Search Engine submission is an important factor
that could help make your business succeed online.
In order to get the best results from search engines,
EnsureHost.com offers you the following web site submission
tips.
Before you start the process of submitting your
web site to all the major search engines, make
sure that you have optimized your web pages and
checked your site thoroughly.
It's easy! Just read our
tips, click on our links and submit your site
In this section we have made a list of all the
major search engines which will drive approximately
90% of visitor traffic to your site. These are
the search engines that you need to focus on getting
listed in. We have given tips on submitting to
these search engines and have provided links to
their 'Add URL' pages. All you have to do is read
our tips, click on our links and submit your site
to the top search engines. It's that simple. You'll
be finished in just an hour or two.
Are you ready? Have fun. Work hard. Get ready
for a lot of traffic!
AltaVista usually adds a page within a few days.
It's best to submit  only a few URLs per day to them,
even though they appear to accept as many as you
try to feed them. For whatever reason, they just
don't seem to index them as quickly if you give
them a lot at once. All you need to do is submit
your URL.
Reaches over 45 million visitors worldwide and
one of the few still offering free submission.
However, inclusion - if you are accepted - can
take a while. But you can ensure that your site
will be placed quickly by opting for their "Express
Inclusion" service. For six months, one URL submission
will run you $39.00, with 2-10 URL's for an additional
$29.00 each.
Altavista also displays Overture's top 4 bid
positions at the top of the search results page,
under the heading "Products and Services." These
listings include descriptions. And Altavista runs
more Overture results at the bottom of the page.
These are just clickable links without descriptions.
 Submit to Altavista here
Google is one of our personal favorites. It makes
heavy use of link popularity as a primary way
to rank web sites. This can be especially helpful
in finding good sites in response to general searches
such as "cars" and "travel," because users across
the web have in essence voted for good sites by
linking to them. The system works so well that
Google has gained widespread praise for its high
relevancy. Google also provides some results to
Yahoo, AOL and Netscape Search. Submit only your
homepage URL. It will automatically index the
entire site.
Still a Net favorite, Google is used more than
150 million times a day for searches. Free submission
is still an option. They recently launched their
own "Pay Per Click" program, called "Ad Words
Select." This allows you to bid on key phrases
or words, and when someone searches for those
words, your text ad is shown in the right-hand
column on the search results page. For more on
this go to:
https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=Login
Ad Words Select will cost you 5.00 and a credit
card number to get your site enrolled. Google
is also the exclusive provider of sponsored links
to AOL Search, pulling the sponsored links from
its Ad Words Select Program. The top 3 ads will
be displayed as sponsored links on AOL.Netscape
will begin displaying Google's Ad Words sponsored
links come August of 2002
Submit to Google here
 Inktomi
Provides results to many engines and directories
such as Iwon, MSN, Hotbot, and more. Each URL
submission will cost you $39.00 per year and only
$25.00 a year for each URL thereafter. The benefit
of listing with Inktomi is the exposure your site
will receive with its search partners.
Once a major player, Excite now resembles more
of a Portal since being bought out a few years
ago by @home, which subsequently went bankrupt.
Search results are now pulled from Overture and
Looksmart. As you can no longer submit directly
to Excite, if you want to be listed here you'll
need to open an account with one of the above
to make an appearance.
Submit to Excite here
Hotbot is owned by Lycos and is presently making
some changes to their free submission page - how
they will affect you remains to be seen. Results
on Hotbot also come from Direct Hit and some from
Inktomi and the ODP.
You can also add your listing here by submitting
to Lycos at
http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/
You can still submit for free, but you'll have
to sign up as a member of Lycos first before they'll
let you have the privilege. Hotbot also displays
the top 3 results from Overture on their search
results page.
Some of their listings come from The ODP,
Fast Search/AllTheWeb with sponsored listings
shown at the top of the search results pages coming
from Overture.com.
You can submit for free at.... http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/lite_step1.asp or opt for "Lycos InSite Select" pay submission,
with an annual membership fee of $18.00 and annual
cost per URL of $12.00. If you go the pay route
you are guaranteed inclusion within 48 hours of
submission.
Its main listings come from the Open Directory
project, and then secondary results come from
either Direct Hit or Lycos' own spider. Just follow
their simple instructions and don't expect immediate
results from your submission. Again, your best
bet is to get indexed in the Open Directory project.
Submit to Lycos here
Direct Hit is a company that works with other
search engines to refine their results. It does
this by monitoring what users click on from the
results they see. Sites that get clicked on more
than others rise higher in Direct Hit's rankings.
