Search Engine Submission
A guide to search engine submission.
After you launch your site there are two types of listings that you want to do submit to: search engines (like Google) and directories. Most of the major search sites have both search engine and directories. But most people don't know that some of the search engines are powered by other search engines and that some directories are mirrors of other directories. The following table shows where the search sites get their source data for searches and directories. As you can see the biggest sources are Google, Yahoo, and DMOZ. Therefore, these are the only sites you need to submit to. So don't go around to all the search sites you can find looking to submit your site to every search site you see.
| SITE |
SEARCH RESULTS |
DIRECTORY |
| AltaVita |
Yahoo |
DMOZ |
| Google |
Google |
DMOZ |
| MSN |
Yahoo |
none |
| Netscape |
Google |
DMOZ |
| Yahoo |
Yahoo |
Yahoo |
Search Engine Submission
Search engines automatically add web sites to their databases by either manually adding them based on user submissions or by sending out a spider to crawl the web looking for sites to add. The best way to get your site listed in search engine listings is to make sure the site has inbound links. This way the search engine spider will find your site when it is crawling the web. So submitting the site to the search engine is not even necessary but there is nothing wrong with doing it. I recommend submitting to Yahoo and Google but don't bother with other search engines.
Submitting to Yahoo and Google
First, check each site to see if your site has been added to their database. Go to
Google.com and
Yahoo.com and type "site:yoursite.com" into the search box and see which pages come up. If your site is listed then DO NOT submit it again. If your site is not listed then go to the
Google's submit page and
Yahoo's submit page to submit your site. It's only necessary to add your main URL and Google will eventually spider the rest of your site by having it's bot click through the internal links. They will probably take 1-3 months to index your pages. The best thing to do is to submit to Google and Yahoo and just check it once a month but DO NOT spend time thinking about it. It will happen when it happens.
Directory Submission
Along with submitting your site to search engines (which isn't actually necessary), it's also recommended to submit your site to the directories. Directories are the categorized list of sites that search engines keep. Google's directory can be found
here and Yahoo's can be found
here. To get listed on a directory, you have to submit main page of your site on the directory's submission form. Unlike search engines, directories don't automatically add sites. Human reviewers check every submission to make sure it fits the directory and abides by the submission rules. I definitely recommend submitting your site to DMOZ. But don't obsess about whether it shows up or not. Check once a month. If it isn't there then resubmit it in 3 months.
Helpful Tips
- When you submit to the directories make sure you do it right. The directories have detailed instructions on how to do it. Follow them. Make sure your web site description is short and concise and make sure it is what you want it to be because directory listings are hard to change. Most of the time the way you will do it is to click through the categories until you find the subcategory that your site should be in then click "Add site".
- Most search engines don't even have directories and the ones that do have directories get them from somewhere else. For example, Google doesn't have it's own directory, it uses the DMOZ directory. In fact, most search engines that have a directory use DMOZ. Yahoo is the only big site that uses it's own directory. Therefore, the only important directories to submit to are Yahoo and DMOZ.
- It will take time. Directories are free so the search engines don't really make money from them so they aren't in a rush to get your site in them.
- Submitting to a directory is NOT necessary to have your site come up in search results.
- The Yahoo directory only accepts free directory submissions for non-commercial websites. If you submit your site into one of the categories and Yahoo deems it to be commercial then it won't get listed. Don't worry about this.
- Don't ever pay for directory or search engine submittals. It isn't worth it.
- Don't submit your site if it isn't finished yet.
Submit your site
The Open Directory, Yahoo and LookSmart are the main Internet directories in use today. Zeal is part of LookSmart, so additions to Zeal appear on partner sites of LookSmart, including Lycos, InfoSpace, RoadRunner, CNET, and Inktomi.
Directory submittal - DMOZ
