Getting into Search Engines...

Hey guys...

How do search engines work? Do i have to submit to each and every one? Whats the best way to get on the top of a list?

I have no idea.

Thanks alot..
-Carson

money :(

Yup.. Google doesn't even care bout your meta tags anymore.

Yes, these days it is mostly about money. Google has its AdWords, and then Overture.com powers just about everything else.

Everytime I launch a new e-commerce site, I'll spend about $100 on Overture.com, and normally the client gets their first order in 36 hours. It's immediate traffic.

Most other search engines out there charge too, though not by the click like Overture and google. To get listed on yahoo.com is like $300 now.

You can still get your site on most search engines for free, it just takes a long time.

To put your site on the list to be spidered by Google.com, go here and fill out the form: http://www.google.com/addurl.html

Other search engines have similar pages that allow you to submit your site. Look for "Add URL" buttons on the bottom of most search engines. Many charge a fee now though.

Make SURE to get on www.dmoz.org. It is a directory like Yahoo, only it's powered by volunteers, not money. It can take a while to get listed on their since it's on a volunteer basis, but it powers a lot of sites like AOL and others.

Make sure you use Meta tags in all your pages as well. They are invisible tags that you put in the < head> of your document that list keywords and a description for your site, among other things. Note that most search engines do not look at these anymore, because it is easy to put keywords like "sex" and "porn" in your keywords and get lots of hits. You should still use them though.

http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/meta.html <-- there is a tutorial showing how to properly use them.

The most important way to get on the search engines is to have a lot of relevant content. Most engines like Google will spider your site and compile its own list of keywords and make up a description about your site. That is why it's important to not put all your text as an image, or flash, or anything like that. Because the search engine won't be able to "read" your site at all. And don't try filling your site with duplicated words and hidden paragraphs of "sex" and "porn". The search engines are smarter than that now. Just make a good site with lots of good content, and you will get spidered by the search engines eventually.

Google also uses relevance now, which looks at how many other sites link to your site on the web. The more links you have, the higher you go in the rankings, because the more popular sites are probably better. Here's an explanation of how google ranks pages: http://www.google.com/technology/index.html

There are dozens of sites dedicated to web marketing, so do some searches on google.com to do some research.

http://searchenginewatch.com/
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/e-business/marketing/

there are a couple of sites to get you started though.

do a lot of reading, and a lot of linking and research.

Damn Deker,

I cant thank you enough. Your awesome!

-Carson