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

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.

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, Marketing Land, MarTech Today 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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