Thus, the service dubs itself a "popularity engine".
Follow their instructions and submit your site.
Submit to Direct Hit here
MSN Search pulls results from Looksmart, then
when no more listings are found they pull from
Inktomi's database. They also pull some results
from Overture.com which they display at the bottom
of the page called "Web Pages."
You can't submit directly to MSN; you'll have
to submit to Looksmart at
http://listings.looksmart.com/?synd=zdd&chan=zddresults to show up here
Enter your URL, e-mail, site name and site description
to submit your site.
Submit
to MSN here
Owned by Fast Search, you can still submit your
site for free with no guarantee of inclusion at http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php .Some of AllTheWeb's search results are pulled
directly from The ODP and Fast Search.
Enter your URL, category and e-mail address to
submit your site. The Norwegian company behind
FAST Search also powers some of the results that
appear at Lycos
Submit to Fast - All the web here
Teoma:
Formerly called Direct Hit, this is now owned
by Ask Jeeves and renamed Teoma. These guys are
now positioning themselves to give Google a run
for its money. Teoma also provides search results
to Hotbot. Sponsored results are also pulled from
Overture and displayed at the top of their search
results pages.
The only way to submit directly to Teoma is to
pay for submission at http://ask.ineedhits.com/ The first URL will run you $30.00, 2 or more URL's
only 18.00 each for 15 months.
Guidelines while submitting to
Directories
What is a Directory?
A directory does not use robots to index a site. All sites that are indexed
are directly done by people. You need to submit
your web site under a particular category, after
which an editor will review your site and then
accept or reject your site according to its quality.
Guidelines while submitting to Directories
- Make sure your site is 100% up and running,
with no "under construction" signs. Good site
design, fast loading pages, and content are
important, especially for Yahoo.
- From the homepage of a directory take your
time and find the appropriate category your
site fits into. You can do a keyword search
using your most important keywords or key phrases
and note the category that lists these sites.
That will probably be the best category for
your site. You may also have multiple categories,
in which case you must submit under all the
suitable categories.
- Once you have found a suitable category, look
out for a "Suggest a site" or an "Add URL"
link. Click on this link to submit your
site.
- Before rushing off to submit your site, carefully
read their suggestions on how to submit. They
REALLY mean it. Follow their instructions to the absolute letter.
- Since Directories do not use robots, everything
indexed into a directory is done by people.
No META tags, ALT image tags, HTML comments
or image maps will help your performance here.
Your best bet is to describe your site accurately
and the final decision of adding your web site
to a directory's database rests with the editor
who reviews your web site. Best of luck!
Top Directories
Yahoo is without a doubt the single most important
index on the Internet. Make sure you follow the
guidelines given above and Yahoo's submit page
instructions while submitting your site. The effort
you put in now will reap huge benefits in the
long run.
With over a million listings, Yahoo is
considered the largest directory online today.
All commercial sites must pay a $299.00 fee to
submit to "Yahoo Express" per year. Adult sites
must pay $600.00 for submission. Take time before
submitting to yahoo to make sure you web site
is worthy of their listings. The $299 is a annual
non refundable fee.
Paying Yahoo for submission is not the only way
to get listed there. They also pull the top three
bid positions from Overture (formerly Goto.com)
and display them at the top of the search results
pages. Yahoo calls those listings "Sponsor Matches,"and
also runs more Overture listings at the bottom
of the page, under the heading "More Sponsored
Matches."
Submit carefully!
Submit to Yahoo
Also known as DMOZ, the ODP is hosted and administered
by Netscape Communication Corp. All submissions
are reviewed by a human before being added to
the directory and each category has what is called
an "ODP Editor" who is responsible for that category.
DMOZ provides results to many search partners,
such as All The Web, DirectHit, HotBot, Google,
Lycos, Altavista, etc. Submission is free, although
cumbersome. You'll have to drill down to find
the appropriate category to submit to, then click
the "add URL" link located at the top of the page.
Lycos, AOL Search, AltaVista and HotBot feature
Open Directory categories within their results
pages. As ODP is now the directory listing source
for many search engines, it is in the "big leagues"
and is a must to submit to.
Read
their instructions and submit
A directory compiled by humans providing results
to MSN, Iwon, Altavista, and others. Some of Looksmart's
listings come from Inktomi as a back up. Now strictly
a Pay Per Click directory, it will cost you a
$49.00 set-up fee and .15 per click thru with
a minimum of $150.00 account deposit. Looksmart
angered a lot of its users when they announced
this change. It remains to be seen if this policy
shift results in the death of Looksmart or turns
out to be a smart business decision.
