DMOZ - Submitting a site to the Open Directory

The Open Directory remains an important site for websites to get listed on, although it has also become a frustrating process that can take many months due to the backlog of submitted sites and the shortage of volunteer editors to review each site and decide on a listing. However, once listed this an have a positive advantage to a website's optimisation strategy, both on Google and on other search engines.

As you are submitting your site for review by human editors, it's important that you don't aggravate the one responsible for your category, or categories. Not following the listing guidelines, multiple submissions on a regular basis, or direct email contact can bring your site's details to their attention for the wrong reasons and all submissions may then be ignored. The best bet is the follow the guidelines and be patient, however long it may take.

How to submit a site to the Open Directory

Like every directory, you first need to first the appropriate category to submit your website to. You do this by either browsing down through the categories or by searching for key terms and finding similar companies and the categories they are listed under. The Open Directory does allow sites to be submitted to 2 categories if they are both applicable, so find the most suitable ones for your product or service and the region covered. It can also be advisable to find an appropriate category that also has an active editor as this could improve your chances of getting a listing.

Once at the category level, select the 'submit a site' option and follow the submission guidelines. There are a small number of submission fields to be completed, with the most important being the description of the site. You are limited here to a maximum of 25 words and the description needs to be objective and non-promotional, but should also contain a number of the main search terms that you are targeting for your site.

Your submission may be rejected or amended by the Open Directory editors, but once listed, your site will remain on the directory as long as your site remains online and any search rankings generated from this tool will be determined by the title of your entry (which is your company name) and the short line of descriptive text, so the options are quite limited.

Read a brief history of the Open Directory

Find out how your website can achieve a listing on the Open Directory by contacting us now or by requesting a FREE website assessment.