Search Engine Optimization - Part 8

Article ID: KB101559

You've spent many hours perfecting your new web site and it's looking and functioning better than you ever would have imagined. Now -- how do you get people to revel in the glory of your new creation? What indexes and search sites do you submit your URL to?

Planet Ocean's Search Engine Guide considers the following to be the "Majors" in order of importance:

1. Google
2. Yahoo -- an "index," not completely a search engine
3. Inktomi -- feeds 300 engines including MSN, NBCi, LookSmart, About, HotBot, Overture, CNET and ICQ
4. AltaVista
5. ODP -- Open Directory Project
6. Fast -- All The Web and Lycos
7. AskJeeves
8. LookSmart

The Yahoo index and the search engines above conduct over 95% of all Internet searches and are the only entities you need to achieve good placement on. Please note that the above list is in order of usage and "visibility" by the general public and that this is not the order in which you should submit your site for indexing. It may seem like a strange concept at first, but the order in which you are approved has a significant bearing on the overall search rankings you will see on the major search sites. This is because they all look to each other to greater and lesser degrees for site relevancy. The following is a proven submission order -- try to follow it as closely as possible for optimum results.

Recommended Submission Order:

1. Overture -- pay-per-click service
2. Yahoo -- paid business express service
3. Google AdWords paid listings and free submit
4. Inktomi -- use the paid entry program
5. AltaVista -- free submission service
6. Fast / AllTheWeb.com -- free
7. ODP / dmoz.org -- free
8. AskJeeves -- use Teoma's paid entry program
9. LookSmart -- pay-per-click service

Being listed on all of the above search sites is very important to your on-line success because there is a high degree of interconnectedness. Returning the most relevant results to a search is where the competition is hottest at the top search sites and one of the most significant "weightings" for relevancy is being listed on the other top sites. Spend your time and money on the sites listed above before targeting more industry or market segment specific sites.

1. Overture http://www.overture.com 

Nothing will get you traffic faster than Overture. Within five days you will see results and this is the best place to experimentally tune your keywords and advertising copy. You, not the search engine, determine the copy that your target customer will see when they search for one of your paid placement keywords or phrases.

2. Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com 

A Yahoo listing, if done correctly, is a great traffic builder as well as your biggest relevancy boost with the other search sites. Please keep in mind that Yahoo can be a very frustrating directory to work with. Having your site placed in the most appropriate category can be a real fight with the Yahoo editors -- it is worth the battle, though. This is one area where you need the up to date advice and strategy from PLANET OCEAN. The Yahoo registration fee is has risen to $299 annually and if you mess up the submission it can take an act of congress to make a change.

3. Google http://www.google.com/addurl.html

Rapidly becoming the search engine of choice, Google assigns more relevancy to pages with lots of relevant links and lots of relevant "clicks". You need to spend time requesting links from other sites related to your product or service. Google's AdWords program will help build "click" relevancy for your pages.

4. Inktomi http://www.inktomi.com

MSN, NBCI, LookSmart, About, HotBot, Overture, CNET, ICQ and over 300 small search sites are powered by the Inktomi engine. Your best bet is to use Inktomi's paid inclusion service found at http://www.positiontech.com.

5. AltaVista http://www.altavista.com

After you have confirmations back from Overture, Yahoo, Google AdWords and have submitted to Inktomi you should use the Altavsita service. Don't use the paid Express Inclusion as there are too many problems at this time.

6. FAST Search and Transfer

Lycos and E-Bay both rely on FAST to process search requests and the FAST site http://www.alltheweb.com is an excellent search site that is growing in popularity daily. It is rumored that Yahoo may replace Google on it's site with FAST. In addition to fine search performance, I'm pulling for these guys because they are the "anchor" tenant in the data center where we co-locate all of the PixelMill servers. Go to http://www.alltheweb.com/addurl.php to submit your site for indexing.

7. ODP -- The Open Directory Project http://www.dmoz.org

Volunteers run the ODP directory and getting your site listed can be challenging. It helps immensely if you are are already listed at Yahoo, so wait for your Yahoo confirmation to submit to ODP. Your search rankings at AOL will be boosted by an ODP listing.

8. Ask Jeeves http://www.askjeeves.com

Another Directory, powered by the Teoma engine, that does "natural language" searches -- you can apply for [paid] submission at: http://ask.ineedhits.com/secure/addurl.asp

9. LookSmart http://www.looksmart.com

Use LookSmart, the paid inclusion program and pay-per-click model.

All of the major search engines and indexes along with specific recommendations on submitting for optimum results are covered in The Unfair Advantage Book on Winning the Search Engine Wars. This is the source we refer to when working on search engine optimization for PixelMill.

If you are serious about marketing your site on the Internet you need to get a subscription to Planet Ocean Communications Search Engine Newsletter. When you subscribe, not only do you get the latest monthly changes and recommendations for achieving "top ten" search engine placement but you also receive access to download The Unfair Advantage Book on Winning the Search Engine Wars. This guide, updated monthly, is an excellent e-book that takes you step by step through the process of achieving high search engine ranking at all of the major search engine sites.

Next: Dynamic Problems

Contributors

Greg Snow:
Greg is the CEO of Advantrics LLC, which is the parent company for PixelMill and Vivid Office. Greg has an incredible background in FrontPage Development and Research, and keeps up to date with the latest Search Engine News. He is the author of the Search Engine article series from the PixelMill newsletter.

Greg Snow, PixelMill Newsletter, Volume 2 - Issue 8 : 08/01/2002

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