| "body"> | | | | panic; studies suggest that the top 11 search engines |
| As soon as you register your domain name, submit it | | | | account for about 90% of web traffic. In other |
| to Google! | | | | words, if you have the top 11 covered, there's no |
| Even if you haven't built your site, or written an | | | | need to submit to the rest. |
| copy, or even thought about your content, submit | | | | What's more, at the time of writing, most of the top |
| your domain name to Google. In fact, even if you | | | | 11 don't actually accept submissions. The only ones |
| haven't fully articulated your business plan and | | | | that do are Google (described above), Yahoo, and |
| marketing plan, submit your domain name to Google. | | | | MSN. Here's a list of the available submit pages. |
| Don't wait! | | | | - Yahoo - (offers free submission) |
| There are two reasons for this. Firstly, getting on the | | | | - MSN - (offers free submission) |
| search engines has always taken a long time for a | | | | - Alta Vista - covered by Yahoo submission |
| new site. Even assuming you do everything right, it | | | | - Netscape - covered by Google submission |
| takes months before your site is even indexed, and | | | | - Fast / All the Web - covered by Yahoo submission |
| more months before it starts to rank well. As a rule | | | | - Ask Jeeves / Teoma - at date of writing was not |
| of thumb, never expect to rank highly within 6 | | | | accepting new submissions |
| months of submitting your site to Google. | | | | - Hotbot - at date of writing was not accepting new |
| The second reason is a recent phenomenon called | | | | submissions |
| 'Google Sandbox'. Many SEO experts believe that | | | | - Lycos - at date of writing was not accepting new |
| Google 'sandboxes' new websites. Whenever it | | | | submissions |
| detects a new website, it withholds its rightful | | | | - AOL - at date of writing was not accepting new |
| ranking for a period while it determines whether your | | | | submissions |
| site is a genuine, credible, long term site. It does this | | | | - Looksmart - at date of writing was not accepting |
| to discourage the creation of SPAM websites (sites | | | | new submissions |
| which serve no useful purpose other than to boost | | | | TIP: My SEO copywriting and advertising copywriting |
| the ranking of some other site). | | | | website, reached page 1 of for my primary keyword, |
| By submitting your domain name to Google as soon | | | | "copywriter", without a dollar being spent on search |
| as you register it, you're establishing a site history | | | | engine submission. I only ever submitted my site to |
| even if the site has no content. By the time you've | | | | the engines that offer free submission. |
| built your site, written your copy, and developed the | | | | Do I need to submit my site to other search |
| rest of your content (and written your business and | | | | engines? |
| marketing plans), Google will probably see no need to | | | | As a rule, no. |
| sandbox you. | | | | With an estimated 8.8 billion pages indexed |
| If you wait until launch day to submit your site, you'll | | | | (approximately 76% of the Internet), Google is |
| spend a month or two (maybe more) sitting in the | | | | number 1 when it comes to search engines. It's |
| sandbox watching potential customers spend their | | | | argued that once Google has indexed your site, the |
| money elsewhere. | | | | other search engines will follow. Theoretically, you |
| How to submit your site to Google | | | | don't actually need to submit your site to Google |
| Don't waste money by paying someone else to | | | | either because it's always on the lookout for new |
| submit your site to Google. It's easy! | | | | content and will eventually find your site of its own |
| Simply go to enter your URL (domain name) and a | | | | accord. Google actually states, "Given the large |
| few comments or keywords to describe your site. | | | | number of sites submitting URLs, it's likely your pages |
| Then click 'Submit'. That's all there is to it. You only | | | | will be found in an automatic crawl before they make |
| have to do it once, and only for your top level page | | | | it into our index through the URL submission form." |
| (i.e. Home page). | | | | ("Google Information for Webmasters" - Personally, I |
| Google's robots will then crawl your website the next | | | | wouldn't like to take the risk.) |
| time they're out and about. Of course, they don't | | | | Having said that, it certainly doesn't hurt to submit |
| guarantee that you'll be included in their results. | | | | your site to other search engines (especially if you |
| IMPORTANT: As mentioned above, it takes quite a | | | | haven't developed any content for it yet). |
| while for your site to appear in the search engines. | | | | Conclusion |
| This is partly because the search engines are big and | | | | You don't need to be an SEO expert or an SEO |
| slow - especially when it comes to new sites. It will | | | | copywriter to submit your site to Google and the |
| take a minimum of 6-8 weeks before your site is | | | | other search engines. And you don't need to pay |
| indexed. | | | | anything to do it. You just need to do it. And if your |
| How to submit your site to other search engines | | | | domain name is new, you need to do it NOW! |
| There are hundreds of search engines on the | | | | Happy submitting! |
| Internet. It's a lucrative business, after all! But don't | | | | |