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Search Engine Land » Channel » SEO » DMOZ has officially closed after nearly 19 years of humans trying to organize the web

DMOZ has officially closed after nearly 19 years of humans trying to organize the web

The closure marks the final end of a chapter of humans trying to organize the web.

Danny Sullivan on March 17, 2017 at 5:05 pm

DMOZ — the Open Directory Project — officially closed today. The move comes three days later than originally planned. It marks the end of an era of humans trying to catalog the entire web.

DMOZ was a project designed to organize the web using volunteer human editors and born during a time when a rival to the dominant Yahoo Directory was seen as needed. Nearly 19 years later, neither directory lives, with machine-powered search engines having made them archaic.

For more background, see our articles below:

  • The Yahoo Directory — Once The Internet’s Most Important Search Engine — Is To Close
  • RIP DMOZ: The Open Directory Project is closing

Unlike with the Yahoo Directory, the DMOZ site continues to operate, at least with a home page that says it is closed. It also links to a mirror copy of the last version of DMOZ before it closed.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


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About The Author

Danny Sullivan
Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land and MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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