Will a DMOZ link help your site rank better?
November 30th 2006 18:14
A few years ago a link in the human edited DMOZ web directory meant you had a much better shot at ranking top 3 for big keywords, but those days are long gone and the debate on DMOZ links is still going strong.
The directory, which is currently near impossible to get listed in due to a huge back load and faulty editor setup still has benefits, but those benefits can be attained anywhere else that has the same page strength.
I have 3 listings in DMOZ right now, so I get to see how it all works from the perspective of a webmaster who has sites in DMOZ. Two years ago a listing I have on a PR 6 page on a pretty good spot within the travel section of DMOZ was doing VERY well for my keywords. I was targeting "Youth Hostels" and was bouncing between spot 3 and 5 for a good 6 months. This brought on a ton of traffic with little or no effort on my part. My on page optimization at the time was terrible and I had few backlinks. Could it have been the DMOZ listing that was boosting me past others who had done a lot more work than I in the area of SEO?
My suspicion comes from a plummet in rankings on that site right about the time a big Google update come along and nailed everyone to the wall. The update supposedly removed the weight of a DMOZ listing. I believe it did.
My links in DMOZ are still good links. All 3 are on a PR 6 page or better, but the links are acting just like any other PR 6 backlink. Nothing special.
The bottom line is that if you're going to submit to DMOZ, just submit your site and forget all about it. You might end up with a strong backlink 6 months down the road, and you might not. Either way I think it's a waste of time to sit around working on ways to get listed. It just isn't worth it.
-Eric
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