What methods do Editors Use?

I have been trying for years to get list

My site has very good SERPS in a competitive sector
Alexa rating of 380,000
A PR of 4
The site contains lots unique content.
I have had emails from HP about link exchages
I add unique content regularly

Still my site is not deemed suitable for the DMOZ directory

We don't care about Alexa ratings or PR. If your site does indeed have unique content and is listable according to our guidelines, then it's most likely that no one has actually gotten around to reviewing your suggestion yet.

We don't actually care about Alexa ratings, PR and such. I'd not be surprised if most editors have never heard of them.

If your website is the sort that we list and it has useful and unique content, then we'll list it in time.

It's most likely that no volunteer has yet had the opportunity to evaluate your site. If you've already suggested it several times, there's no point in doing so again - and it could be counter productive.

Thanks for your replies.

I only mentioned the ratings for the site as a general comment.

I guess there are only 3 things to do.

1. Become an editor
2. Re-list my site in a section that has an editor
3. Wait out and forget it

Tracy123 said:

I guess there are only 3 things to do.

1. Become an editor
2. Re-list my site in a section that has an editor
3. Wait out and forget it

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1. If you are thinking of applying to become an editor only to list your own site, please don't. If you become an editor in the category where your site belongs and you list it there and then time out without making any more edits, you are technically not committing any abuse, but you will waste the time and effort of other volunteers. If you become an editor for some other category, and list your site there, it would be an abuse, and your site would be removed again. But if you think collecting, reviewing and describing links sounds like a fun hobby, you are more than welcome to apply to become an editor.

2. There is no point in suggesting a site for review in a category where it doesn't belong. The presence of a named editor in a category does not tell you anything about whether that category is likely to be edited more frequently than a category without a named editor. If you send your site to an inappropriate category, an editor (one who is named there or somebody else who can edit in the category) will move it to the more relevant category, where it will wait for somebody who is interested in editing there.

3. That is the recommended course of action

Thanks for your reply.

The thing about my website is it can fit in numerous categories, due to the general nature of my site.

Would I apply to be an editor just to get my own site listed? Of course not, I actually think it would be something I would enjoy.

Would I take advantage of listing my own site? If I was willing to work 3 to 4 hours a day editing websites I think it only natural to add my own site to the directory, if this was possible.

How many people apply and become editors, with a view to simply adding their own site? I imagine many do this initially, I guess some then leave and some stay as they enjoy the work.

How many people apply and become editors, with a view to simply adding their own site? I imagine many do this initially, I guess some then leave and some stay as they enjoy the work.

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I think you're partially correct. I discovered the Directory when I first built my site, and bein' totally ignorant of anything to do with the Internet, search engines, PR, or anything else, I got curious about the "Become an editor" invitation, and actually read what the ODP had to say about itself.

The very nature of the project was so down to earth/working man/community spirited that I applied out of curiousity, and I figured it wouldn't hurt my site any to be listed there either.

Out of all that total ignorance, I soon came to really appreciate what was being done, and the total selflessness of the community, and the sense of belonging to a worldwide family of editors working for everyone who uses the Internet for research.

Six years later, with no websites of my own and with no afilliations, I'm still here, though I've left and come back several times. It's a little addictive, and your editor friends have a habit of bugging you to come back, .

Added - A website is nothing more than one of many tools that a legitimate, brick and mortar business will use to inform it's customers. In my case, I found it was handy at times, but really of limited usefulness, and it didn't affect my bottom line at all.

Those who make their living solely on the Internet, have a bigger problem, but their success or failure is most likely the guy in the mirror, not a listing in a Directory. Quality is quality, and a garbage site is still a garbage site, no matter what kind of tricks you use.

What methods do Editors Use?

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I assume you mean what methods do we use to judge a site suggestion and whether it should be listed or not? or when it will be reviewed?

Speaking for myself, in Regional I edit every category and sub category within the United States which means there is one giant pool of site suggestions that numbers in the tens of thousands (your one site may be among them). So the chances of myself hitting that one site is one to tens of thousands. If I were working by myself, I might hit that particular site today, or it might be several years from now, there's no way of telling. Now multiply that by 7,000 or so current editors with various areas of editing permissions, and you can see why it would be impossible to predict when a site suggestion might be looked at.

How do I judge a site in Regional? First, I look for an address on the site and I make sure it's in the proper category (usually the locality/city). If it's not, I send it where it belongs (unlisted) and move onto the next site suggestion in that category.

If it's in the correct category, then I look at the content on the site from the perspective of a web surfer, and if it has the "unique content" that would be of benefit to a web surfer, I'll write a proper, ODP compliant Title and Description for it, and list it. If it doesn't, I'll delete it. Very simple.

If I'm editing in a Topics category like:
Home: Gardening: Gardens: Water

Then, an address is not neccessary because we don't list sites there by location, but by the topic of Water Gardening. I accept site suggestions from all over the world (as long as they are English speaking sites), and there might only be 4 or 5 site suggestions which I will review that same day.

What I'm looking for on those type of sites is "unique content" that is found on no other existing site that category. If it already exists in that category, why would a web surfer interested in water gardening want to see the same content again? I'm looking for something different for them.

