Can Being A DMOZ Editor Boost Your Search Engine Optimization?

[Owen]

DMOZ has taken a lot of flack in recent years. Critics say it is slow, unnecessary, and full of prima donnas. Of course, it could be fun to be a prima donna. Couldn’t it?

If this blog post at DMOZ is any clue, I’d think being a DMOZ editor is kind of fun. But can it benefit your web business at all? Does it do anything for your Search Engine Optimization.

First, there is the obvious ethical question: Are you playing favorites with your own websites? DMOZ exists to list websites in categories. It is free and human edited. If editors use their position, as some have in the past, to make their own websites take priority over others’ then that would clearly be an ethical problem. I don’t think most DMOZ editors are that unscrupulous. I’m sure it is a temptation that editors must be on the lookout for.

That said, being a DMOZ editor can benefit your business, albeit not in a search engine positioning and search engine optimization kind of way. At least, you won’t get any additional search juice by being an editor. Being listed in DMOZ will help your business a great deal as you’ll have a valuable incoming link for your website from a high PR site - and that’s always a value. Being an editor, of course, you’ll be able to ensure that your own website is listed. But I think most people would have a problem with it if you applied for an editor’s position at DMOZ and used your position to get your site listed ahead of everyone else’s.

I’d recommend that, if you want to be a DMOZ editor, you submit your own site for inclusion in the directory before you ever apply to be an editor. If your site hasn’t been approved when you are approved for the editor’s position, don’t approve it right away. Check to see where it is in the lineup for approval and work your way through the list until you get to it - then approve it. The link will benefit you, but your job as editor is to be impartial with regard to the sites that are listed in your category. You should not play favorites. Just play the game fairly and you’ll be a benefit to us all.

Nick Stamoulis