How To Submit Your Web Site To Search Engines

This basic Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) article is a guide to submitting your web site to major search engines and directories. While there are many Search Engines and Directories, only a few major ones will generate most traffic for your site.

1.) Directories And Indexes

What is the difference between Directory and Index. Directory is collection of web sites divided by subject. Take Yahoo Directory for example. Let's say you are interested in Finance - go to Business And Economy section and press Finance where you will find variety of web sites about Finance.

Index ( often called Search Engine ) is basically a searchable database of web sites. When you go to Google, Yahoo or MSN to search for web sites about certain topics, you type a search word or a phrase in a search box, and get results from index.

2.) How To Submit Your Site To Yahoo and Open Directory

Yahoo Directory and Open Directory are most important internet directories around. Getting your site listed with at least one of them is a big plus because top search engines consider a link from Yahoo and Open Directories a sign of relevance and quality.

Before submitting your web site to Yahoo Directory, you should go to their page and select appropriate category for your site. They charge $299 yearly fee for commercial web sites. You should also read their guidelines very carefully because $299 fee doesn't guarantee inclusion in Yahoo Directory. It will be reviewed by human editor within a few days after submission to make sure that your web site follows Yahoo guidelines.

Open Directory is managed and edited by volunteer editors. Usually every category has its own editor. Inclusion is free, but it is very difficult to get your web site listed. There is no time frame as to when your site is going to be reviewed. You should choose appropriate category and submit your web site. If there is no response within a few months, you can submit again.

3.) Major Indexes And Submission Process

Google, Yahoo and Live Search ( MSN ) are threee major indexes.

Google is the most important search engine. In fact more people use Google for their web search needs than any other search engine. You can submit your site to Google index here.

Yahoo search index is second in importance only to Google. It is searched by millions of web users. Their submission page is at http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html.

Live Search ( MSN ) is third most important search engine and they are gaining popularity among web users. One can submit web site to Live Search here.

Submitting web site to major indexes ( search engines ) doesn't mean that it is going to be included. In fact, your web site inclusion depends on a number of factors such as site popularity, links from other web sites, your web site topic, how long has it been around and so on.

By now you should have a good idea about Major Directories and Search Engines ( Indexes ) and how they work. It will take some time and effort to get your site included with them. However, it is worth it because your web site will generate most of its traffic from Google, Yahoo and Live Search.

P.S. If you would like to learn more about Search Engine Optimization, I suggest you download Dan Thies Free SEO Book that contains wealth of information on how to promote your web site with Search Engines. Dan's book is the best I have ever read about Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ). The book is in PDF format ( you can read it with Adobe Reader program ) and it is absolutely free.