How to Get Your Site Listed in the Major Search Engines

By Herman Drost
Posted Wednesday, October 20, 2004

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!

About the Author
Herman Drost is a Certified Web Site Designer, owner and author of iSiteBuild.com
Affordable Site Design, Hosting and Promotion Packages (http://www.isitebuild.com)

Subscribe to his “Marketing Tips” newsletter for more original articles. mailto:subscribe@isitebuild.com. Read more of his in-depth articles at: (www.isitebuild.com/articles)