Remove my own site from dmoz

Due to the sheer nature of sites that are using the dmoz db to link to my site with a 302 direct I simply want all of my sites out of dmoz.

How can I achieve this? If I put a page on my domain called dmoz.htm saying "editors remove this site from dmoz" (to prove I have ownership of the domain) would that suffice?

You can read about the ill effect that 302 redirects can have on domains here:

http://www.loriswebs.com/hijacking_web_pages.html

and here

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/25638.htm

and here

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum23/3682.htm

Some example "naughty" dmoz affiliates are:

www.xasa.com
{snip}Contacted the directory direct and he changed the 302 to a 301 redirect{/snip}
www.sweden.org

These sites link to my site like this:

{snip}Contacted the directory direct and he changed the 302 to a 301 redirect{/snip}
redirect.sweden.org/?http://www.mydomain.com

these are 302 redirects! My site has dropped out of google only to be replaced by one of these sites.

So assuming dmoz don't say "oh my gosh, we'll remove those domains, now" how can I get my domains out of dmoz, and keep them out?

Fira, you're quite right in saying that a removal request would need to be backed up by some evidence, however the bottom line is that inclusion into or exclusion from the directory is a matter for editors - you may find that if the editor thinks that your site is particularly valuable that they may not want to remove it.

Should you want to do this, use the "Update URL" feature and include a note with the URL of the removal request in it.

However.. we have no control over how often downstream users update their data. They may do this regularly or not at all. In the short term removing your ODP listing may even compound the problem.

Really though this is a search engine bug, not an ODP issue. Ideally the SEs need to extract their digits and fix the problem.

I should add that we rarely remove a listing unless it doesn't meet our guidelines or becomes unavailable.

motsa said:

I should add that we rarely remove a listing unless it doesn't meet our guidelines or becomes unavailable.

Click to expand...

What if I don't *WANT* my site in ODP?

Is there a simple way not to meet the guidelines without having other detremental effects to my site?

Fira said:

What if I don't *WANT* my site in ODP?

Click to expand...

We don't ask webmasters' permissions before listing their sites, and don't list sites simply because their webmasters want them to be listed - hence we don't delist sites simply because their webmasters want them not to be listed, either. I think it may have happened in some specific case, but that is definitely an exception.

Fira said:

Is there a simple way not to meet the guidelines without having other detremental effects to my site?

Click to expand...

The easiest way is to point you at the guidelines - they are public, and found at http://dmoz.org/guidelines/ . You'll have to decide for yourself what is good for your site or not - you're the expert there

nea said:

We don't ask webmasters' permissions before listing their sites, and don't list sites simply because their webmasters want them to be listed - hence we don't delist sites simply because their webmasters want them not to be listed, either. I think it may have happened in some specific case, but that is definitely an exception.


The easiest way is to point you at the guidelines - they are public, and found at http://dmoz.org/guidelines/ . You'll have to decide for yourself what is good for your site or not - you're the expert there

Click to expand...

So websites have no way of saying "do not include my site". Webmasters could have many ligitimate reasons for wanting this.

For reasons previously stated and the fact the title and description do not accurately describe my site I want it removed and not re included.

What do I do?

There is the facility of not being included in all search engines via the robots.txt. Is there this facility with dmoz, and if not will dmoz conform to my request?

Fira, ultimately you have no control over who links to your site. The same is true of the ODP or any other directory.. the criteria for the ODP is to add value as far as the visitor is concerned, rather than to service the need of webmasters.

Indeed, it's not the ODP causing the issue here, but downstream users of the data who may continue to redirect in the way you specify regardless of whether you are listed in the ODP or not.

Have you investigated a technological solution to the issue, such as rejecting traffic coming through the redirect? It seems to me that what you are asking for would ultimately hurt you more in the long run.

For reasons previously stated and the fact the title and description do not accurately describe my site I want it removed and not re included.

What do I do?

Click to expand...

Are you suggesting that we also have an incorrect description in our directory for your site? I wasn't sure since you have not actually mentioned the URL in question. If so you can always use the update listing option on the category page where you are listed and note what/why changes need to be made. Then an editor can re-review the listing to see if they feel the description and title are appropriate or not. No prediction on how long that re-review would take, but updates are sometimes a higher priority for editors since they want to make sure the listings are accurate. Just my thoughts.

As mentioned above, the other issues are SE issues and we have no control over how they utilize the data.

Actually, if the ODP is somehow causing damage to your business, I would imagine a letter from your lawyer explaining this would facilitate your removal. Not sure how they are causing you damage, though...

The letter from the lawyer would have to be sent to AOL legal department, though, not to a particular editor.

shritwod said:

Have you investigated a technological solution to the issue, such as rejecting traffic coming through the redirect? It seems to me that what you are asking for would ultimately hurt you more in the long run.

Click to expand...

Without having physical access to the server there's nothing i can do. I could switch content if someone comes from that url. But at the end of the day if googlebot finds the 302. My site is potentially stuffed.

So let me see if I understand, here.

1. You are saying that your site has good, useful content that you want the world to see.
2. You do not like the title and description of the listing of this site in the ODP
3. Others have set up something to sabotage your ranking in Google and some other search engines by using a flaw in that search engine's logic.
4. This "flaw" actually directs more traffic to your site.
5. Your poor rankings in search engines are hurting your business.

#1 implies that your site is a definite candidate for a listing in the ODP.
#2 - another editor has suggested how you can ask to have that changed.
As for the rest, I hope you see that this is really nothing to do with the ODP - others (including Google) are free to use our data however they choose. We are not a search engine, and the directory knows nothing about keywords or rankings.

Also, I guess I fail to see how taking it out of the ODP will solve the issue - the URL is out there and people will redirect to it now, using whatever means they can. Losing it out of the ODP would, if anything, just make your ranking even worse, because you would lose one "reliable source" for the engines.

But, knowing little to nothing about search engines, what do I know?

It sounds as though requesting removal from dmoz would be barking up the wrong tree. The best thing you could do is try to have the actual 302 redirects removed from the actual sites using them. If they are legitimate sites doing it because they don't know any better then contact them suggesting that they fix it. If they don't respond or it looks like a clear case of abuse then report it to their ISP (as suggested in the aritlce you quoted: http://www.loriswebs.com/hijacking_web_pages.html). Failing that, you could get your lawyers onto the site owner and possibly the ISP involved. I doubt that getting your lawyers onto AOL/dmoz would help, nor would getting the site removed from dmoz.