Search Engine

Search engines use crawlers to spider their way through the web looking for new sites. Basically, what they do is they follow the links on the pages that are already in their index, and then follow the links on those pages, etc, etc, until they find almost everything. This is a continual process. So if someone links to you, you will probably be found eventually.

In most cases, you can also submit your site to a search engine. Most search engines will allow you to submit for free, although they offer payment options for different types of placement. You know how when you go to Google, for instance, and you search for something ... you will get a main list of results in the middle of the page. Those were free submissions. You also get a couple of hits at the top of the list (in a shaded area) and in a column on the right. These submissions were paid for.

A lot of people only follow the hits in that main list because they assume that the paid submissions are going to try to sell them something when all they want is information. So you want to try to get yourself listed as high in the main list as possible. This is done by making your site search-engine friendly. Check out this list of guidelines for making your site Google-friendly:

http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html

No search engines will guarantee placement in the top 5. You can make your site as search engine friendly as possible, submit it, and then hope for the best. In some cases, you can pay to be listed for certain keywords. Each search engine has different terms for submission. To submit to Google, go to this url:

http://www.google.com/addurl

Yahoo is another example. Yahoo is actually a search directory, rather than a search engine. Search don't crawl the web looking for new sites. You have to submit to Yahoo. What you need to do there is to go to the section of Yahoo where you believe your site belongs (select a category in the web directory on the home page, and then click on sub-categories until you get to the one that fits you) and then click on the link to "submit a site" at the top of that categorie's page. There you can choose to enter a paid submission or go with the free one. Your choice.

Hope this helps.

Marge

marger50 -

>(Google)...These submissions were paid for.

They are not submissions they are paid for advertisements - Adwords in fact.

>You can make your site as search engine friendly as possible, submit it, and then hope for the best.

You can hope for the best(!) or you can actively optimize the site.

>So you want to try to get yourself listed as high in the main list as possible. This is done by making your site search-engine friendly.

No it isn't! Search engine friendly is not the same as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

>Yahoo is actually a search directory, rather than a search engine.

No it isn't! Yahoo is a search engine with a directory in the same way that Google is a search engine with a directory.

- duz