At SES San Jose a couple weeks ago there were rumors floating around about Best Of The Web purchasing DMOZ from AOL. I am very good friends with the owners of BOTW and when I asked them during that time they told me “officially” they had no comment.
Well I have been pressing them a bit more about an official word regarding the purchase. AOL has been dumping a ton of dead weight and being BOTW has already hired away most of the premier DMOZ editors it just seemed like a good fit for them.
Well I now have official confirmation that BOTW and AOL are in discussions about selling the directory and a deal could be reached fairly soon.
So being that Google’s business directory is just a syndication from the DMOZ I wonder how Google will look on this deal.
I can already see the headlines of “Now You Have To Buy Your Way Into Google’s Business Directory” but seriously…. atleast it will have some editorial standards.
Anyway as I said above I am good friends with the owners of BOTW so obviously I am biased. I am curious to hear your thoughts on the deal if in fact BOTW is the new owners of the DMOZ directory.
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2689 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Jeremy "ShoeMoney" Schoemaker is the founder & CEO of the ShoeMoney Blog, Elite Retreat Internet Conference, & the PAR Program. In 2013 Jeremy released his #1 Amazon Best selling Autobiography titled "Nothing's Changed But My Change" - The ShoeMoney Story. Jeremy currently lives in Lincoln Nebraska with his wife and 2 daughters.
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{ 145 comments… read them below or add one }
As long as the editorial standards are strong, I have no problem with this. The guys at BOTW always seemed like an ok bunch.
Hopefully if they get bought out it will be easier to get approved in the directory.
Good for me.
good for you.
we’ll see. Right now, it’s almost impossible to get in because most of the categories are already filled with lots of sites. If you submit your site in less popular categories you still have a chance to be approved.
Its because, the editors send bribes to get you into the listings and/or to threaten to remove you from them.
Yeah it’s for this reason i don’t like DMOZ. If it’s hard for ourselves to get our sites listed. Then it’s the same for others. Which means we’re missing out on alot of sites that could be useful.
Brilliant idea, hopefully a takeover will see it develop into something better than it is.
You could always become an editor. That seems to be the easiest wa to get listed on DMOZ these days.
Is it hard to become an editor?
Dude, it is really annoying when you are always replying to the first comment on all these different blogs. The problem with it is that your comment is never towards the other commenter, but the article instead. article instead. it just seems really spammy.
exactly
im not sure about botw but google could well live up to the editorial standards.
I agree but more importantly I want to see more spam control from Google. Inevitably there will be some spam.
Well if its a question of ethics I do not think its a comparison. As you said BOTW hired away all the good editors. All that is left is corrupt crap.
That is also why Google has devalued it as such.
u bet… so if botw takes over dmoz there could definitely be a problem with the ethics on the listings in dmoz…
Like “People You’ll See in Hell” said, as long as they don’t every single crappy site on the internet in, and there is atleast 1 free way of getting in for people with good sites but not enough money, it’ll be great. Anything is better than AOL running the site.
While back in the day DMOZ was just flat out Awesome, but it’s well do for a change. While this might not be the best way I could have thought of to play it all out, but it’s at least a change. I am tired of DMOZ and the lack of interest in changing and very corrupt insiders doing whatever they want.
All, I can say is I sure hope BOTW can bring it back to what it was back in the good ole days of pure quality editing!
Enough said and Keep It SEO Simple Stupid,
Eric
I wonder if BOTW can bring it back to its old glory as well…
I doubt it could go anywhere but down if AOL keeps it.
You said it buddy
Agreed! Anyone know what actually happened wıth this then, did the deal go through?
I think a bit of a change-up might do DMOZ some good. Retaining the ability to submit without payment would be nice, but then again I wouldn’t disagree if there was a *paid* option for guaranteed review within a certain timeframe.
I am pretty sure botw has free submissions also
I was vaguely aware that they do (or did) have free submission, but only for non-commercial sites. Is that right, or do they have free commercial site submission somewhere as well? (I’m aware of the “free 60 day advertising/sponsored-listing trial, but could well be oblivious to any other optoins)
i think a paid submission is cool as long as they dont let in everyone who pays, just promise to review within a certain amount of time.
i think it’s a great move.. botw and dmoz have both great reps around the intrnt
It’s about time there was a change. Hopefully it’s a good one. There are way too many shady people at DMOZ.
I am not sure that this will benefit the people. I think everything is not so simple….
I could really care less. I personally think link directories are getting less and less popular as google is favoring blog content for searches over link directories (I would think) but who knows maybe they will change it up.
Link directories still have a fair amount of weight in the algorithm. This article attempts to explain why:
http://www.bigoakinc.com/blog/using-logic-to-prove-that-directory-links-are-not-worthless/
directories in general are not very valuable in google’s eyes. But I still think that links from directories like Yahoo Directory, DMOZ or BOTW are valuable these days.
