Google Directory versus DMOZ

[POTN Bloke]

Does G directory echo DMOZ, as all of a sudden i find backlinks from sites which take there info from dmoz. but i do not appear in google directory,

[jocelyn]

The directory is updates once in a while. So yes you will find sites in DMOZ that are not in the directory until it's updated.

[POTN Bloke]

Well, thats good news then in that at least im now in DMOZ by hook or by crook, even though i didnt submit anywhere close to the category ive found myself in Just by coincidence i discovered it via a link: search of the new msn beta search.

[wlh]

did you even submit your site to them?

[Buster]

http://www.potn.com/ is listed within http://dmoz.org/Shopping/Vehicles/Parts_and_Accessories/Varied_Merchandise/P/ and has been for less than a month. It would appear to have been stumbled across and simply reviewied and added. Submissions are only one way that sites are found and added.

I would suggest that you also submit to the UK part of the directory as it appears that it is where you are based and serving. You could try somewhere like: http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/Business_and_Economy/Shopping/Recreation_and_Sports/Motoring/Parts/

Shopping is a busy part of the directory so definately don't hold your breathe but hey... you have nothing to loose :)

[POTN Bloke]

That was the surprise, i submitted to regional one, not holding breath and then wham all of a sudden i found i was getting backlinks from people who use dmoz data.

I put 2 and 2 together and smiled 8-|

[xenon]

Hi Buster,

Is their a limit to how many different areas you are allowed to submit to? I thought you can only submit to your selected area and possibly the geographic area? Are you allowed to submit to different categories if your site is also falling under that category?

Thanks

[Buster]

Is their a limit to how many different areas you are allowed to submit to?

Generally we say 'single' most relevant category however we make an exception with sites that have a local interest and therefore welcome submissions to the regional.

That is really all that I can recommend. Any decision to list in additional categories would be made internally and I would advise against submitting to anymore that once in regional and once in topical.

[rizla]

[QUOTE=Buster]Generally we say 'single' most relevant category however we make an exception with sites that have a local interest and therefore welcome submissions to the regional.[/QUOTE]

Hi Buster- what about web portals with lots of categories?

e.g.

www. theportal .com \ computers

www. theportal .com \ business

www. theportal .com \ fashion

www. theportal .com \ search

what would you suggest? to try and submit a wide one for the organic url or to aim each sub-folder into its most single relevant category? :confused:

thanks,
aka rizla

[g00gl3r]

the site, advancedfloorheating.com has been submitted a while ago and still isn't showing in the directory.. Any ideas what I can do to fix this?

[Buster]

Your locality submission was declined in August as the site said 'Online Soon' although the site only appears to offer online services so it may not be eligible for a listing in Staffordshire anyway.

You should submit the site to a category under the UK area but before you do you should consider adding the terms of sale as that page contains nothing of use and it is vital as an online shopping site. I can't even tell where you deliver to.

[g00gl3r]

OK, thanks fella, I don't suppose you could tell me which category I should submit to after I have uploaded the terms page and made it clearer that we sell nationally (and delivery nationally).

I think I found that category by searching for businesses in Staffs (obviously) didn't really understand that it went by where you sell to, if that makes sense..

_______________________________________

Thanks in advance for your help,

Just looked (to add to this) when I search for UFH on DMOZ, I get loads of areas http://search.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/search?search=underfloor+heating ...

Can I submit to all of these then or just one?

<--- confizzled a little I think, and baffled with your terms, I rekon you make them clearer lol..!

[Buster]

As the service you offer is aimed primarily at the UK market I would agree that the submission that was made to http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/Business_and_Economy/Shopping/Home_and_Garden/Climate_Control/ is the best place IMO. It is incidently awaiting in that cat already for a review and has been since early August.

As for any other categories.... I would recommend not. This is because truthfully there does not appear to be any other truly appropriate categories and that is the best 'single' home for the site.

