Search Engine Submission

Search Engine Information
With literally thousands of search engines on the web, you may find it interesting to note that about 95% of domestic search volume is done through the top 10-12 search engines.

In fact, we could go as far as to say that the vast majority of your traffic will come from 3 places: Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Other search engines like AOL, AltaVista, and Lycos will contribute to a program, but the traffic that they generate is typically much lower.

Next, it is important to note that many of the most popular search engines are not actually even search engines. AOL, for example, is primarily a portal site that utilizes search technology from a company like Google.

How We Submit Your Site
Over the years, submitting a site to the search engines has changed drastically. For the most part, the major search engines will all find your site from the incoming links generated by your directory submissions and link building campaigns. Some offer Pay For Inclusion (PFI) programs that ensure a site will be crawled and updated on a regular basis, but this is typically for dynamic sites that have "spiderability" issues. Most PFI providers charge a nominal yearly fee to guarantee inclusion, but some of the newer programs (Yahoo) also charge a fee of $0.15 to $0.30 per click, making this submission a much more complex area to manage effectively.

The Major Search Engines

• Google — The king of all search engines. Not only is it vastly popular but it also supplies search results to AOL and Netscape.
• Yahoo — Unveiled its new search engine on February 18, 2007 after years of using Google as its search technology partner.
• MSN — On January 31 of 2005, MSN rolled out its own search engine eliminating its dependence on the Yahoo owned Inktomi technology.
• Inktomi — All but replaced at MSN and Yahoo.
• Altavista — Once the leading search engine in the world, Altavista was acquired by Overture and then became part of Yahoo when Overture purchased it on July 14, 2003. Yahoo has stated that it will incorporate its search technology into Altavista in the near future.
• Teoma — Formerly DirectHit. Primary source for AskJeeves and contributes to Go/Infoseek, iWon, Lycos, and MSN.
• Fast / AlltheWeb — A much improved search engine that supplies results to Lycos as well as its own site.

International
If your company operates globally, there may also be some great opportunities to submit your site to directories outside of the US. There are typically language requirements and many will want your company to have a presence in their country or region.

Specialty Search Engines
Over the years, many specialty engines have formed to target highly specific market niches. We typically find potential niche search engines in the link enhancement process.

Metacrawlers
There are a lot of "metacrawlers" on the Internet that simply compile the top results from other popular search engines. Examples include Dogpile, Mamma.com, and Infospace. The top spots in these search engines are often taken from the pay per click advertising engines while the remainder are grabbed from various search engines and directories.

Pay Per Click Engines
These search engines are discussed in our Pay Per Click Advertising section.

Search Engine Optimization

On Page Optimization
Site Content Enhancement
Link Popularity Enhancement
Search Engine Submission
Directory Submission