They still favour this directory due to its nature.
they favor it because of how old it is and how many backlinks it has… but if they go paid they could lose their clout a la yahoo directory.
Personally, while I have huge props for BOTW in their pioneering ways, I think the days of directory sites being a major force are beyond us… at least not in the current state that they (DMOZ, BOTW, others) are in.
Just my $0.02… but if this news is true, Shoe scoops us all again!
Hello Shoe,
I am new to IM and a big follower of you (guess i should have said just another :p)
reg the post.. i wonder what would be the big Gs counter act..
(i never had a clue that Gs dir is a syndication of DMOZ)
once there sold it’ll be way easier (hopefullly) to get into the directories
Awesome, maybe DMOZ will be less biased now
Interesting. I posted the check photo with a link back to your site, on an eBay Meetup group. If you like it let me know. If you want something changed let me know. If you want it down, let me know.
Google owns 5% of AOL, depending on the terms that were made with that, Google may have some say in terms of approving a sale or not.
Good observation there Dave. But do you think Google’s 5% will really make a difference? AOL and Time Warner are both under very intense pressure from shareholders to sell off their low revenue assets.
Wow sounds good to me….
One calendar year after this “expert” suckered everyone with his “DMOZ is corrupt” story…he has followed up with Link Bait exercise #2 and you are all falling for it again.
DMOZ is not for sale. You should never believe anything on this site about DMOZ. Ever.
BOTW seems like a decent directory, I would not mind the change.
We’ve been waiting for this , I really hope they will go on with that since DMOZ is in need of some serious help right now ..
The question I have is what they will be doing with sites already in the directory (I have a couple and they can’t really be classified as non-commercial as there are ads running). Will they be asking for a fee to stay in the directory?
that’s what I’m wondering. Hopefully DMOZ will stay free. If not at least those that are already in it won’t be force to pay a fee or something
That will be great to have Greg in charge of DMOZ. I bowed out as an editor after it seemed a bit unfair on some counts. I am sure the BOTW guys will make it a very important resource for all of us! I wish them great luck!
dk
if they buy, then definitely google will decrease DMOZ’s weight… !!
Agree ?
hopefully not. Anyway, there’s nothing we can do, just wait and see
If they do there are going to be a lot of “SEOs” getting angry phone calls.
Hi Shoemoney,
I tried to buy a shoe money t-shirt from your store, but could not. Its only available for united states customers.
I’m in Canada. Please add Canada.
thanks,
Shafi
I think the move will probably benefit everybody, except the workers who will no doubt be made redundant in the near future.
I still feel it’s shame that companies that have brought themselves up from nothing finally give in and sell. At least it’s not another google purchase although no doubt they’ll have a say somewhere along the line.
any rumors about the transaction amount ?
Yea, I was going to post the same.
I think it’ll be around $xxx million. probably low xxx or high xx.
It would be nice to see something come of DMOZ other than nothing (which is what is happening now). The Open Directory has been running on auto-pilot for some time, this might bring some relevance back to the aging directory.
This is shocking news. I am very surprised.
Why shocking news? It’s just a business
If BOTW has their eyes on DMOZ, it is because they have a plan and want to do something with the directory. What they do with the directory once they own it I guess could be debatable and whether it would be perceived to have the public’s best interest in mind would be soon seen.
I guess things couldn’t get much worse. Right now, my opinion of DMOZ is that it is a very corrupt place. If it was properly run and maintained, I think it could actually be a very decent place to troll around and find things.
All in all, if BOTW were to purchase DMOZ from AOL, I couldn’t foresee things getting any worse for the directory than they currently are. Only time will tell.
I think it wouldnt hurt for them to take over. Its hard to get your blog listed on DMOZ anyway. It might be a better option anyway.
When I read “BOTW”, I thought you mean’t Bank of the west…
This is a huge purchase, any idea on the purchase price?
nothing yet. I’m curious to see for how much would DMOZ be sold (if)
I have been trying to get listing in DMOZ for a long time and found that they do not have enough editors. To have such a big influence on the internet and not be empowered with responsibility for that influence just doesn’t seem right. I hope this will improve that situation. Thanks for sharing – interesting!
They don’t have enough editors because they don’t accept new ones into the system. It’s almost as if they don’t want anyone new joining. I am sure that isn’t accurate, but needless to say, that is my perception.
Sounds interesting.
I wonder what’s the price range and what changes should we expect. I think the idea is great since DMOZ is the most known, but takes forever to get approved.
I think that the price may be very large.
