What is the "science" of engine registration?  Are their paid
registrations, or is everything registered by spiders on a crawl?  Do
the spiders only look at keywords?  Can you get priority on the
spiders, can you do "instant" registration?  What is a "web ring" and
how is one used, and does google support them?  What is the "secret"
to getting millions of hits via searches via search engines (other
than having lots of other sites linking to yours)?

A whole book could be written about this series of questions! :)  May
I respectfully suggest that if you want a thorough answer to your
questions that you review the pricing guidelines at:
http://answers.google.com/answers/help.html#howtospecify

You might also consider breaking up your posted question into a series
of posted questions.

Ahh, maybe question really is what is the definitive guide/good book?

Quite honestly, this is my first go at this question thing.

Hello inetmug-ga
this isn't a book, but a useful URL to kick start your comprehension
on the subject:
Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
A vast resource of free and premium paid areas for those who want more
specialist information. It gives many tips and strategies to answer
your "Science" part and explains keywords, spiders and the
characteristics of the major search engines, though it doesn't cover
web rings.
I hope that helps
kind regards
lot-ga

Thanks a bunch for the link.  I also researched a few books on amazon
yesterday.  I will withdraw my questions as I now consider it too
juvinile in nature and certainly not focused enough to make sense. 
When I get the basics down I will post more detailed and specific
questions.  Thanks again

There is no science in search engine listing,there are paid ways to
achieve the goal of a listing,spiders may be deployed in your request
for listing however spiders that crawl the web are normally just
crawling for content,some spiders do look at keywords and others
download your data and sort it out.yes it is very possible to pay your
way through the system provided you make an offer that someone cannot
refuse,opting out of standard listing fees and personally dealing with
a listing company or promotion company or individual.A web ring is a
listing of data defined into categories of interest of which you may
be entitled to be included in the listing provided your interest
matches a category of interests,and google may or may not support them
at a discretion.
There is no secret to getting millions of hits it is a simple matter
of providing a content that is of interest to viewers and placing this
content where your viewers will find it.

Hello,

Keeping on-top of your search engine rankings can quickly become a
full time job. Search engine companies are always changing what is
required to keep you site in the the results section. The problem is
that if you do a seach for SEO (search engine optimization) you will
find many companies that claim to be able to get the results that you
are looking to achive for next to nothing. the problem with most of
these companies is that they are using techniques that are spamming
search engines. Many times you will get the results you desire, but
only for a short time. Then the seach engines will pick up on what
these companies did for you and drop you. things i am talking about
are; fake link to pages. well not fake but hidden on your main page as
1 pix image links. No real user would ever see, let alone be able to
use these links, but the search engine crawler will follow these and
increase your rank.

there are many pay websites that cover this and many of the other
marketing ideas specific to internet marketing. one that i have found
to be helpful (no i am not some affiliate pushing this...lol) is
www.marketingchallange.com .

Thanks,
Erick

FYI...check out the Neilsen statistics on those sites getting millions of hits.
They should give you a clue as to the 'secret' of getting millions of hits :-)

<http://pm.netratings.com/nnpm/owa/NRpublicreports.toppropertiesmonthly>