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Getting listed in Google and the other popular search engines
is one of the most effective ways of directing free, targeted
traffic to your web site.
Below you'll discover what
the search engines look for when determining your page rank so
you can optimize your pages for best results.
How Search Engines
Determine Your Rank
Before you try to add your
site to the search engines, you should understand what they
look for when they decide how to rank your site. Just because
you're listed doesn't mean you'll get traffic. You have to
make sure your site is search engine ready.
The general rule of thumb is
that most engines use a "formula" to determine keyword
relevancy. The technical term is called an "algorithm", and
each search engine has its own unique algorithm that it uses
to rank pages.
Generally, this magic formula
consists of your page title, overall body content and the
number and quality of links pointing back to your site, etc.
It's important to note that
every engine is different. Some may look at meta tags, some
may ignore them and just place emphasis on your body content.
These days, meta tag content is becoming less and less
important.
For those of you that do not
know, meta tags are hidden descriptors that appear at the
beginning of your HTML code, inside your <head> tag. They may
be invisible to your visitor's eyes, but search engine spiders
can read them.
They usually consist of a
title, description, and keyword tag and they look something
like this:
<head>
<title>Title
of Your Site</title>
<meta
name="description" content="Description
of your site here.">
<meta
name="keywords" content="keywords
separated by commas">
</head>
Because of abuse, many search
engines no longer use these tags to help rank pages, but you
should still include them because they do use them to display
information about your site.
For example, whatever is
inside the <title> tag is what the search engine will use as
the title of your site in the search results.
The Big 3 Engines - Google, Yahoo
and MSN
There are a handful of
engines out there that bring traffic, but the reality is a
very large percentage of search engine traffic comes from
Google, Yahoo and MSN. Yes, there are other engines like AOL,
Netscape etc. but they pull their results from the Big 3.
How to Get Listed In Google
1)
There are three ways to list your site with Google, but the
most effective way is to get listed in The Open Directory -
www.dmoz.org.
This is a directory that is
managed by volunteers that act as "category editors." To list
your site, simply go to the most appropriate category for your
web site, then drill down to the relevant subcategory and
select the "Add URL" link at the top of that category's page.
Wait about a a month to see
if your site appears. If it does not, I recommend emailing
one of the category editors and asking for advice on how to
get your site listed. If you're lucky, you'll receive a
helpful response, but not all of the category managers answer
emails.
Sometimes it may take up to
one year for an editor to review and list your site and
other times it may only take a couple of weeks. Be patient
and please don't keep submitting!
Unfortunately since DMOZ is
run by volunteers, the time it takes to get your site reviewed
really depends on the availability of the volunteers.
Sometimes they may not check the submissions for weeks, which
can be quite frustrating for people trying to get listed.
After your site appears in
The Open Directory, your site should start showing up in
Google within a few weeks.
Warning: Don't try to
submit to The Open Directory unless you have enough useful
information on your site. If your site is only one or two
pages long, then you won't likely get listed. They want
medium to large sized web sites with useful and unique
content. Strive for at least 15 pages.
If you need more content,
articlecity.com has some free articles you can post on
your site. Simply find the category that closely matches your
theme and add them.
2)
The second way to get listed in Google is to use their own Add
URL form located here
http://www.google.com/addurl.html. This method is
not as dependable as listing with The Open Directory, but it
seems to work better than it used to. Google admits that they
may not add every site, so don't be surprised if this does not
work for you.
3)
The third way to get listed is to be linked from another web
site that is already in Google. That way, when Google's
spider goes to visit that site for updates, it will pick up
the link to your site and add it. This method does not always
work, but many sites do get in this way.
Getting into Yahoo and MSN
Most websites get into Yahoo and MSN by
getting spidered from other sites. Meaning if you're already
linked from another site or web directory, MSN and Yahoo's
robots will eventually find you when they update their search
index.
If you don't want to wait to get spidered,
you can submit directly to MSN by going here
http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx. Do not keep
re-submitting your site. It will not speed up the process of
getting listed and may even get you banned.
Yahoo does not have a direct submission link
so their engine will eventually find your site once you get
linked from other sites that are already in their index.
The Yahoo Directory
Not to be confused with the regular Yahoo
search function, the Yahoo directory is also a place you can
add your site. When you go to Yahoo.com and enter a search
into the box, you are using their regular search engine, not
the directory. So it is possible to be included in Yahoo's
regular search index and not be included in their directory.
The Yahoo directory is actually a
categorical listing of sites located here
http://dir.yahoo.com and it's not used very much by
web surfers. The real benefit to being listed here is to have
a high quality link pointing to your site. Many search
engines look at who is linking to you and if you
have a link from the Yahoo directory, it may give you some
"credibility" points.
Some believe that having a listing in the
directory will help boost your site in Google's results.
There is no solid proof of this, however. Yahoo also states
that if you are listed in their directory, it does not have
any affect on your position in their regular search results.
If your site is commercial it will cost you
$299 per year to be included in Yahoo's directory. So if you
can justify/afford the cost, I would still recommend getting
into Yahoo just to have the high-quality link pointing to your
site - but don't expect a lot of traffic from the actual page
you'll be listed on.
It's up to you to decide if it's worth it or
not. Many webmasters do quite well in the "Big 3" search
engines without a listing in the Yahoo directory. |