I go along with anything …as long as I can navigate it on the internet…carol stanley author of For Kids 59.99 & Over
I wonder how much they will pay. Any ideas?
I stopped even submitting sites to dmoz a few years ago. Maybe the guys at BOTW can turn in back into a decent directory. The questions will be:
1. will the sites listed stay?
2. will it be free to get listed?
3. will google still give it value like it used to?
I think Google will also apply to the directory as before. The price is unknown. -(
I am surpised that AOL is letting go of DMOZ, they recently dropped netscape. I wonder what’s next.
I’d be curious to see how they will manage the listings once they take the site over. One of the biggest problems with DMOZ for the past 5 years has been the corruption of it’s moderators.
Even you posted sometime last year that you got a blackmail email from one of the mods, demanding a big chunk of cash or they would drop your listing, and from what I recall they did drop you since you refused.
So if BOTW does take over the site, will this be ending? Or will it just maintain it’s current unethical practices? How will moderators be moderated? Will Google’s own directory remain powered by DMOZ once the exchange happens? What about the thousands of other sites that use the DMOZ feed to populate their own directories?
Back in the day, I worked on a website that was really needing something to get it going. One of the things I did was submit to DMOZ. The wait was long, but well worth it. The popularity of the site skyrocketed once approved.
Today, I’ve submitted other sites, and I just don’t see the quality that I once saw or the reward that a good website got from being listed in DMOZ. I’m hoping that BOTW can change that. I do think that there should be free listings. It’s hard enough getting started on the web, but to have 8 billion places you have to pay to get listed…it’s nice to know some of the best remain free, yet true to those of us who aren’t spammers, hackers, or otherwise harmful folks.
Are you saying that your inbound traffic from BOTW is better than that of DMOZ ?
uhh.. can they open up the bidding?
I hope it works out for them… In all honesty DMOZ has become the joke of the internet. Maybe someone new can bring it back.
They can’t get any worse. I look forward to seeing someone try to fix what it has become.
It’s simply a link bait for BOTW to gain publicity. I don’t think they have a budget to buy Dmoz.
Good point… but how can we know about the true financial prowess of BOTW ; are they not a privately held company ?
A privately held company whose main revenue source is from directory submission?
Doubt Dmoz would be sold to such small fish.
Someone should call and ask google to take over!
Don’t under estimate BOTW they are not that small .. but yes it would be really interesting to see how much is the offer they have made to AOL
BOTW may to DMOZ what google did to yahoo, you never know
Thanks for the good laugh
If this really happen, I think google will take som providences
This would be terrific. Right now DMOZ is not benefitting anybody except a few editors.
Can’t wait to see this happen!
I say…this is interesting really….
I have doubts that AOL will cooperate on this one.
DMOZ has been shady for a long long while, I think BOTW will do great with that legacy and I welcome the acquisition.
Is DMOZ really important anymore? Don’t the other ways to get high PR backlinks outwigh the importance of the DMOZ dinosaur?
That being said, if BOTW does a re-vamp of DMOZ, and makes it easier to get admitted, I will welcome it.
If this happens, DMOZ is going to be another buy a spot in Google domain surely?
Goes to show how much BOTW must be raking in
First –
I really wish the deal goes through.
Secondly,
I wish BOTW overhauls the current editorial team of DMOZ and conduct interviews – so that only qualified editors with professional integrity (yes – i am indicating $$$) – stay on with the team.
Third -
It will be a herculean job to re-evaluate the whole database -what with so many listed sites/domains getting expired and a bunch of people buying those domains and changing the nature they originally looked.
All the best to BOTW boys.
DMOZ fell off.
i have one site in DMOZ. i think i get maybe 1 hit in every several thousand from that directory. i guess the only thing of value is a high PR site linking to my own thus increasing my own PR. but i wouldn’t hold your breath nor would i put too much weight in getting into that directory.
And with this purchase the amount of authority the directory has in G might decrease as well…
Lets wait and watch what happens.
Are you all stupid? This is the biggest pile of misinformation I have seen in the last year. Perhaps next week Shoemoney will post that Bank of America is going to puchase Google for $1, would you all be suckered into that? This is pure link bate.
Yeah! DO IT! I am all for it!
This is a good article. But can anyone tell me know how can I do? And how long my website – http://www.tuvinh.com can be placed at DMOZ?
strange enough,i thought google is eyeing them,why Aol this time?
I dont think dmoz is worth that much anyways
I guess i would finally be able to make it to Dmoz if BOTW get hold of it
It’s very interesting to see that BOTW will purchase Dmoz. We can just pay to be listed at Dmoz and don’t wait for too long.
I honestly cannot understand all the enmity towards DMOZ, I had no issues getting in. T’was a Breeze. Quality of the Site Helps, Heaps.
