Search Engines  

Setting up a Web site is only the first step in establishing a presence on the internet. Advertising your Web site and disseminating information about your existence is a necessary second step. The first strategy is getting the site listed in the most popular Internet directories and search engines. You may be familiar with some of the most common search engines and directories:

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General: Search engines use indexing programs, often called agents or spiders to constantly "crawl" on the internet, find new sites, and bring back the web site's information. They go from web site to web site until all of the web's sites have been updated in the search engine. To initially get indexed in such a search engine, it is a good idea to register so the agents know where to find your web site.

When visiting a Web site, the agent will record the full text of every page (home and sub-pages) within the site. It will then continue on to visit all external links. Following these external links is how search engines are able to find your site regardless of whether or not you register your URL with them. Submitting your URL, however, does speed up the process. It notifies an agent to visit and index your site instead of waiting for it to eventually locate you through one of your external links.

Robots will then revisit your site periodically to refresh the recorded information. The revisiting of links is the reason why some search engines don't require you to inform them of dead links. Eventually, their robot would try unsuccessfully to update the information on a dead link and realize it no longer exists.

Finally, an easy way to tell whether a Web index is a search engine as opposed to another type of directory is by the information it requires when adding your URL. A true search engine will only need the Web address. The indexing agent takes care of the rest.

Directories:
The main difference between a search engine and a general directory is that a directory will not list your URL if you do not register it with them. They do not make use of indexing software agents and so have no way of knowing it's out there. As a result, their registration form will be considerably longer than just your URL. Directories are usually subdivided into categories and you have to submit your URL under the most appropriate heading.

Announcement Site:
The explosion of sites being added daily to the Web has created a need for announcement sites that track all of the new sites that join the Internet. The time period policy also differs from announcement site to announcement site, but all "announcements" are posted for a temporary period of time. Once removed from the What's New section, most announcement sites archive these pages so users can continue to access them.

Guides & Cool Sites:
Guides are quickly becoming an important source for finding interesting and useful sites on the Web. In general, Guides review and rate only a small percentage of all sites submitted. Therefore, make sure your site is "rate-worthy" before posting. Most of the guides allow reviewed sites to use their special icons as a sign of quality. Cool sites usually select one new Web site every day. Getting selected as a cool site will attract high traffic, but that traffic will usually only be experienced for a temporary period of time.

These services provide the most popular method of finding out about new sites and pages and thus help increase exposure for those sites listed. Usually, to find a subject of interest, surfers will query one of these services and will then proceed to explore the links to the resulting Web sites. Having your site listed in these services greatly increases the chance of your site being visited. We therefore encourage the use of this strategy. It provides one of the cheapest means of promoting your site.

Ever wonder just what people search for?   Well, there are several utilities that will give you that information.  Use your back button to return to this page. Be warned that a high percentage (over 50%) of search terms are sexual in nature.  The filtered version of MetaSpy will not show these.  Click refresh to see a new set of terms.  Most will refresh automatically after 15 seconds.

MetaCrawler MetaSpy
http://www.metaspy.com/spymagic/Spy
http://www.metaspy.com/spymagic/Spy?filter=false

WebCrawler Search Voyeur
http://webcrawler.com/cgi-bin/SearchTicker

Magellan Search Voyeur
http://voyeur.mckinley.com/cgi-bin/voyeur_queries.cgi

Ask Jeeves Peak Through The Keyhole
http://www.askjeeves.com/Peek/PeekFrame.asp

GoTo.com Inventory Search
http://inventory.go2.com/inventory/searchInventory.mp