Submitting Your Website to Search Engines

Visitors to our Webshop often ask whether it's "okay" to use a paid service or automated software to submit their website to search engines and directories. Here's our answer, based on our own experience, and on the advice of professionals like Danny Sullivan, editor of The Search Engine Watch -- the bible of the industry.

In short, paid services don't pay. You can do a better job yourself by using a combination of manual and automated submission.

Manual Submission.
For the major search engines, and the smaller topical directories that are relevant to your website, manual submission is best. These engines and directories account for more than 90% of search traffic, so it is well worth the minimal time it takes to submit to them by hand. If you do, you'll know for sure it's done and done right. For a step-by-step guide to preparing your webpages and submitting to engines, read the Search Engine Tutorial prepared by our U.K. colleague, Jim Rhodes.

Automatic Submission.
On the other hand, automated submission is the smart way to deal with the thousands of minor engines and directories. These places don't generate enough traffic to justify submitting to each of them individually by hand.

For automatic submission, try the FREE set of JimTools by Jim Wilson. These are online tools that do a pretty good job, when they're available and when they're working. But this is a popular -- read "overloaded" -- service so don't count on it for critical submissions.

WebPosition Gold.
For quick and sure submission to over 1400 engines and directories with control over inclusion, keywords, etc., Jim Rhodes' WebPosition Gold software is the way to go. It's available FREE in a limited trial edition. The Standard version sells for $149, the Pro version for $349. The Pro version supports an unlimited number of domains and provides customized reports -- a webmaster's delight.