What I love about the net is the dynamism of the terrain. Nothing ever stands still.
Unbelievable …
I hope google will change its impact on DMOZ …-if it gone happen …
I wonder how much would the highest bid be if BOTW wants to change DMOZ to a bidding directory.lol..
Every body knows that Dmoz “service” is free but also corrupted in someway and with many deficiencies because the free service. it would a nice move the acquisition because Best of the web is a serious and good service.
its good to hear those rumors. we might see that some editors on dmoz will be pushed away cause of the way they behave within it. ex charging money to include some sites.
i dont meen that all do that but for sure they have the privilage nd ways to do it (ex friends, business partners, etc)
lets hope the guys at BOTW will develope some better standards
This is a good thing. Hopefully it will clear up some of the corruption of dmoz. I think a lot of people are getting sick of it.
When I read this in a webpronews e-mail article I thought it was a joke… Something tells me that this isn’t going to happen, but if it does, I will be the first to admit that I was wrong… I have met some of the BOTW guys as well, and of cource am a customer of their great service, but I just don’t see it…. hats off if they come even close.
I found a site that lets you create your own directories around whatever subjects you like – http://www.boomja.com. its free too.
I found a site that lets you build your own directory around whatever topic you like – http://www.boomja.com. Its free too.
Ha! This would be cool. At least they will send you an email to tell you your submission has been received!. It’s would be cool to get the waiting list down below 12 months too.
James.
I have not heard much more about it (apart from here), has anyone got any other source for this rumour? I would hope that an acquiistion might shake the dmoz management up. The whole directory imo is way out of date and run very inefficiently on a number of fronts.
Perhaps DMOZ might get a nice facelift and a better back-end. However, I’m feeling that Google may drop their emphasis on DMOZ.
And maybe it will actually be possible to get into DMOZ now. There’s just no accountability there….
I think this is great. I have submitted many sites to DMOZ and a handful of them are listed…I would much rather pay the listing fee from our sites and our clients’ sites to be listed in BOTW / DMOZ and then listed on Google and other authority sites.
How much of a difference will it make if they have already got thier best editors?
Wow, black mail email demanding money? That’s quite horrible.
Whats all the fuss about
Apparently the machine holding dmoz in AOL ops crashed. Standard backups had been discontinued for some reason; during unsuccessful attempts to restore some of the lost data, ops blew away the rest of the existing data on the system.
Read the story here if you want
http://www.skrenta.com/2006/12/dmoz_had_9_lives_used_up_yet.html
better hury though my posts keep getting deleted here
Submit Url Not Working at DMoz
http://www.resource-zone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45292
i hope this is true and botw buys the dmoz from aol.
dmoz is currently (Death MOZ or spamMOZ). botw can bring the quality to dmoz which it needs
As a business man I would like to know if any of believe that the USA will still be around in a year, or two because I’m not sure.
I think they are planning to accept payed submissions and Google may drop their emphasis on DMOZ.
Heh, here in Montreal the web design companies are paying top dollars to get listed in botw.org.
Dmoz is a fairly decent directory but its management lacks to knowledge of handling an open-source project.
This would be great for DMOZ, maybe now they would be able to review sites quicker, now it takes over 3 months and a lot of sites get rejected
Good for me
Good for me
AOL is becoming FAILING BADLY.
Previously in their blog network, then propeller and now DMOZ.
But Hey
DMOZ might be bought by Google.
it would be cool if they did… hate to see the years of work go to waste as it has… they should charge for listings.. $99 is a good start… have your friend buzz me, one of the early DMOZ editors that also did Yahoo! Directory, there are ways that monetizing the directory will work.
I don’t think BOTW owning DMOZ is a bad thing, but don’t forget DMOZ feeds hundreds of other directories. So it’s not just Google that will have to look at the situation. BOTW could end up with a lemon on their hands.
it doesnt surprise me that the deal never went through… kind of like msn trying to buy yahoo.
I have several sites on BOTW and DMOZ, but lately my new project are ignored by DMOZ. I welcome a solution where BOTW buy DMOZ – maybe then the directory will become active again.
Dmoz was a beast, now it’s a turtle
Hopefully if they get bought out it will be easier to get approved in the directory.
Скажите, а у вас есть RSS поток в этом блоге?
Я тоже врямя от времени такое вижу, но как-то раньше не придавал этому значения.
I think it is good as I can put our website on their directory at once.
Im really not sure how great an idea of them buying the directory..maybe it will turn for the worst
I hated DMOZ, once an emporium, Now ruined,
God luck!!
yes, it is better if BOTW buy dmoz directory.
if owner not have time to care then always better to handover so site will not die.
I already submitted to BOTW, not sure how long will it take to show my site online