Blogging Tutorial

There are hundreds or perhaps even thousands of search engines out there on the web, but the reality is 90 to 95% of web surfers only use a handful of them.

Google, Live, Yahoo, AOL and Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves) are the most popular right now, and they are all you really need to be concerned with at the moment.

Once you get listed with the main ones, you'll eventually show up in some of the other "less important" engines since many of them are just
portals of the more popular ones.

For example, Netscape.com has a search engine, but they pull their results in from Google. So if you're ranked #1 in Google for "blue widgets" then you'll have the same ranking in Netscape for that keyword phrase.

There are many engines that feed from the popular ones so there is no need to go and submit to these portal engines since you're covered under the main ones.

Where to Submit

Once your site has at least 15 pages, submit your URL to the big three:

Google:
http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl

Yahoo:
http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request

Live (Formerly MSN):
http://search.msn.co.in/docs/submit.aspx

Please be patient. It may take weeks, or even months for your site to appear, especially with Google.

Live usually adds your site pretty quickly.

To check to see if your site has been indexed, simply type your full URL into the search box.

Don't Keep Submitting

Many people get anxious while waiting for the search engines to add their site, and they keep submitting.

You run the risk of getting your site banned if you do this.I know it's tempting, but rest assured that your site was received the first time.

The Engines Love Content

If you find that your site is not showing up in the major engines, it may be time to take a look at your content.

How many pages are on your site, for example? You should have at least 15 to 20 pages, as the engines love meaty sites -- especially Google. The more content, the better.

What About The Other Engines?

You may be wondering about Ask, AOL, etc. As, I mentioned earlier, a lot of those other engines are just portals. So once you show up in the big three, you'll eventually begin seeing traffic from the other engines. Just be patient.