How much time does Dmoz.org take to approve a link on their directory?

Question

My client wants to have his site listed on the Dmoz.org directory. I have filled out the forms but am still waiting for the approval process to complete.

Is there anything else I need to do to make sure Dmoz has my application and enough information to approve the link?

Answer 1

1. Dmoz is dead so you're wasting your time.

2. There is no timetable to get listed. It could be a day, or more likely, never. And anything in between. It's whenever the editor decides they're going to approve your listing if they ever do at all. But there are a shortage of editors, many editors are slow or absent, and just as many are corrupt and won't list competitor's sites. So getting into Dmoz is very difficult.

To summarize, if you bother to submit your site, which may not be a good use of your time, just submit it and forget it. There's really nothing else you can do.

Answer 2

I was a DMOZ editor for many years, so let me tell you why it takes forever to get your link into the open directory.

Each category has a submission queue of sites that have been submitted to it. To approve a site, an editor must visit that category and approve your listing in the queue. Most categories have a large backlog of submissions and no editor that is actively looking at them. Likely your submission is lost in a queue.

Even if an editor does look at your submission they may choose to delete it because it is low quality, or skip it and leave it for some other editor. They also may move it to another more appropriate category where there is another queue.

To improve your chances of getting in:

• Choose a category with other sites like yours. If you choose the wrong category, your submission will just be moved and the process will take longer.
• Choose a small category with no sub-categories. These "leaf" categories are much likely to be judged as appropriate for your site. Very few sites get approved at higher level categories.
• Choose a category with an active editor. If the category says "editor needed" at the bottom, nobody is going to look at the queue. If there is an editor (or multiple editors) check how many categories they can edit by clicking on their profile. The fewer and smaller the better. With fewer small categories they are more likely to be keeping on top of the backlog.
• Use proper capitalization, spelling and grammar in your submission. The editor cannot publish a bad submission without editing it.
• Avoid marketing language. Don't use superlatives like "best." Don't use the phrase "and more." Don't use exclamation points.
• Use only your brand name as the title and describe your brand in the description.

It is a lot of work to get listed, and most categories no longer have any sites getting approved. Even if you do get listed, the upside of getting listed is very small. Years ago, the directory was more popular and getting listed could get you clicks. That really isn't true today. The directory would also get you a number of inbound links which would help with Google rankings. That effect is fairly low now too. It probably just isn't worth the effort anymore.

Answer 3

I tried and submit my site an year ago, but still no replies. I do agree with John, and it is a waste of time. Even recently I visited the site to laugh at it only. Design looks decades back, and not many popular site even tried to enter in there it seems, while the directory concept is getting obsolete.

Funniest part of DMOZ is that they try to create high standard out of making lives difficult, yes only making things difficult but no other innovative ideas or something new and useful. I even doubt the honesty of those editors as I have seen sites without any quality or value too.