How to Get Your Site Listed in the Major Search Engines

How to Get Your Site Listed in the Major Search Engines
Copyright by Herman Drost

Getting your web site listed in the major search engines is an
absolute necessity. Why? Because 80% of all people on the
Internet use them when searching for information.

Finding the correct information on major search engines can be
very frustrating. Search engines keep changing their
strategies. Some which were free, are now charging high fees.
Previous ones, have been bought out by others.

This article will give you the most current information
concerning the major search engines since these have the most
searches. Some of them are still free, whereas others are
fee-based. Pay per click search engines will be addressed in
future articles.

Here are the major search engines, listed in alphabetical order.

1. AllTheWeb.com (Fast Search)
http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php

This is one of the largest indexes on the Web.

Free - It takes 2 weeks for your site to be indexed.
There is no guarantee to get listed.

2.. Altavista.
http://www.altavista.com/addurl

Free - this gives you a basic submission.
You can add up to 4 URLS and be considered for inclusion
in 4-6 weeks.
There is no guarantee of inclusion.

Paid - AltaVista Express Inclusion.
Guaranteed submission within 48 hours.
Price $39.00 I URL for a 6 month subscription

3. Ask Jeeves.
http://static.wc.ask.com/docs/addjeeves/submit.html

This is powered by Ask.com and Teoma.com.
It takes 7 days to be included.

Price.
1st URL$30.00 URLs
2 - 1000$18.00 each

4. Google:
http://www.google.com/addurl.html

Google is the top choice for searchers.

Free – it is free to submit but there is no guarantee of a listing.
Allow 1 month for your listing to appear.

Paid
What is the Google Adwords Program?
This is where you purchase highly targeted advertising based
on the keywords and phrases you select. When a person enters
that keyword you selected, your ads are displayed.

Price
$15/ thousand ads shown for position 1
$12/ thousand for position 2
$10/ thousand for position 3
$8/ thousand for positions 4 through 8

5. Infospace.
http://www.infospace.com/info/submit.htm

Free to submit, however you need to fill out a form to get listed.

6. Inktomi.
http://www.inktomi.com/products/web_search/submit.html

Inktomi's search engine has an extensive network of Web search
partners, including AOL, iWon, MSN and HotBot.
It refreshes your site every 48 hours, to keep your content up to
date in the index.

Price
First URL costs $39.00/year.
Each URL thereafter costs $25.00/year.

7. Looksmart.
http://www.looksmart.com

The LookSmart Network consists of partner sites that use the
content of the LookSmart directory in their directory search results.
Partners include more than 370 ISPs and the following top
portals: MSN, Altavista, Netscape, Infospace, CNN.com, CNet.
According to their web site, they reach 77% of all Internet Users.

To submit your site, go to the bottom of the page, where it says
"submit a page".

Price
$49 Listing Set-Up Fee.
$150 minimum refundable deposit for new customers.
LookSmart tracks the number of clicks your listing
receives across the LookSmart Network.
Every click received by your listing results in a $0.15
deduction from your account balance.

It takes several days for your site to appear,
longer for Looksmart's partners.

Free
Non-commercial sites can be submitted at no charge
through Zeal.com. Sites listed in Zeal will be distributed
across the LookSmart Network.

8. Lycos.
http://home.lycos.com/addasite.html

Free submission of one page of your site. Takes 4-6 weeks and is not
guaranteed. You need to fill out a form to sign up.

Paid - guaranteed submission within 48 hours
Price - $18.00/year
Cost per URL - $12.00

9. Netscape.
http://digitalwork.netscape.com/onlinead/registersite

Your site will be submitted each month to major search engines
such as Google (used by Yahoo), AOL, Excite, MSN and Hotbot.

Price - $99.99/year

10. Northern Light.
http://www.northernlight.com/docs/regurl_help.html

Free.
This one only has free submissions. Only submit one page
from your web site. Their spider will crawl through the rest of the
pages.

11. The Open Directory Project
http://dmoz.org/add.html

A directory is different to a search engine, because the
submissions are reviewed by real people, not machines. When
submitting, search for the appropriate category for your web
site, then go to the top of the page where it says, “add URL”.

Free
This is great directory to get listed in because you will
also be listed with its partners which include: AOL Search,
DirectHit, HotBot, Google, Lycos, Netscape Search and others.

It takes 2 weeks to several months to get listed.

12. Yahoo.
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest

Yahoo is the most popular search engine service. It also uses
actual people to compile its listings. It partners with Google
when search results fail to find a match within Yahoo.

This directory has only fee-based inclusions for business sites,
called Yahoo Express. Your site will be reviewed within 7
business days. Keep in mind that payment DOES NOT automatically
guarantee inclusion in the directory.

Price - $299.00
non-refundable, recurring annual fee per submission, for initial
consideration in the Directory.

Tips
1. If you want to get traffic to your site, make sure you
get listed in all or at least a few of these major players.
Make sure your web site is optimized before you do your
submissions (read “How to Use Keywords to Optimize Your Site
for Search Engines - http://www.isitebuild.com/keywords.htm).
This will vastly increase your chances of getting listed.

2. Getting massive amounts of traffic doesn’t guarantee sales.
Your web site copy must pull your visitors through the page for
them to take action. Get others to read your copy and ask for
their opinions. (read “How to Avoid Sloppy Web Site Copy” -
http://www.isitebuild.com/copy).

3. To achieve higher rankings (and therefore more traffic) in
the search engines, you need to continually refine your web
site. Monitor your site rankings by adjusting the keywords used
in your meta tags and web site copy, then submit again.

4. Search engines should be only one of your marketing
strategies. One week you could be at the top of a search
engine, the next week your site may disappear. Use other methods
to drive traffic to your site, so you don’t just rely on the
search engines.

Now go and submit your site to these major search engines. When
you succeed in getting a top listing, as a result of taking
action on this article, drop me a thank you note – I’ll be
cheering for you!