Removing a site from ODP

I would like to have my site removed from the ODP directory. I have sent requests to the editors of the 2 categories it is listed in, but I think those categories are not being updated lately.

My sites URL is:

http://www.indiadivine.com

Listed in:

Society: Religion and Spirituality: Hinduism (5)

and

Society: Religion and Spirituality: Hinduism: Vaishnava: Gaudiya

Any help is appreciated.

Normally sites are not removed per submitter requests. How do we know that the person requesting the removal is the owner of the site? I am not accusing you of that but it is something that has to be considered.

This is a difficult thing to do.

One reason is, the site wasn't listed for the webmaster, and it wouldn't necessarily be removed for the webmaster. ODP is for the surfers.

Another reason is, it is hard to verify online that a "remove" request was really from the webmaster. We do periodically get "remove ME" requests from people that coincidentally are using an e-mail account at a competitor. Not all attempted saboteurs are quite so stupid, but nearly all "remove me" requests end up being sabotage attempts. [I do say "nearly all", because I do remember a MLM site that, after extensive internal and external discussion, we removed per the site owner's request. But that was a special case involving the special MLM category characteristics and guidelines.]

If there is a reason -- at the SITE -- to move (or remove) a site (say, the site's focus has changed), then an "Update URL" request is the way to go.

If you take the site down, it would eventually disappear from ODP (editors usually try to find a new copy of it first, though.)

The problem is ODP ruins my rankings in many search engines. The search engines will not take certain info from my page, and instead chooses to go with information supplied by ODP. There should be a system by which a webmaster can choose to have his site removed from the directory.

On top of it, the editors will post terrible descriptions of the site (many times not even connected to the description submitted), which further reduce the chance of the site being visited.

What do I have to do to get blacklisted from the directory? Maybe that is the way to go? /images/icons/smile.gif

"How do we know that the person requesting the removal is the owner of the site? I am not accusing you of that but it is something that has to be considered."

The simplest thing to do would be to send an email to the webmaster of the site for confirmation. Since there are few such requests, it shouldn't take much effort on the part of the editors.

A broader solution for all sites would be to not list sites that included a certain metatag directed to ODP. You could develop an auto checking system for this.

This could only be added by the webmaster, so there is no way a competitor could influence it.

The ODP is profoundly disinterested in the way ANY site appears in ANY search engine. The ODP datadump is public information, we simply do not know how they use it today, and we expect them to use it differently tomorrow.

We simply do not, and will not, change the DIRECTORY to affect SEARCH ENGINE results for any particular site. That would be considered editorial abuse, and anyone could lose editing privileges if they did that.

By the way: "Update URL" requests to change the URL raise issues similar to the procedural problem mentioned above, and in this case we ARE interested in making valid changes. But -- the change must be verified at the OLD URL. If it can't be verified at the OLD URL, my practice is to contact the submitter explaining that they should post a "we've moved" notice at the OLD URL, and THEN submit the "Update URL" request.

If you somehow manage to convince dmoz to remove your listing just don't tell anybody who knows about Search Engine Optimization that you did it.

I don't have Google toolbar installed on this machine but I think Society: Religion and Spirituality: Hinduism has some serious page rank since its close to the top of the category tree. Google - AOL Google - and Yahoo Google all use Page Rank to determine relevance and that is a serious chuck of traffic you are messing with. It would be interesting to see how much less traffic your site receives if it is successfully removed from dmoz.

I suggest going to a SEO forum - Jim's World or Webmaster's World and ask them if what you are trying to do is wise. The SEO experts in those forums give good advice and anwer questions for free.

<< The problem is ODP ruins my rankings in many search engines. >>

Wow, how did you ever figure a DMOZ listing will hurt your results. It can only add unless you have zero content (but then of course you wouldn't be in DMOZ). I think you better think this over before making such a request. It is true that as of late INK has been using some descriptions from DMOZ listings, but you probably wouldn't be able to find your listing in the SERP without it /images/icons/smile.gif

>>The problem is ODP ruins my rankings in many search engines.<<

I think I should print this whole thread out and frame it after my wife gets done giving me CPR. I never thought I'd see the day...

kctipton,

I don't think people realize that the description in DMOZ does not count near as much as being in there in the first place. I have yet to see a truly terrible description in DMOZ. I think people get confused with what they hear about Yahoo descriptions and relate it to the ODP /images/icons/wink.gif

My 2-cents

Probably the last 500 sites I added to the ODP were NEVER submitted. I wonder if these people even know they are listed? Will my listing them effect there traffic - I don't care. I list them because I found them and they apply to the category I was searching for. Even if you stuck a tag on the site I would still list it if the site was useful to the category.

>>The problem is ODP ruins my rankings in many search engines.<<

I have already framed this thread /images/icons/smile.gif

And I guess that as soon as the voice spreads out in SEs forums there will be people jumping on their seat.

I can only speak for myself, but DMOZ/ODP is the "first" place I submit a site to. I also consider it the most important to be listed in. If you are in DMOZ/ODP the SE's will find you and so will your visitors /images/icons/smile.gif

I don't want to offend anyone but I have had enough chuckles from this thread to last me the whole weekend /images/icons/wink.gif

Dave S.

There's a thread on a forum I favour which resembles the one here re: ODP descs buggers SE listings. Point 1. It doesn't and Point 2. ODP is not an SEO site.

I was fortunate in finding a considerate editor who included my site when I queried the in-tray. It was a polite query with a polite, informative response thread that satisfied all parties. 2 days later I was in and delighted! Great surprise, but when I hit the review the desc was not exactly as I wanted: it lacked the regional UK ranking augmentor. There were other sites - competitors' - whose ODP descriptions matched those of their webmaster-supplied engine-optimised descs. These, I presume, had been perfunctorily loaded since they were as good a match and the editor saw no fit reason to make adjustment. Tough for me. I have a listing in the correct categories which offers a fair and truthful description of my site content and business activity.

Now, I must admit to some worries. On this forum I set a few posers regarding desc relevance to SEs and got answers which satisifed my curiosity and diminished my concerns.

I was dumped by Google a month or so ago during the prior major update when I changed hosts and my new host's ISP lost its Irish backbone for 3 days - during the Google crawl. Googlebot failed to pick up the new IP. This hurt since I had a #2 slot and reasonable traffic. Shortly after, I got into ODP. Google's update of 24/5 saw me enter at #2 and now hit #1, ready for the move to the core directory. Other key phrases have also boosted. The point: these are UK parameterised phrases. My global - international - phrase also has received a 1 slot boost. The ODP lisitng has enhanced my SE ranking.

So, thanks guys.

One final note: Act like a professional and you will be treated as a professional.