The content is what I judge to be "unique content" for the category, not what the site owner thinks is "unique content". The site owner only sees his own site, I compare his content to all of the content that already exists in that category.

In either area, Regional or Topics, what I don't judge is the quality of the site design, the PR, Alexa rating, or any judgement about who the site owner is or how one business compares to another business. That's not my job. My job is to judge content on a site and how it might or might not be beneficial to the web surfer looking for specific information, and to write a Title/Description that states the facts, and isn't full of sales hype and unneccessary keywording.

I don't serve site owners, so I could care less about what they want. I serve web surfers and everything I do is for their benefit alone, and no one elses.

Great comments thank you.

On the issue of unique content, some corporate based sites have a problem with this. For example how can you have totally unique content on business funding, it is impossible.

I have wrote my site totally from my own thoughts however there are bound to be similarities with other sites that supply business funding.

One thing you did not mention is SERPS is this an issue, I only say this as my site is on page 1 or 2 for most of my keywords, in very competitive sectors.

Serps?

We could care less as they are absolutely, totally and completely irrelevant to the listing/review process.

Crowbar, both your posts are amazing. Opened my eyes on ODP.

Also, I never knew there were 7000 odd Editors. Thought a few hundered at a max.

There are way too many misconceptions about what we really do and why site suggestions haven't been listed yet. The truth is we have different goals, see the Directory much differently from the inside, and for the majority of site suggestions, they just haven't been reviewed yet, rather than something is wrong with the site suggestion or the editors.

Ghosts are being imagined where there are no ghosts, , and there are many other tasks that need to be done in the Directory that are much more enjoyable to do than reviewing site suggestions, depending on what an editors interests are.

Most of us spend a little time doing each of the tasks, and a great deal of time goes into fixing bad urls, or hunting down a replacement for them when they've moved. That's being pro site owner, it would be much quicker and easier to just delete them, but we don't.

Serps?

We could care less as they are absolutely, totally and completely irrelevant to the listing/review process.

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When people outside DMOZ take the time to ask reasonable questions, they should not be subject to this type of response it simply shows why some editors are doing more harm than good.

I previously dismissed the horror stories I have heard about editors, however after reading that comment I now wonder.

I'm not sure what in particular upsets you about that quote. He was just stating a fact (and answering your question). I understand that search engine results are important to site owners but, from an ODP point of view, they truly are irelevant. It's nearly impossible for an editor to explain that and get his/her point across without being blunt, which spectregunner was.

What is a serp? I literally don't know, and gunner is correct, it really has nothing to do with editing, or I'd know what it was.

I'm not real sure what page rank is either. I just assume it has something to do with who comes up first on a search page. Same thing, it has nothing to do with editing the Directory.

We can all answer any question with a harsh one liners, however it says a lot about a person when they take time to fully explain the process of the directory, in a nice helpful manner as Crow has.

If a site has been listed on page 1 of Google for years, is this not an issue? I would imagine it has some relevance as a friend of mine owns a very successful site, he informed me he didn't apply to the directory his said all of a sudden it was in there.

All we are doing is asking questions on a subject we know very little about.

Tracy123 said:

We can all answer any question with a harsh one liners, however it says a lot about a person when they take time to fully explain the process of the directory, in a nice helpful manner as Crow has.

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What you are viewing as a 'harsh one liner' is in fact a straightforward factual answer without a sugar coating.

Tracy123 said:

If a site has been listed on page 1 of Google for years, is this not an issue? I would imagine it has some relevance as a friend of mine owns a very successful site, he informed me he didn't apply to the directory his said all of a sudden it was in there.

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No it is not an issue of any concern for dmoz editors. Google is not DMOZ and DMOZ is not google. What they choose to do with data they take under free license from DMOZ is there own business. Editors look at sites based solely on the editing guidelines and the category description. Serps, page rank, google rank, seo, etc, etc are not a factor.

Tracy123 said:

All we are doing is asking questions on a subject we know very little about.

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And I see volunteers trying to answer those questions as clearly as they can.

Pretty much everything you want to know about dmoz can be found in the Help Center. You might want to check that out as well.

I'm just more long winded, Tracy123, gunner knows more than I do, .

crowbar said:

What is a serp? I literally don't know, and gunner is correct, it really has nothing to do with editing, or I'd know what it was.

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I didn't know either, but the define: function in Google tells me it means "search engine results page". So I believe it's about where in the list of results a site comes up, in a particular search engine.

Tracy123, there are editors who are interested in SEO issues - naturally, since there are editors with interests within pretty much any area you could name. But the directory as such has nothing to do with search engines or optimising sites for them, and editors are expected not to actually perform any search engine optimisation whilst editing.

However, we do use many different sources to find sites to list - including search engines. And it is only logical that if I search for sites about a particular topic, and use a search engine, I will look first at those sites that appear first - though depending on the subject, I may have to click down to results page five or six before finding a URL that is worth clicking on, and page ten before finding anything that is actually listable in the directory. (Which must be a direct result of SEO people getting "good" placement for irrelevant sites.) And so, no, the search engine placement doesn't really matter that much to us.