The DMOZ directory (www.dmoz.org) or the Open Directory Project is the largest directory on the Internet. There are many copies of the main DMOZ site and so, if you
submit your site to the DMOZ directory, you will get a valuable link from the directory
itself as well as dozens of additional links from related resources. This means that the
DMOZ directory is of great value to a seo aware webmaster.
It is not easy to get your site into the DMOZ directory; there is an element of luck
involved. Your site may appear in the directory a few minutes after it has been submitted
or it may take months to appear.
If you submitted your site details correctly and in the appropriate category then it
should eventually appear. If it does not appear after a reasonable time then you can try
contacting the editor of your category with a question about your request (the DMOZ site
gives you such opportunity). Of course, there are no guarantees, but it may help. DMOZ
directory submissions are free of charge for all sites, including commercial ones.
Here are my final recommendations regarding site submissions to DMOZ. Read all site
requirements, descriptions, etc. to avoid violating the submission rules. Such a violation
will most likely result in a refusal to consider your request. Please remember, presence in
the DMOZ directory is desirable, but not obligatory. Do not despair if you fail to get into
this directory. It is possible to reach top positions in search results without this directory –
many sites do.
The essence of link exchanges is that you use a special page to publish links to other
sites and get similar backlinks from them. Search engines do not like link exchanges
because, in many cases, they distort search results and do not provide anything useful to
Internet users. However, it is still an effective way to increase link popularity if you
observe several simple rules.
- Exchange links with sites that are related by topic. Exchanging links with unrelated
sites is ineffective and unpopular.
- Before exchanging, make sure that your link will be published on a “good” page. This
means that the page must have a reasonable PageRank (3-4 or higher is recommended), it
must be available for indexing by search engines, the link must be direct, the total
number of links on the page must not exceed 50, and so on.
- Do not create large link directories on your site. The idea of such a directory seems
attractive because it gives you an opportunity to exchange links with many sites on
various topics. You will have a topic category for each listed site. However, when trying
to optimize your site you are looking for link quality rather than quantity and there are
some potential pitfalls. No seo aware webmaster will publish a quality link to you if he
