About Search Engine Registration

Search engines and directories are outlets on the web used to search for information. Search engines and directories (referred to collectively as “search engines”) are massive databases of website information. Directories differ from search engines proper in that one must choose placement in a directory. For example, when registering in Yahoo, a directory, one follows the hierarchical branches to arrive at the proper ‘directory’ listing locations.

When your site is submitted to a search engine, essentially you cause the search engine to ‘spider’ or ‘crawl’ through your site so that the engine can index the content of your site. The spider follows links and analyzes text to determine the size and content of your pages. It then stores this information in its database to be called upon by a web searcher.

Search engines index many millions of pages daily, so resubmission is critical, especially when you have made updates to your website. While many search engine registration procedures have been automated, comprehensive search engine registration is inevitably a time consuming process. Consider not only the initial submission time, allow time to optimize your site for search engine registration before submitting and allot additional time post-registration to monitor your positions and continuously resubmit.

Search Engine Optimization

The wording of your title and meta tags plays an important role in how your site is indexed. You may want to have a professional create your meta tags, perform your registration and follow up for you. Or you may choose to monitor the results yourself and look to your provider for further registrations.

If you choose to perform your own search engine registrations, budget a couple of dozen hours or more to get started (and at least a couple of hours per month on an on-going basis) and about a hundred dollars or less for licensing an automated registration program (via an online provider or a software package).

If you outsource search engine registration services, do not trust a provider that guarantees a #1 ranking every time. Many times the provider will guarantee this ranking only for obscure keywords that your customers will never think of using! An often-used gimmick to be wary of is the “guaranteed #1 ranking” for a search phrase. It is relatively easy to string together five words and guarantee a number one ranking for that phrase. But think about it. The odds that someone will enter those five words into a search engine, in the exact order of your phrase, are astronomically low.

Each search engine uses different raking criteria. Search engines also index pages on their own set schedules. It can take anywhere from 24 hours to several months to be indexed, depending on the search engine. Patience and dedication are fundamental to a successful search engine registration program.

Additional content covered in the print edition of Webforging includes a paragraph to a page or more on each of the following:

• Keywords
• Meta Description Tags
• Title Tags
• Meta Tags
• PICS Registration
• Search Engine Registration
• Search Engine Registration Follow-up
• Free Listings
• Paid Listings & Pay-for-Placement
• Beyond Search Engines
• Link Popularity
• Reciprocal Linking
• Link Relevance
• Link Farms
• Affiliate Programs
• Froogle
• Usenet
• Community and Charitable Links
• Summary

See Also:

• Appendix I
• Appendix J