Is Alexa and Dmoz really dead?

[tipsfromthetop]

Hi Guys,

This topic came up in a SEO news letter a few times over the last month i have recieved. It was on about how Alexa pages hardly work anymore and they hardly update the information. Also Dmoz the only way you can stand a chance of getting listed with in a 8 month period is by being an editor.

Since the changes by Google in there approach to listings they do not fish from directories like Dmoz anymore. They rely more on the solid quality backlinking techiniques.

So the question for this topic really is do you guys think they are dead like SEO do and have you seen any movement in your listings on Alexa and have you submited to dmoz in the last 4 months and seen it accepted.

This is an interesting topic because being an old schooler who relied on both of the above. This has got me thinking about my approach, i love debatable topics so please keep this one on topic.

Thanks
Steve
(Tips)

 

[Mark]

Alexa has been for years IMO .... Dmoz , Well lets just say there have always been a few problems with the Editors in certain categories having major powertrips - Not the biggest fan of Dmoz and cant recall actually using it ever -

 

[Riceman]

alexa has been declining for years. Dmoz? who?

 

[StudioWorks]

well .. i suspect dmoz will also be dead if the editors keep acting like they do now.

I have 2 sites listed in dmoz but i havent seen any good results ...

SW

 

[stscac]

I think that getting a site listed in DMOZ helps yous site. Yahoo! Directory and DMOZ are the top two internet directories in the world. Its plan and simple, you cannot go out and just beat them.

Although it takes forever to get into DMOZ, its worth the wait in gold . It won't necessarily bring you instant traffic, but it will get google to actully consider your domain name.

Getting into that Yahoo! Directory isn't a bad thought either. Once you're into the Yahoo Directory, your site gets indexed and prioritized fast by Yahoo and even Google.

As for Alexa, I can't consider them as a complete failure, I would just say they have some major flaws they though have thought of when they started collecting their data in the first place.

Anyways, thats just my two cents.

-Steve

 

[shadow_boi]

no wonder my alexa rank is always the same in the last 2 months

 

[David]

I'm an editor at DMOZ. I really hate it when I see people telling others how bad DMOZ is because of the editors. You should be telling people how good DMOZ is because of the editors.

The human editors make DMOZ, it is why it is still important today. I know, I know, "but the corrupt ones, blah blah". I hear this all the time as an editor. I get emails everyday from people saying "Editor Joe is corrupt, he owns a site that is like mine, and wont approve my site." I say, show me the site.

I goto the site and it does not even come close to meeting the standards. I check their submission and they didn't even read the guidlines. If you didn't get into DMOZ, 99% of the time, it is not because the editor is corrupt.

I do understand that editors over there ARE corrupt, but in no way is it as rampant as people think. I got way off topic with this one, I am sorry.

 

[MissFlora]

For most cases, domains or sites are approved by human editors. That's the same case with approvals from PPC companies such as goldkey and domainsponsor. If not, how will they be able to say "this is not approved because etc etc..."? I have some domains that have Alexa rankings recently (within 1 month) only because it has improved traffic. So I won't say that Alexa is dead and outdated..

Flora.

 

[Greg Watson]

It was on about how Alexa pages hardly work anymore and they hardly update the information.

My Alexa rankings move up and down almost every day ... usually within a pretty narrow range and always very consistently with the same traffic volume trends I see from my log files ...

So while Alexa may not be a perfect ranking tool, it is actually pretty good for "comparable" websites in the same niche ... (I don't like toolbars, so I have to actually go to the Alexa website to check it - which I don't routinely do) ... but when I do want to do some research into a topic (usually keywords), I will often go check out the Alexa rankings of various sites I am evaluating ...

Greg

 

[tipsfromthetop]

I'm an editor at DMOZ. I really hate it when I see people telling others how bad DMOZ is because of the editors. You should be telling people how good DMOZ is because of the editors.

David,

Compared to a few years ago when you submitted a site and with a week or two you saw a listing to now it can take months. I think this is the reason for the SEO articles floating around regarding dmoz.

Yes there has been many reported editors who are biased but i believe it is more down to the fact that 5 years ago Dmoz had something like 33,000 editors compared to a couple of thousand now.

I believe you are a good editor and there are many very good editors with Dmoz but all the negative posts and newsletters have injured Dmoz. I would love to see it get back to its forma glory.

here is the report on dmoz if your interested in reading it. There is also the post in regards to Alexa there i believe too. webpronews.com has some good articles also.

http://www.sitepronews.com/

 

[tolkein]

My Alexa rankings move up and down almost every day ... usually within a pretty narrow range and always very consistently with the same traffic volume trends I see from my log files ...

My Alexa rankings doesn't change very often - weeks. Is that normal or it's because my site's ranked low (600,000+)?

Regarding DMOZ, I've given up on getting listed there. It's been months since my submission and I'm absolutely sure that I followed all the guidelines.

 

[David]

Regarding DMOZ, I've given up on getting listed there. It's been months since my submission and I'm absolutely sure that I followed all the guidelines.

Please remember, that editors are not paid. If you edit a popular category, you get overwhelmed with submissions. And if you get backed up, then that is a lot to recover from.

What I recommend you do is find the editor of your category and drop him an email.

If that doesn't work then you are probably out of luck.

 

[Zeeble]

Alexa means nothing. Webmaster sites always have high Alexa rankings because its full of webmasters with Alexa toolbars to see if their ranking has changed.

I remember starting a forum which got 20 visits per day max, Alexa said it had a daily reach of 20 million!