As you already know, crawler-based search engines use software called spiders to regularly surf the Web, find new sites and pages, and add to their index, which is done for free. This means that, unlike directories, you are likely to have several if not many pages listed with them. However, in several cases, discussed in the introduction to this step, you might want to use submission as a safety net against your site being forgotten by the search engine. So, here we give you the guidelines for submitting to the two major crawler-based engines which are sufficient in getting you the desired amount of search traffic: Google and Yahoo!Submitting To Google
Google’s Web submission interface is currently located at: http://www.google.com/addurl/
Google is one of the most important crawler-based search engines because over 70% of Web searches are made through its portal. Besides, it feeds the search results into several other widespread and prominent search services (you might want to review Step 2 – relationships between the search engines to get refreshed on that topic).
The good thing is that if you submitted your site to the major directories (like DMOZ and Yahoo!) and got listed with one of them, Google and other crawlers are guaranteed to pick up that URL. This means you may not need to do additional work to get listed with crawlers.
However, Google still provides an “Add URL” page that lets you submit an URL directly to its crawler. Again, there’s no guarantee that Google will actually include the submitted URL to its database after your submission; on the other hand, chances are that it will. Despite this, it makes sense to submit your home page and perhaps one or two other URLs residing within your domain with the help of the “Add URL” page.
You really don’t need to submit more than this. The only reason for submitting some of your inside pages is in case there is a problem reaching your home page. This gives Google an alternate route into your site. From whatever page it visits, it will look for links to other pages that you have and perhaps include those. This is true for other crawlers, as well.
If you have a brand new web site, it will probably take about a month before Google lists your web pages. Because of this, you might consider making use of its paid placement program.
Submitting To Yahoo
Yahoo!, aside from being one of the largest directories on the net, is an important crawler-based search engine used by many people from all around the world through its regional branches. It provides the main results for several other services (feel free to have a look back into the step 2 – relationships between the search engines).
As with Google, building links is the best way to get listed for free. Yahoo! also offers a free URL submission plan which does not guarantee you will be listed at all, though most probably you will. Submit according to the same instructions as for Google.
If you don’t get picked up for free, Yahoo has affordable paid inclusion programs that guarantee to quickly add the pages you submit. The drawback is that the most affordable paid listing program Yahoo offers includes a pay-per-click feature which means you’ll be charged every time someone clicks on your listing. If you run out of money, your listing may be dropped. However, there’s still a good chance that even if you do run out of money, you’ll continue to be listed for free.
By the way, Yahoo’s crawler incorporates technology from three different crawlers that it purchased in 2002 and 2003: Inktomi, AltaVista and FAST ’s AllTheWeb. Any references you hear about those crawlers are now superceded by the single Yahoo crawler. So your successful submission to Yahoo! Web Search will get you listed into these other engines as well, if you are lucky enough to get into the index.