A new agreement has just been signed which will
allow LookSmart's listings to appear on InfoSpace's
meta-search product over at Excite and WebCrawler.com
. Looksmart also provides results to InfoSpace's
other sites http://www.Metacrawler.com
and http://www.Dogpile.com
Refer to the site submission FAQ to learn more
about the selection criteria and get answers to
other submission questions.
Read their selection criteria here
Go.com (also known as Overture) is a solely
a Pay Per Click search engine, with Overture you
choose key words/ phrases that you want your site
to appear under and try to outbid the competition
for a top billing. The higher you bid,the higher
your URL on the search results page. They have
a $20.00 a month spending minimum and a minimum
bid of 0.05 per keyword/phrase.
The biggest benefit of being listed here is the
relationship that Overture has with some of the
other major search engines /directories. Basically,
if you bid into the top 3 or 4 positions, your
site will also enjoy top listings in Yahoo, Altavista,
MSN, Lycos, Infospace, Ask Jeeves, CNET and more.
Generally, these listings are shown as "sponsored
links" at the top of their search results page.
Trying to get those top bid positions is well
worth it with the type of exposure you'll receive
on some of the majors. They recently lost the
contract to supply sponsored links to AOL Search,
but they do still provide search results for AOL's
Europe Net properties in the UK, France and Germany.
Go/Infoseek lets you submit in two ways: by their
add URL form, or by creating a list of all the
URLs on your site and mailing it to them. ). Infoseek
is currently way behind on indexing, so your pages
may take weeks to show up in their index. Very
important: never submit the same URL more than
once per day. If you do, that page may never get
indexed, and you might find it difficult to get
other pages listed as well.
Submit to Go here
Results on Netscape come from The ODP and Netscape
itself. Starting in August of 2002, the "Partner
Search Results" that are displayed will be pulled
from the top bids at Google's Ad Words Select
Program. Overture had the contract to supply sponsored
links but recently lost out to Google. However,
you'll still see Overture's links being displayed
until August.
To get your site listed you can submit at The
ODP http://dmoz.org/add.html
Netscape Search's results come primarily from
the Open Directory and Netscape's own "Smart Browsing"
database, which does an excellent job of listing
"official" web sites. Secondary results come from
Google. Use the following link to find out how
to submit your URL.
Find out how to submit to Netscape Search
Recently signed with Google to use their search
results and to display their sponsored links from
their "Ad Words Select Program." Listings also
come from The Open Directory Project. You can
submit at ODP, or search through the categories
at AOL and find the best fit and click the "submit
a site" link at the bottom of the page, which
will take you over to the ODP for submission.
The top 3 sponsored links on AOL's search results
page are pulled from the top 3 ads in Google's
Ad Words Select Program.
AOL Search allows its members to search across
the web and AOL's own content from one place.
The main listings for categories and web sites
come also from the Open Directory and Inktomi.
Your best bet is to get listed in Open Directory.
HOW TO SUBMIT
- Find the most appropriate category or subcategory
within the AOL Directory.
- Click on the category and from that category
page, submit your site information from the
Submit a Site link in the green Open Directory
Project box at the bottom of the page. In this
way, you are determining where your site fits
best, and then sending it to the correct place.
Note: If you have already submitted your web
site to the Open Directory Project you don't
need to submit from here.
Submit to AOL here
Important Tips on Submitting
to Directories
This article describes the basics of
submitting to the human-edited Internet directories
such as Yahoo!, dmoz.org, (the Open Directory Project),
NBCi (formerly Snap), LookSmart, and Go.com (formerly
Infoseek).
To get listed on a directory, you submit your front
page URL using the directory's submission (add URL)
form. Your submission is then reviewed by an editor
and ranked according to the description provided
on the form. Reviewers check every submission to
decide if it belongs in the directory, and if it
was submitted to the most appropriate category.
Only Human
When submitting to any directory, be sure to keep
your reviewer in mind and treat your submission
with kid gloves. Always read the submission guidelines
before submitting, and follow them closely. As with
everything in life, being polite and following the
rules will get you far. Being rude and arrogant
will most likely result in unfavorable alteration
of your description -- or a completely ignored submission.
Reviewers can change the content of submissions
at will, so think about your Web site as objectively
as possible and prepare accordingly.
Choosing the best category must be done judiciously.