The result you see are results for sites listed with various focuses/audiences. Some companies only sell in their 'locale' where as other serve worldwide. Some sell to the public and other only serve the business/trade/industry. For that reason it is common to see many categories that appear the same but they are different.

[rizla]

Hello Buster, good to see you and your posts.

What about multi theme sites (my q on #9 post in this thread) ? :confused:

[Buster]

In all honesty it is to broad a question to answer as there is no black and white rule that works with every site.

For a portal (using your example) it would be listed as a portal in a category such as http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Web_Portals/ (see here (http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Web_Portals/desc.html) for a description.

I suspect however that the question was not intended to actually be portal specific and that was an example to ask what happens when a site has many different topics over a wide spectrum... am I right?

Well again there is no black and white rule. The main task of an editor is to help the directory grow by adding content that is of use to the category which they are editing. Although often preached (and often in a misleading way) there is never a 'one company or site - one listing' rule. This is something that appears to have found itself set in stone - but it is a myth and nothing more. The true and honest fact is that only a very small percentage of sites actually contain sufficient useful and unique content to be of use in more than one category. Okay there are many sites listed many times in ODP but do the math when you consider there are more than 4 million listings.

Lets say we have the following categories:

Widgets/Blue
Widgets/Green
Widgets/Black
Widgets/Yellow
Widgets/Purple

Okay - so your site has all the info you could dream about on Blue widgets. It would go in Widgets/Blue - likewise any other single colour would place it in its respective category.

If however your site detailed blue and green widgets, based in the above structure, it is more than likely going to be listed in the main root category of Widgets/

To confuse matters (sorry) lets say that Widgets/ is split into 15 different colours and you focus on two of them - it may be more use to list you once in each of the two colours that you cover as opposed to the root as your site is not wide enough to cover enough of the 15 colours to be of use to users so high in the tree.

That may sound confusing but I am trying to show where common sense and discretion comes in. Placing the site at Widgets/ in this case would not be appropriate as our users would expect to find sites that have a lot wider coverage that 2 colours out of 15.

Now if your site, aswell as selling widgets, also offers a unique content in a completely unrelated topic (say Pidgeons) then it may also be considered there too!

Realisticly speaking this is actually quite rare. Okay.... many webmasters do think there site has unique enough content to be listed in 5 categories however it is very unlikely that they have reviewed the 100-500 sites that may already be listed and spread amongst those 5 categories to actually be able to really have an honest opinion of the uniue factor.

Put it this way. A site selling TV, Washing Machines, Vacuums, Toasters would not be considered for listings in

Electrical/TV
Electrical/Washing Machines
Electrical/Vacuums ..... etc etc etc

They are all electrical and will be listed in Electrical

[rizla]

Thanks for the detailed answer Buster, 8-|
The reason I ask is that the Hebrew DMOZ version is somewhat empty and in many situations it's hard to determine which category suits best.

Thanks again.
aka Rizla

[macdesign]

You could try playing around and doing it backwards. That is - start by trying to find the best category in English, then try to find the matching Hebrew category.

Lets say your site belonged in http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Designers/Animal/

That has no matching other languages, so you go up one level to
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Designers/

That has a Hebrew link to http://www.dmoz.org/World/Hebrew/%d7%9e%d7%97%d7%a9%d7%91%d7%99%d7%9d/%d7%90%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%98%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%98/%d7%a2%d7%99%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%91_%d7%95%d7%91%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%99%d7%aa_%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d/%d7%97%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%aa/

It's also good to go back in the other direction from the אנגלית link to make sure. It's supposed to work as mirror images, but sometimes that does not work out, as different languages don't always create new categories in the same way.

[rizla]

[QUOTE=macdesign]It's supposed to work as mirror images, but sometimes that does not work out, as different languages don't always create new categories in the same way.[/QUOTE]


Thanks macdesign,
Got it :cool:

[g00gl3r]

Buster,

If you're still on here, I followed your instructions submitted the site a while ago. Any news on it? or any news on finding news on it?

Or anything really, it's like throwing a breeze bloke on water and expecting it to bounce.