Search Engines and Directory Submission

How do I get my site listed in the search engines and directories?

Many approaches can be used. Most major services require fees for placement except under special conditions such as a personal website. Most professionals prefer to submit manually to each search engine and directory providing them precise control for site submission. Some search services may take up to six months for a site to be listed if at all. Services are not required to list every submission they receive and have the option to remove sites from their databases at their discretion. Avoid free submission services and those services that promise high ranking in search engines and directories as they do not work.

Search Engine vs. Directory, What's the Difference?

Search engines are based on actual page content for results. Google is an example of a search engine. Directories are based on the purpose of the site and do not store page content in their database. Yahoo is an example of a directory. Both directories and search engines may include websites in the other format. For example, when Yahoo is finished searching their own directory, they provide results based on page content.

Any Hints to Get Better Rankings in Search Engines?

The more real content of what visitors really want, the more visitors you will get. Real content is textual information in the form of articles, stories, products that is uniquely presented on your site. The more real text, the more search engines can queue terms to be used to find your site. Do understand that Search Engines are very sophisticated in how they work and can tell the difference between an article and a series of keywords randomly strung together with the intent to get better rankings. Such tricks can actually penalize your site in the listings and may cause your site to be dropped from the search engine results. Assuming that your pages have real content, the other factors that play a role for search engine ranking are

Please note that the list above is very generalized and that there are many other factors that play a role too such as sites of the same subject as yours. Consider that they may have polished the content of their site specifically for certain search using knowledge and experience far exceeding the above generalized list. There are no easy "secrets" or "tricks" to better rankings with search engines. Having real content that is what visitors want is your best tool.