One good method involves doing a search using the
most relevant keyword phrases for your site, and
noting which categories pop up. Look for the most
appropriate category, analyzing your site as an
outside observer would. Choose the category your
site truly belongs in, not the one where you'd prefer
to see it.
Choose subcategories over top-level categories.
If you submit to a top-level category even though
appropriate subcategories are available, there's
a good chance your submission will be denied. Similarly,
if your site is local in nature, be sure to submit
it to the appropriate geographic region.
Once you've decided upon the most appropriate category,
find and click the "add a site" (or submit URL)
link. Now you're ready to begin the submission process.
Steps to Success
In choosing a title, most directories do not allow
you much leeway. To be safe, a good rule of thumb
is to use your company name or the official name
of your Web site. Adherence to this rule varies
by directory, however. Yahoo! is very strict and
allows company or Web site names only. LookSmart
and dmoz are more lenient, but they are beginning
to crack down.
Occasionally, these directories will allow you to
slip some keywords into the title, but do so at
your own risk. This practice could raise a red flag
for your submission and subject it to additional
scrutiny.
NBCi and Go.com have the most lenient policies and
might allow you to create a fairly descriptive title.
This depends largely on the category you choose
and which editor approves your submission. Again,
this might put your submission under additional
scrutiny.
The Web site description posted with your URL is
a big factor in how your site will rank once it's
listed in the directory. It is very important to
do this right the first time. If you put too much
promotional jargon in your description or make it
too long, for example, the editors are sure to change
it. When they do, you can bet your keywords won't
appear in the final listing. Be concise, be sensible,
and, most of all, include your most important keywords
whenever possible.
If you've created a good meta description tag for
your site, start with that. Copy and paste it into
the submission form, then start deleting extraneous
words. Move words around until you have the shortest
yet most descriptive sentence possible. If you do
this correctly, chances are the editors won't change
it. They'll appreciate the fact that you saved them
editing time.
Be sure the words you're using in your description
appear on the pages of your Web site. If they don't,
and the site appears to be about subjects other
than what you described in your form, your description
might be edited. If you don't have a good grasp
on how to do this, you might want to have a professional
do it for you. I say this only because it's very
difficult to change a site description once it's
listed in most Internet directories.
Once you've taken the steps I've described, your
submission should be successful. Each directory
has its unique procedure, but the basics of choosing
the most appropriate category and creating the best
description apply across the board.
Free Search Engine Submission Sites
There are plenty of free search engine submission
tools available on the Net. While some of them
promise to submit your site to hundreds of search
engines, my personal favorites are those that
submit web sites to only 20-40 major search engines.
The reason is simple - these search engines generate
approximately 85% of web site traffic. I hardly
get any traffic from the other search engines.
First time submission? Do it manually
Before telling you about the search engine
submission tools available, I'd like to tell you
that it's really easy to submit to search engines
and I recommend very strongly that you submit
manually.
Use free tools to update or resubmit
You must be wondering why I'm recommending
manual submission, when this article is about
free automatic search engine submission services.
Well, as these free tools are available on the
Net we should make use of them. Here's what I
suggest - After manually submitting to all the
search engines your web site promotion efforts
are not over. You have to resubmit every 2 months
or so and also submit new pages that you have
added to your web site That's when you should
use these tools. Try them out and update your
site in the search engines in just seconds.
Free Search Engine Submission Sites/Tools
- Submit Corner
You'll like this submission tool because it
allows you to choose the search engines you
want to submit to. This wizard usually takes
under 30 seconds and you'll have your site submitted
to the top engines instantly. It also has other
cool tools you can use to optimize and improve
your web site. It's a great resource site!
http://www.submitcorner.com/Tools/Submit/
- Submitplus
Good tool because you have to fill only two
fields (Email and URL) and their service effectively
submits your web site to the top 10 search engines
in less than 1 minute! Its other cool
features include real time status reporting,
live confirmation link and an email report.
http://www.submitplus.com/top10.htm
- Cyberid
Simply fill in the form and click 'Submit' -
you will be able to verify each entry by clicking
the relevant hyperlink. They also have a FREE
Meta-Tag Builder that you can use to ensure
that your tags are optimized for the Search
Engine Spiders.
http://www.cyberid.co.uk/submit.htm
- Add Me
Submit your site to the top 30 most popular
search engines and directories.
http://www.addme.com/submission.htm
- Webtoolcentral
Here's another simple form to fill up. You can
also choose the search engines that you want
to submit to.
http://www.webtoolcentral.com/webmaster/tools/site_submit/
Please contact
us for more information about the search
engine optimization program for your website.
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