There’s one search engine that has been around for a good many years now but few people are even aware that it exists. This search engine is the open directory project known as DMOZ.org. Often times this search engine is referred to as the mother of all search directories.
Does DMOZ Matter?
By Joseph Parish
There’s one search engine that has been around for a good many years now but few people are even aware that it exists. This search engine is the open directory project known as DMOZ.org. Often times this search engine is referred to as the mother of all search directories.
Over the recent years the DMOZ directory has dropped drastically in popularity and can usually be found in a negative light by many of the webmasters who express criticism at the difficulty of getting included in the listings. The original intent for DMOZ was to establish a directory for the people and one which is created by the people. It was suppose to be the answer to the closed Yahoo directory.
Many of the DMOZ users have become critical of the “for the people” philosophy and the use of this directory has continually be declining. It is so bad that DMOZ figures show sharp declines in visitors and page views over the last seven years. They have failed to exceed three million visitors in one month since reaching their peek at 15 million in March 2003.
When mention is made of search engines the word Yahoo or Google quickly surface but little is mentioned of DMOZ. A major point that is often overlooked here is that DMOZ was not intended to replacing Yahoo or Google. It was created to compliment them. You can find all sorts of information on the web and the broader the topic is the more useful it is for a researcher using DMOZ.
The largest complaint against DMOZ is not the material that it can provide to the masses but rather from those who are submitting sites for review. The usual claim is that DMOZ fails to provide an effect means of submitting sites. It is not unusual to find that authoritative sites are omitted while those sites containing mediocre content are readily available.
It is generally extremely difficult to get a DMOZ link and this has been a great factor in its decline. In all, the database has a good foundation however more effort needs to be expended in allowing the sites to be listed. If you as an SEO professional can get your website listed on DMOZ by all means do so for hopefully in the future it will bring itself up to par with its competitors.
Copyright @2010 Joseph Parish
March 8th, 2010 at 4:52 am
Nice Information
March 13th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
I guess that’s what happens when you lose faith in the ones that support you. Good article thanks!