The DMOZ Factor

There have been soo many discussions about DMOZ in both positive and negative lights on forums that if I had a penny for each one, I could put Bill Gates out of business.

Point is, Google still uses DMOZ as it's back-up directory source and until that changes, it will always be important to have your site listed in it's index. Now, despite some other seo urban legends, you can get top rankings in Google without being listed in DMOZ - but it's a quality link if you can get it.

So, how much time should you dedicate to getting a DMOZ link?

All you need is about 15 minutes in total, and you'll be set.

There are two ways you can submit your site to get listed. The harder way is to find the category your site resides in and enter your site there.

The easier way is to drill down regionally to where your business location is. Then look for the category you want within that region and submit there. It may not be an exact match, but it is a DMOZ link.

So how powerful is that link?

I have a former employer who is in the home security business. For 2 years they've gathering quality links from relevant sites, creating excellent topics relating to home security, getting directory submissions and doing press releases on a regular schedule. All of those efforts went un-rewarded in Google for their most sought after phrase, "home security".

Then, 8 months ago, I submitted their site regionally, under security companies, and 6 months later they were listed in DMOZ for that category. In 3 days from that listing, they now appear on the first page of Google for the term "home security". Furthermore, their snippet is not from their meta tag, but the DMOZ listing.

One last tip when submitting to DMOZ: Always try to submit to a category that has an editor. They are extremely busy and most are noble in trying to submit only quality sites. So be kind and patient and enjoy the results of your getting listed in DMOZ.