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 Over the last few months, search
engine submissions have changed dramatically. Now is the
time to analyze the way we're submitting our Web pages and
to rethink our submission strategies.
Regretfully, I still see people paying big bucks to search
engine submission services who will submit their pages to
thousands of search engines for one "low price."
What they aren't told is that the act of
"submitting" their pages has nothing to do with
top search engine rankings. Even taking a step back,
submitting doesn't guarantee indexing.
Fact: The majority of traffic to your site will come from
the major search engines like Google, Yahoo! search
engine, and MSN. Therefore, submitting to
"thousands" of search engines really isn't doing
your site any good.
Let's take a serious look at the reality of search engine
submissions. Do we need to pay a submission service to
submit our pages to the search engines? Can the search
engines find our pages on their own, or do we have to pay
them to index our pages? Let's look at the variables and
try to save you some money.
Search Engine Submissions . . . Ways to Submit Your Pages
1. Don't submit! Let the search engines find your pages
through links on other Web pages or Web sites.
To be honest, this is my favorite, most
"stress-free" way to submit to the search
engines. Think about it. You create your Web page and
optimize it. You make sure to link TO the page from
another page on your site, such as your site map. The idea
is that when the search engine spiders your site map, it
should find the link to your new page, visit the page,
spider it, and index it. Can I guarantee it will happen?
Of course not. That's why you need to monitor your spider
traffic and your rankings to make sure that the page makes
it into the search engine's index.
Search engine spiders were created to SPIDER the Web.
That's their "job" -- to crawl the Web and index
new pages. I have always found this method of
"submitting" to be the most effective.
2. Submit pages through free add URL pages at the various
search engines.
My main concern here is that the search engines have
always said that over 90% of all submissions through free
add URL pages is spam. I have never wanted my submissions
to be lumped in there with all of that spam.
Therefore, I personally stay away from free add URL pages.
In particular, I never submit to Google through its free
add URL page.
3. Use Overture's Site Match to submit to Yahoo!'s family
of search engines.
Overture's Site Match at http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/bjump/sm.jhtml
has taken the place of the old Inktomi, FAST, and
AltaVista paid inclusion programs. However, Site Match
isn't just a paid inclusion program -- it is also a
cost-per-click program, with the cost being based on the
type of industry you're in. You pay a flat fee for your
site to be reviewed, and then you pay a cost per click as
well. The paid inclusion spider crawls the page every 48
hours, so you're able to tweak it to try to get better
rankings.
Site Match gets your pages into Yahoo! Web pages, FAST,
AltaVista, Overture supplemental results, HotBot, and
more, so the visibility is certainly impressive. It's
important to note that Site Match pages are shown with the
regular Yahoo! crawler results with no distinction between
the two.
If a page is important to you and you're having problems
getting it picked up by Yahoo!'s family of search engines,
you may want to consider Site Match. However, it can
certainly get expensive if you have a number of pages to
submit.
4. Do we need software programs or search engine
submission services that will submit our pages to
thousands of search engines for one "low price"?
In a word -- NO!
We've already learned that the majority of traffic comes
from the major search engines. Submitting to the important
international or minor engines through a software program
like WebPosition Gold 3 at http://www.webposition.com/gold.htm
is a consideration. But submitting to thousands of search
engines, many of which are "free for all" Web
sites (pure junk), won't benefit your site at all.
Save your money!
5. All of this is fine and good, but what if the site is
brand new with no inbound links?
Get your site listed in a directory such as Yahoo!
Directory at http://www.yahoo.com/
or the Open Directory Project at http://dmoz.org.
Then, spend some time finding a few sites that will agree
to put links on their sites to yours.
Are there any vertical search engines and directories in
your topic area? Visit Search Engine Guide and search
through their topical search engine directory: http://www.searchengineguide.com/searchengines.html
So, take the stress-free approach with search engine
submissions and . . .
1) Link to all of your important pages from another page
on your site.
2) Get inbound links from another site pointing to your
site.
2) Let the major engines find your pages on their own.
3) Monitor your progress. If a search engine hasn't
indexed one of your pages, make sure to place additional
links to that page in the pathway of the spiders.
Important Note: You may be using an SEO company to handle
the optimization of your Web pages, including your search
engine submissions. Does this mean you're paying too much
for those SEO services? No. SEO work is extremely complex
and time consuming, and a good search engine optimizer is
helping to make your online business a success. The
purpose of this article is to educate you on search engine
submissions in general, since so many people wrongly
believe that the acting of submitting pages will get those
pages to the top of the search engine rankings.
In Conclusion . . .
So many Web site owners and SEOs make search engine
submissions much harder than they have to be. Take a deep
breath, direct the spiders through your Web site to make
sure they are able to find your Web pages, and relax. Let
the search engines do what they do best . . . spider the
Web!
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