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I. What Are TheyIf you want to find something on the net what do you do? I'll bet you'll use either a Search engine or web directory like altavista, yahoo or excite. (For a bigger list have a look at www.searchthe.net , it list the major engines). Although search engines or directories look the same they differ slightly With web directories sites are submitted and sorted into categories (a good example is to click through the categories on yahoo (for example you'll find a list of spacecraft sites on yahoo if you click Science -> Space -> Spacecraft). What a search engine does is it creates a list of keywords from a sites <meta> & <title> tags and just lists out sites by word you enter. Most search engines and directories actually are a combination of both II.Getting on a Search EnginesBut how do you get your site on these? Simple!! There are 2 ways to get noticed Most people get listed by simply submitting their webpage for inclusion on the search engine//directory. There is usually an obvious link to do so on the search engine's website, but with some directories like yahoo, they have a specific submit link in each sub category making it easier to add Follow the on line instructions clearly and fill in the necessary forms. Some site send out automated programs to check out your site (make sure your <meta> tags are up to speed as we discussed) But many use human reviewers to visit your site and assess its suitability. Because of the numbers submitted be prepared to wait to see your site listed (most give advice to how long before you should resubmit) Getting selected isn't always guaranteed. Some of the better engines like yahoo are notoriously difficult to get on. Here are some tips
Some sites periodical wipe their list so you may have to resubmit even if successful!!! Secondly you can use use HTML <meta> tags in to help get your site noticed. Most search engines continually dredge the net aimlessly looking for new sites with automated programs. These use information in meta tags to list a site Some infact don't have a standard submission service. A good example is altavista. When you submit your site all you enter is your URL the engine then sends out a crawler to check it out via its meta tags. We describe how to write in meta tags in our earlier section Both of these can take time to do. There are literally thousands of major search engines & directories on the web now. Finding them, eliminating irrelevant ones and filling in the submission forms of even a few, takes for ages. And that's before you have to reapply and then resubmit If that seems too much, a minor industry has grown up in terms of site submission. They are called Submission Agents For a fee, these companies automate the process for you. You fill in details with them once which then can be submitted to numerous sites (however with most of the major sites you still need to put in some additional data). Some will check for success for you and will resubmit if not on that site. Others will check your site's <meta> tags, access time and links and compare it to your entries. There are a few rogues so be wary. Avoid anyone that guarantees a listing by "special" means on engines like Yahoo (there is no special way around yahoo's system but many legitimate companies will say they can improve your chances - but that is more by giving you hand in writing your entries than anything else). Try and stick to well known companies and take a good look round as costs vary. Some even offer some free submissions as a trial! At the end of the day, however, do you really need to be listed on 5000 engines, when most people will just use one of 10 or so major ones You can find a list if you go to any search engine or web directory and type in "site submission" in your search criteria  By A. Duncan ©2001 Page 3 |
