Member Avatar for Dani

Looks like Dmoz is shutting its doors for good. Who is going to miss the open source directory project aka Google Directory? Being listed in there used to be awesome for SEO!! I wonder if I'm going to lose the backlinks now.

  • 6 Contributors
  • 7 Replies
  • 281 Views
  • 2 Weeks Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Otir

Dani AI

Generated

This thread surfaces two connected worries: what happens to sites that relied on that large editorial directory, and where to find genuine, human-curated alternatives. flagged the need to pivot, and are right to worry about lost links and ranking signals, brings useful perspective from volunteering, and and correctly call out the moderation/engagement problem that killed quality. Below is a concise, practical playbook to move forward.

Immediate triage (do these now)

  1. Audit your incoming links (Google Search Console plus any backlink service) and list which directory pages still exist versus which return gone/404.
  2. Measure impact before reacting: compare organic traffic and rankings for affected pages over several weeks. Small link losses often have small effect.
  3. Reclaim where feasible: check archives or mirrors and ask active maintainers for restores; if a mirror won’t help, replace the referral with a quality listing or an editorial mention.
  4. Stop chasing mass directories — focus outreach on authoritative, niche sites and resource pages that actually send users.

Medium/long-term moves that matter
Build linkable assets (original research, how-to resources, tools), run targeted outreach/PR to editors in your niche, and strengthen on-site trust signals (fast mobile UX, HTTPS, clear content structure, schema). For local businesses, keep official citations and your business profile current. Avoid low-quality paid directories and link schemes — they’re short-term and risky.

A final note: the real replacement for an old directory is diversified, human relationships plus durable content. If you volunteered like , consider contributing to new curated projects; if moderation failed as observed, help steer or host a community resource so the human value survives.

Recommended Answers

All 7 Replies

Member Avatar for cereal

It is really sad, I have used a lot and I have been a volunteer editor for few years sometime ago. Is there anything else similar?

Member Avatar for Dani

There can't be anything similar I'm afraid. Not since Google declared war on directories. If Google doesn't like it ... well, just look at forums.

I mean, of course there's still local directories like Yelp that come with reviews, of course.

My friends run https://botw.org/ but they claimed it was dying a slow death 5+ years ago. They switched to making the majority of their revenue from their local directory at https://local.botw.org/ back then. I'm not sure if it's still their primary source of income though. It looks like they now have https://bestoftheweb.com/ which appears to be a non-directory and completely different revenue model that they didn't have back then, ... so there's that.

Member Avatar for Dani

It's all about the pivot. Look at Dazah.

Member Avatar for Lisa_11

Yes we will miss them. I have some backlinks from Dmoz. But now I have to lose those backlinks.

Member Avatar for DavidB

Yes, I will miss them too. I got some links in there a LONG time ago, and they were left in through many edits, clean-outs, removal of garbage, etc. I had hoped, since much of the garbage was gone, the directory would live on for a while.

I wonder what is left to indicate to the search engines what is a good site? I mean, the directories are gone. Forums don't count. Social bookmarking does nothing. Fifteen or twenty years ago, when the Internet was a novelty and everybody was an amateur webmaster, everybody had a "Favorite Links" page, where a person might get their site listed. Even that is gone. So what is everybody doing? Are they just using Facebook? Is that what the search engines rely on now?! Mentions in social media?! I hope that is not the case. Results would be distorted by all the teenagers on Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, etc. who don't dig too deep into a topic to examine what real quality is.

I am stumped. Not sure where to direct my SEO efforts now.

Member Avatar for Clinton_1

I think that it is good riddance because DMOZ has not worked for quite a few years. The main reason being that many of the moderators didn't take the role seriously and lately submissions seldom turned into listings.

Apologies to the more conscientious moderators but I think that too many of the moderators were quick to take on the responsibility but slow to commit the time needed.

Mostly, the person making the submission never even got the courtesy of a response. The result was a poor service and ultimately but not surprisingly the demise of a potentially very powerful service.

Member Avatar for Otir

Obviously, I missed the information (and it closed on March 14 so I am coming really "late" to the game!)

I hear it that Google does not like directories, so there it goes for those who did not pivot or diversify in time so that their model could be viable.

I love directories: I think that they are very valuable resources. A good resource will always need a human interaction and this is what made DMOZ so great... in the very beginning but it lost its human dimension when it did not maintain engagement.

Edited by Otir because: #DMOZ
Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.