by the first look if the site has pages which says under construction or broken links or incomplete information I am sure your site will never be listed.
   Multi level marketing related websites, Affiliate reseller sites, sites that use cloaking, sites that promote illegal stuff like child pornography, Bootlegs, Warez, pirated software etc are not included in Dmoz
2. Contact Information: Most of the editors see this as a important factor for site credibility most of the time a site without proper verifiable contact information is rejected. Make sure you have the current contact information and that its legitimately visible on the page. It can either be on a contact page or other pages you prefer make sure it is easily accessible when a editor reviews your site.
3. Value for users: See how much value your site will provide for users Dmoz as I said is here to provide best value for users they are not here to list your site which has 50,000 products selling actively online. Say the same site has community areas like forums, reviews etc then your site has more chance of getting listed in Dmoz.
4. Find the right category: This is a very important factor most of time a listing is delayed or rejected if its submitted to the wrong category. Remember Dmoz editors are not paid almost all of them except a top few are all doing work as a volunteer service so make sure you don't trouble them too much. Take time to research be best category. Say suppose you are a Car Dealer in California. Go to Dmoz and type in Car dealer California "http://search.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/search?search=car+dealers+california", you will see a lot of sites showing up which are related to the query you submitted. Now just take time and go through some of the categories which showed up for the Search. This particular search is complicated since the categories that came of are too vague. Here are some of the topics that came up.
   Regional: North America: United States: California: Regions: Northern California: Business and Economy
   Regional: North America: United States: California: Counties: San Joaquin: Business and Economy
   Business: Automotive: Recreational Vehicles: Retailers: North America: United States: California
   
   Above I picked some categories which showed up which looked relevant. Now by look we can eliminate California/counties/san Joaquin since is more specific to a city and you are selling whole of California. Next I can also eliminate Northern California since again you are selling whole of California. So mostly the ideal topic is Retailers/North America/United states/ California. So are you convinced that you can submit here. STOP: Don't do it yet since there might be other categories which never showed up search which can be relevant to your website. So I recommend now going through the regular way, Just click the categories and browse and see if you can find any other category that is relevant to your site if you are convinced that there cannot be any more category relevant to your website then proceed to submission.
5. Submission Guidelines: Make sure you have a well written title tag and a good descriptive description tag. Always avoid the idea of a optimized title tag. There is nothing like that for Dmoz. Most of the time best title will be your company name itself. For example if your company is California Auto Dealers Inc then that will be the best title for your website. When it comes to writing description make sure you don't read it like a advertisement, don't stuff your keywords in it don't repeat your title, prices etc. Best description will be something which doesn't fall into any of the categories that is pointed out here in Dmoz submission guidelines. http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/describing.html
6. Multiple listings: Sometimes Multiple listings are allowed for example you can submit your site if you eligible for the main category as well as your regional sub category. This is rare research before you do this.
7. Patience: After you submit your site please wait. Wait for atleast a year before any sort of panic there could be 1000 behind the scene reasons for your site not listed. If your site is not listed find out whether you have anything that violate Dmoz guidelines if you find anything just fix it and keep waiting. Don't go an resubmit all resubmissions will make your existing submission being pushed to the bottom of the website backlog. If the category you submitted has 100s of websites waiting then your wait time will be longer best option is to be patient and wait.
8. Finally stop talking bad about Dmoz or bashing them in forums this is one of the most important thing they see. Dmoz editors are some of the most active members of internet and they will find you regardless of which forum or message board you are bashing them. Stop false accusations against Dmoz they are the best out there. Just for the sake of backlinks don't ever try anything like shoemoney did here (shoemoney.com/2007/08/26/dmoz-extortion/ ) . Your site will never get into Dmoz for atleast the next 100 years.
9. P.S: See if your site really qualifies to be listed in Dmoz. If your site is listed in Dmoz does it add atleast a small value to dmoz. I will personally see that before submitting to Dmoz if you are new to internet and just build a site take time for the site to grow make it best for your users work atleast 6 months on the site. Once you feel you are good enough submit to Dmoz this increases the chance of acceptance into Dmoz more easily.
   
   Lets all make Dmoz a better place to be.
   Some Good resources : http://blog.dmoz.org
   http://www.resource-zone.com/forum/
   
   Search Engine Genie.
   

Labels: Search engine directories