Greetings, curious1233!
To be honest, in my opinion, none of these companies is really worth
the money. Why? Because an estimated 80-90% of search engine traffic
comes through Google.
There are thousands of "search engine" sites out there, but only a
handful are used with any frequency to make them worth your while. Be
wary of using a service that advertises "submission to hundreds (or
thousands) of Search Engines and Directories". Most of these sites are
barely used by web surfers, and you don't have any control over where
links to your site are being placed.
Submitting your site to the search engines that really matter is a
fairly simple process.
Be sure to follow their instructions; for instance, some Engines
request that you submit only your top-level URL rather than every one
of your pages. Failure to follow the instructions can result in
lowered rankings or even in being blacklisted from a Search Engine.
DMOZ (Directory Mozilla/Open Directory Project):
A DMOZ listing is **critical**, because it will get you on ODP partner
sites (AOL Search, Netscape Search, Google, Lycos, DirectHit, and
HotBot, and hundreds of others):
http://www.dmoz.org/add.html
And here are the submission URLs for the rest of the Big Guys:
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Google:
://www.google.com/addurl.html
(Be aware that it may take a month or longer for your site to start
showing up on Google; however, since Google also uses DMOZ as a guide
to its indexing efforts, submission to DMOZ might speed that up a
little.)
---------------------------------------------
Yahoo, AllTheWeb (subject to editorial approval):
http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request
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Zeal (LookSmart/MSN free submission w/free registration)
http://www.zeal.com/users/register.jhtml
---------------------------------------------
About.com:
You should first find the category that best fits your site, then
e-mail the Editor of that Category to request inclusion:
http://home.about.com/gi/pages/homehc.htm#c4
---------------------------------------------
If you're going to do a paid service, I recommend Lycos, which is
fairly reasonably priced: for $32.30 per year plus $38.00 per URL you
will be included in both the FAST and INKTOMI networks, which include
the following search engines:
Lycos, HotBot, Terra.com, AllTheWeb, Overture (which will get you on
Yahoo, AllTheWeb, and Alta Vista), Infospace, Excite, Dogpile, HotBot,
About.com, MSN, espotting.com, Looksmart, soneraplaza, Goo, Bluewin
and others.
http://insite.lycos.com/inclusion/searchenginesubmit.asp
Before Rating my Answer, if you have any questions about the above
information, please post a Request for Clarification, and I will see
what I can do for you.
Best Wishes on placement in Search Results and increased web traffic to your site!
aceresearcher |