I was doing some rubbish stuff then:

http://web.archive.org/web/20011201013059/www.5th-dimension.co.uk/

We didn’t have 9,000 sitewide links. But I take your point. I doubt DMOZ was the only cause.

Please bear in mind this was way back… I am not sure how old you are at this game, but it was the “Florida Update” when the domain took the hit - so a long time back. It was hit for the right reasons, but the interesting thing about the DMOZ listing is that it is the only domain I ever saw where (if you were ever a Dmoz editor) you could look at the domain listing history and saw a massive red warning over the history, saying that it was a doorway domain and should never be reincluded.

It wasn’t always thus… and here’s where the strategy really went “off the beaten track”… we originally set up the domain to be owned by a limited company called “Search Engine Optimisation LTD”… Belt and braces! Unfortunately, Search engine optimizers LTD complained to Compaines House (That’s the UK registry of English and Welsh companies) that the new company name might confuse people, so objected to the company name. We ended up called the holding company http://www.search-engine-optimisation.co.uk lTD… probably a bit of a clue eh?

Maybe I’ll add this to my “Internet Marketing Howlers” talk at A4U next week.