What most web promotion companies don't want you to Know.
There are maybe 200 search engines and directories currently in operation. With very small ones popping up or dying off all the time. Many of these only accept and list special interest sites or sites from certain geographic locations so submitting most sites to all of them is unnecessary and amounts to spamming the index or directory.
Of the 200 total there are about 100 substantial search engine directories and directories that are worthwhile to submit to. Of these, the top 10 sites (Yahoo, Lycos, etc.) will most likely generate 90% of your search engine traffic.
So where do these companies get these inflated claims like "Submit to 10,000 Search Engines!!" ?
A great deal of the fluff comes from Free For All (FFA) link sites.
So why not submit to the FFA's?
We believe it is a waste of time and that it is unlikely you will receive any noticeable traffic. As a test we recently submitted to over 1000 FFAs once a day for a week, and even though we were listed immediately we didn't get a single hit generated from them!!!
The vast majority of Free Fall All link sites accept about 100 links per very general category (Business, Computers, etc.). When a new site is submitted to a category it starts in the number 1 position and moves down 1 position each time a new site is added. When a site reaches position 101 and is taken off the list. Depending on your category and submissions it can take just a matter or hours until your site is completely out of the list. If you want back on the list you need to resubmit. Even worse, FFA's, often use your email to try to induce you to buy their product or service and also sell your email address to other companies so they can do the same. Depending on how many and which ones you submit to hundreds if not thousands of spam emails will be sent to your mail box!!
Don't pay for this to happen to you!
The vast majority of the sights offering to submit your site for X dollars to however many sites don't care whether search engines will even be able to read your sight they just take the url and email address you give them and use an automated process to submit your site to whatever sites they happen to have in their list. Often the complete process is automated and you actually did the submit yourself when you paid and filled out their form!!!
Most submission companies don't care if the major search engines, the ones that will actually generate any significant traffic for you, can even read your site effectively or at all. Since many search engines and directories take weeks to list sites after they have been accepted and cataloged, it only makes sense to make sure your site is search engine optimized before you submit the first time.
Even worse more often than not submission companies fail to submit to the directories that require special information and human interaction, like Yahoo, Infoseek, etc. because their processes are automated. Many of the top traffic generators on the net are the directories, it is critical to get listed with them if possible.
It can take months to get listed with Yahoo and some of the other larger directories even if your site is perfect and was submitted properly. It is critical that these submissions are done right the first time by someone who understands how the directories work and what they are looking for. Do you really want a computer program submitting your site to the largest traffic generator on the net?
How Search Engines Work
What makes "Search Engines" like Yahoo, AOL Netfind, Lycos and many others tick?
"Search Engine" is a generic term commonly used to identify Web Sites that match users searching for information to a list of Web Sites that may meet the user's needs. While all "Search Engines" perform the same function, the methods they use to create their Web Site lists (listings) varies greatly. Some "Search Engines" use employees to review and build Web Site listings. Others generate their listings using computer programs, commonly refered to as robots. Some like Yahoo incorporate both.
Employee Generated Listings Overview
Search Engines that utilize employees accept or deny requests to add new Web Sites, generally submitted from web site administrators. The requests contain information about the site and suggestions on how the requester would like for the site to appear in the Search Engine's listings. Reviewers generally verify that Web Sites meet the "Search Engines" standards and place approved sites into categories. End users looking for information move through the categories like (Entertainment/Music/Rock and Roll) looking for web sites to meet their needs.
Robot Generated Listings
Search engines that utilize robots also accept requests to add new web pages to their listings. These requests are then passed into the robot. The robot visits the site, reads the pages, and follows all the page links and stores the information it finds in the search engines database.
Rather than browsing through categories, users looking for information through this type of search engine enter search strings. The search engine then takes the search string and tries to match the it to web site information stored the database earlier by the robot. Web Site matches are returned to the user in the order that the search engine perceives to be most relevant.
Stated another way, what the robots find when they visit your site determines if and how your site will appear when users perform searches related to your company. It is critical to understand stand how the different robots read and store information in order to utilize their features to your companies advantage.
What Robots do and don't understand
To begin with robots are similar to very older web browsers and can only understand a limited amount of the possible information that many web sites contain. For instance robots don't understand pages generated using tools like cgi scripts, database scripts, or shockwave. They may not read image maps. The use of frames may either prevent the search engine from finding pages within a web site, or it may cause the search engine to send visitors into a site without the proper frame "context" being established.
If the robot can't understand the web page it visits or only understands the wrong piece of it, the page won't be stored in the search engines database or won't be found by users trying to find the products and services your company provides.
Does all this mean that a web site has to be extremely simple so that search engines can read and record it?
No, but it does mean that the web designer needs to anticipate these problems and account for them.
Once you make your site readable by the robot it is important to give the robot the information you want it to have. Unfortunately you can't just fill out a form to tell the robot about your site, it reads tags both visible and behind the scenes to determine for it's self what information your site contains.
Have you ever performed a search for something like barbecue and gotten back stuff like this:
No Title
Bad Cat Fall Fling. October 12, 1997. Cadet. 103 lbs. David Wason (BloomingWale)
Steve Truso (Hillsboro) 112 lbs. Jeffrey MaCava (WCW) Frederic Gevao...
Not likely many will click on this site over any other is it. This web site designer failed to design the site so that it spoon feed the robot quality information about the sites content. This site may be the greatest looking and most useful site ever created but it won't be of much use if no one sees it.
As important as it is give search engines the information you want displayed it is even more important to make sure that the robot has stored an accurate representation of your pages content. If the search engine holds information about your "bed and breakfast" site that causes it to come up on the search results lists of people interested in "eating breakfast in bed" it won't do your Bed and Breakfast much good. What's even worse is people that want your service won't be able to find you.
Robots collect the information contained in your sites <TITLE>, <BODY>, <META> tags and use it along with a few other factors to determine if your site matches a users search criteria and what information is displayed to the user performing the search.
Here are two more Good links for studying search engines more in-depth if what you read so far wasn't enough for you! Make sure that you "Bookmark" our site for future reference!
Good links/websites and valuable information for web development and promotion.
From professional web templates to a Flash Intro Builder, you'll find everything you'll need to give your site a fresh new look... www.aplustemplates.com
Website templates, Flash intro templates, Logo templates and Custom Web Designs are available at TemplateMonster.com.
Create a unique web presence using pre-made designs and templates of the highest quality. www.templatemonster.com
CGI Scripts
Thousands of cgi scripts are available for no charge or for a price at numerous sites all over the web. www.cgi-resources.com
FreeGraphics.com is a searchable database of free graphics sites. Sites are reviewed, rated, and divided into categories for easy browsing -- or you can search the entire database for links to your specific graphic needs.
Javascript
Save yourself time and spice up your pages with these goodies.
Choose from over 2400 free Javascripts or from over 11,000 free and commercial Java Applets.
Tutorials
Want to design your own web site but need more information on how to do it? The WebMonkey http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/ is a great place to start. Topics like: HTML, Javascript, Java, Much More
Huge Search Engine Database
In this page, you can find a huge list of all the search engines
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