You only need to submit your website to the major search engines
ONCE!
Submitting your website multiple times has no effect on your position
in the search engines, nor does it effect the frequency with which the search engines
will visit your website. This may not be true for minor search engines, but for
the crawlers that power the major search engines discussed below, you only need
to submit ONE time.
What Search Engines and/or Directories Should I Submit My Website To?
The first question should really be, what are the major Search Engines and Directories?
The top 5 search engines often comprise more than 95% of all
traffic your website will receive from search engines. Below is a comprehensive
list of the major players in the search engine scene.
Major Search Engines To Submit To-
- Google (//www.google.com)- Often called the greatest search engine on
the Internet, it is also the most popular according to recent Nielson/NetRaitings
polls. This search engine is entirely free for the primary listings, and offers
paid listings at the top of the search results, as well as their AdWords program
which shows small text banners on the right hand side of the search results. Google
bases its search results on website content as well as their patented PageRank algorithm
which factors in links from other websites to determining your rank in the search
results. Submit to this website at //www.google.com/addurl.html
and your website should be in the index within a month, sometimes two.
- Yahoo! (//www.yahoo.com) - Second most popular, and probably the most
famous of all search engines, this icon among web portals controls the search results
on MSN.com, AltaVista.com, and Alltheweb.com in addition to its own search results.
Submission is free, and I wouldn't recommend paying for inclusion in this directory
at this time, though paying to be in the directory is a good idea if you can afford
the $300/year. To submit your website to the search engine go here:
//submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request
- MSN.com (//www.msn.com) - The third most popular search engine, MSN,
does not currently provide its own search results. The results found on MSN are
actually provided by Yahoo!, and you can be listed in MSN by submitting through
Yahoo! at the link above. MSN does plan to offer their own search results in the
future, and I believe that they are using the old Inktomi index as their starting
point so you might want to submit here:
//free.submit-it.com/msnsubmit.htm
- AOL (//www.aol.com) - This popular search engine uses Google search
results as its primary and paid listings. See Google.
- AllTheWeb (//www.alltheweb.com) - Purchased by Yahoo!, this once promising
search engine now uses Yahoo! results and will probably be used as a side project
by Yahoo! for various purposes.
- AltaVista (//www.altavista.com) - One of the oldest search engines on
the Internet, AltaVista was showing its age until Yahoo! purchased it in 2004. It
now uses Yahoo! results and is basically just another portal for Yahoo!.
- AskJeeves / Teoma.com (//www.ask.com and //www.Teoma.com) - The
Teoma index powers both the popular Ask.com website and its sister site Teoma.com.
You can only get into this index through being found by the Teoma Crawler, or via
paid Inclusion which you can order through
//www.positiontech.com/askjeeves/index.htm
The above are the main search engines on the web which you can submit your website
to, if you know a website that is not on the above list, chances are it is using
search results from one of the above search engines or indexes.
Major Internet Directories -
- DMOZ.org (The Open Directory Project) - owned by AOL, and operated by a team
of volunteers, the Open Directory Project or ODP is the largest FREE active Internet
Directory. This is THE place to be for a website on the Internet. It is the definitive
directory, and is referenced by all of the major search engines. The only problem
is that there are 3 million websites in the directory, and more than a million in
the que waiting to get in. Getting into this directory can take 3 - 6 months, and
that's if you qualify. Make sure to read their guidelines for creating a Title and
Description before submitting, and make sure you are submitting to the most relevant
directory.
- Yahoo! Directory - at $300/Year this directory carries a heavy price, but
may still be worth your while. If you can fit it into your advertising budget I
would recommend it, but usually only if you really have an extra $300 per year lying
around. The benefit of this directory may increase as time goes on, but as of right
now, this is probably not worth your time or money.
- LookSmart Directory - This is actually a Cost Per Click service that looks
like a directory. You'll pay $0.15 per click and you aren't guaranteed a position
or click volume. If done correctly this directory might do well for your website
since it does provide the main results for the third largest search engine on the
Internet (MSN.com), but this is strictly a budget and judgment call as you can get
similar results for free from Inktomi.
-Other Good Free Directories With a Catch-
- Gimpsy.com - Free directory with some weird requirements. The index tries
to use "real language searches", for example "Compare Insurance Rates"
would be a directory structure Compare >> Insurance Rates , Insurance Rates
being the subcategory. A little tricky but worth submitting to.
- GoGuides.org - A great free directory, the only catch is that they want you
to become an editor. Which basically means that before you can submit a URL you
will need to fill out an application. The bonus is that once you are accepted your
link goes online immediately.
- JoeAnt.com - Same deal as GoGuides.org. If you have the time to apply to
become an editor, then you can list your site. Worth your time in my opinion, but
its up to you.
- Zeal.com - Great directory, which will get you into the LookSmart directory
for FREE! The catch is that your website has to be strictly informational and non-profit.
Some exceptions are made, but in order to get in you will either need to know an
editor and ask them to submit for you, or become and editor yourself like with GoGuides
and JoeAnt, however I hear the application process is more difficult.
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