• has given a great backlink from their website to your website and helping your page rank (aka link juice)
• been the “go to” website for search engines to access and index information on newly “set live” websites

But it seems like something is changing. Over the past while I have been asking myself whether listing a new website with www.dmoz.org is as important as it used to be. I ask this question because

• often ODP website submissions do not get listed for a very long time, if at all
• many categories within the directory do not have editors to review newly submitted websites
• you can submit your newly developed website for indexing to search engines such as Google, !Yahoo and Bing
• search engines do not always pick up new website data from the Open Directory Project

In the past, having your site listed with the Open Directory Project (aka dmoz) was a great way to get an inbound link with some power behind it. Linking from www.dmoz.org has been the Online World’s Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and provided you with link juice. Link juice, according to netlingo.com, is online jargon referring “to the quality of a web site’s link power, (as in page rank), number of link votes, etc. – that are obtained from backlinks or links from someone’s site back to yours.” So if you had a backlink (or had an inbound link) from the Open Directory Project, it boosted your page rank and therefore, “the importance” of your page. This was a good SEO tactic.

Historically, search engines retrieved new website listing data from dmoz to update their search engine results. Newly listed websites were regularly picked up and indexed by search engines within a short period of time of their listing on the ODP – usually on a weekly basis. Now with webmaster tools, I can submit websites to search engines directly and have the sites indexed within days of “setting them live.”

So does that mean that you dismiss ODP?

I don’t think so and this is why… ODP continues to be the only FREE human reviewed directory for the World Wide Web. And it is still the only volunteer directory on the web. There are others, for sure, but they all come at a price… some are a one time deal and others have annual fees.

SEO Recommendations

1.  Check your listing – if you have listed previously with ODP. I know of several reputable, previously listed sites that ODP has dropped. You may have to go through the resubmission process.  Contact an editor.

2.  Be prepared to spend time tracking your ODP submission. Get on the forums to discuss your submission or email directory editors to inquire about your submission.

3.  Listing in a category with an editor may shorten your wait time (if it’s an appropriate category).  Even with an editor within a category, you might have to wait a long time for your submission to be reviewed.

4.  Consider using other directories – for a fee. Although ODP is the only directory that categorizes websites for free, there are others that you can choose from. Check out botw.org, dirjournal, joeant, skaffe, goguides, rubberstamped or sevenseek. All these directories provide backlinks and will add SEO value to your website.

Although I have high regard for the ODP and the work that they have done (voluntarily!), it seems that its importance and relevance is diminishing.  It might be time to consider other directories.

What has been your experience with ODP and what do you think about its value?

If SEO was a world map, we would constantly redraw the political boundaries. Some of the great SEO techniques included: using alternative text for images (since bots can’t read images), keyword meta tags, keyword density analysis, submitting your website to directories and using keyword meta tags. I have used most of these techniques in the past believing that clients would show up well in search engine results – and they usually did.

Does that mean that you throw the baby out with the bath water? No… I still use those strategies but I use them for different reasons.

I now use alt text to comply with Creative Common Licenses. I like to promote images and photos from people who are freely sharing their art. I use Flickr and abide by the Creative Commons Guidelines. Check out  Flickr for some fantastic images. And alt text is still useful for Google Image searches if you want your site or images to show up in searches.

I still do keyword research. I find search for words and phrases that people would use to find my clients products and services. Then I write text using those terms. This helps me to keep my writing tight and focused. I still include a keyword meta tag… but I recognize that this doesn’t necessarily have a big impact on optimization… it just feels right to do it.

I never did do keyword density analysis. I strictly focused on text and content.

I confess that I still submit sites to directories. I recently submitted a sitemap to Google and within a week, the site’s ranking had jumped by two points. What does that tell you? That tells me that Google likes you to use their tools. Check out how to submit your sitemap to Google using their   Webmaster Tools.

I also submit sites to the ODP – The Open Directory Project. The ODP is “the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.” I love that. I love the fact that this is a volunteer community committed to editing and monitoring sites on the web. I like the human touch (although this can have its limitations, as well).

Some of the older SEO techniques are not as relevant as they were in the past but I am still using them. But I use these techniques for different reasons. What are some tried and true techniques that you still use? And for what reason are you using them? Leave a comment here and let me know.