During the early years of the World Wide Web it was paramount to submit to search engines. As technologies used on the World Wide Web improved traditional views become old and useless. You can use search engines to your advantage once you understand how they operate. Search engine technologies include directories, hybrid-directories and search engines.
Submitting to Search Engine Directories
Before you run off and submit to search engine directories you need to know what they are and what they are not.
Search engine directories are not free-for-all or classified advertisement sites. These two sites allow you to submit to them and have your site indexed within minutes. The problem with these types of sites is they take your personal information and sell it to make money. Originally they didn’t have terms of service or notifications of what they would do with your personal information. Currently, many disclose their intentions.
While it might seem a great idea using these services are actually more harmful than helpful. People that visit these sites don’t visit them to find other sites; they visit them to submit their information as well. So, as more people submit their information your site is pushed off the list requiring you to submit again.
Other search engine directories are actually more like Yahoo Directory. Yahoo Directory is not the same as Yahoo Web Sites. Yahoo Directory requires a submission fee of $299 just for the privilege of having Yahoo’s editorial staff review your site for acceptance. While it might seem useful you must understand that Yahoo Directory does not crawl your web site; they take the information you submitted or create their own about your site.
Yahoo Directory is useful in getting a decent topic match into your site. That is if your site is submitted to the most appropriate category.
The Open Directory Project (dmoz.org) is a Yahoo Directory like search engine directory.
Submitting to search engine directories is important for the links they give to your site. Search engine directories will only link to your home page.
Submitting to Hybrid-Search Engines
Hybrid-search engines are actually directories that use spiders to index the pages you submit to them. Before Yahoo purchased HotBot and Inktomi they were actually hybrid-search engines. You paid for inclusion of your various pages. In return they would send their spiders to your site and crawl only the pages you submitted to them.
Paid inclusion is an expensive option for large web sites. However, it is important to get your web pages indexed. The balance between cost and benefit must be evaluated to determine real value.
While Yahoo purchased the largest hybrids they still have their Yahoo Web Sites search engine. Yahoo Web Sites offers the option of paid submission if you want your web pages indexed quickly. When you pay for submission and get approved Yahoo also has a cost-per-click charge.
Yahoo, also, has a regular search engine spider.
There are minor hybrid-search engines with spiders. These minor hybrids accept recommendations and use their spiders to crawl the domain submitted. They typically index only the home page. And some will only accept your submissions if you pay their fees.
However, the thing that is important is the link coming to your site. Major search engines with spiders crawl these minor directories and find the links to your site.
Submitting to Search Engines
Search engines use spiders to find, and I emphasize find, web pages to index. They find your web pages through links you have acquired from other sites. So, it is important to submit to search engine directories and hybrid-search engines.
The major search engines that use spiders are Google and Yahoo. MSN is working on their own search engine spider.
While both Google and Yahoo Web Sites accept submissions, Yahoo charges a review fee and then a cost-per-click. You can get into Yahoo Web Sites without paying a fee. You can get listed in Google for free. However this does require gaining links from other sites.
It is no longer required, as it once was, to submit to Yahoo or Google.
Submitting to Search Engines Summary
While some traditions are good and worthy of continuing not all are. You should submit to directories and hybrid-search engines to gain the links. Those links will aid in helping the real search engines find your site to index your web pages.
Lee Roberts President/CEO of Rose Rock Design, Inc. and owner/developer of the Apple
Pie Shopping Cart
the search engine friendly shopping cart.
