ODP- Not overdose please!

In case you are not aware, there is no OD’s happening here. ODP refers to the Open Directory Project which is the most comprehensive human-edited directory available on the web. Owned by “Time Warner”, ODP is also known as DMOZ (the domain name of ODP), basically is a large, categorize directory of websites and pages which is maintained by pure volunteers. Because of the tedious involvement of manually reviewing all material that is included on every website and page, it is surprising that people volunteer their time and effort to do such a mundane job. But such work has its boons, because the index that gets created is manually constructed and edited, the categorization an relevancy that is made as a consequence is extremely superior to any other index of its kind and also completely unique. On top of that, the data that is available is open and free to the public and can be replicated.

Free! Is it reliable?
As a user, you can browse and search categories of websites and then utilize these scripts by adding live data of the Open Directory Project at dmoz.org to your own website. The template based system that is used is very easy and the user can upload the small scripts onto one’s server and customize it to suit your own needs. Webmaster does not like Dmoz clone websites because they do not have any original content but only contains duplicate contents. The choice lies in your hands but remember most people will not even browse through your directory when they realize it contains duplicate contents and will leave and never return.

The hidden message?
Search Engines are against Dmoz Clone for various reasons. We have already mentioned that since there is no original content, the site fails to qualify as a Quality Site. In addition, thousands of similar pages are created on the web because Duplicate contents are created as all scripts extract live data from Dmoz. This creates a junkyard of the web. Also, since thousands of pages can be created without any real effort, spammers are utilizing it for advertising or Google adsense program. A section of Dmoz has been created in order to get inbound links from thousands of pages only to increase link popularity and search engine ranking. Another drawback is that text link advertisers had created the Dmoz clone to sell links on thousands of pages in order to falsify an increase in artificial link popularity of text link ads buyers. After having all this information, the final choice lies in your hands.

Moral of the story?
Search engines want to provide users with quality results. If you are able to use, modify and enhance the data that has originally (?) been retrieved from Dmoz by presenting it in a unique format you will definitely achieve preference from Search Engines, Webmaster and Web Surfers. Google has created its own directory after having received data from Dmoz. The difference being that enhancement has been achieved through Google technology i.e. ranking of sites on each directory by Page by Page rank. If you are using ODP Clone Scripts to make a simple ODP clone, be prepared to face the consequences. Your site would get banned from search engines because of duplicate contents and you would not be able to repair the damage later. Word of caution- Do Not Use Useless Scripts on Important Sites or Sites that rank well on search engines!

Reality strikes!
In the past, a lot of ODP Clone Scripts makers’ sites were banned because too many websites had duplicate contents as they all had Dmoz clone linked to them. As a consequence, these scripts owners require that their URL is linked with footer “Powered by…” which in addition results into link farming or inbound links from similar pages. Word of advice- Have original and unique contents on your site! This will not only create a reputation for your site or directory as being safe and run for longer times, it will also make it ran and provide good traffic on your site and as a result increase its popularity for users.

Maneet Puri - 10 years of industry experience has made him expert in all aspects of deploying a web based application. It could be web design, web development SEO or SEM. This not just enables him to develop & promote any website rather also enables him to act as a consultant for his clients to convert their requirement into a workable solution. Now he is heading a Web Development company, based in India with roots from the UK.