I WILL ONLY ACCEPT ANSWERS FROM THOSE WITH A 4 OR 5 STAR RATING
DO NOT ANSWER IF YOUR RATING IS LESS THAN THAT OR UNRATED
HOWEVER ANYONE MAY ADD A COMMENT
Background
I design websites and promote them for clients. I have read alot about
search engines and there are conflicting views over which is best and
how to promote sites.
I want a fresh view and a summary of the siutation as at now so i can
use this as a guide for promoting sites.
Also non-search engines techniques.

Timing
I would like a response within 3 days
Don't rush your response - i would rather wait than have an incomplete
response.

Requirement
1. Please give a list with url of the top 20 general search engines/
directories (eg google and yahoo will be there)
1b. Explain how you decided these are top 20 (Eg by hits etc) ?
2. Which if any of these share the same database ie is it pointless
submitting to them both ?
3. How do sites become listed on MSN ?
4. How long does it take for sites to become listed - please note the
answer to this against each of the items in answer to 1 (you need to
do a table really - perhaps you can upload that to your own url so i
can read . Also note in table if payment can be made for a premium or
quicker listing ?
5. Which techniques are effective in getting a high rank on general
search engines eg i believe that google works based on number of links
to that site.
6. Which other techniques are used for online promotion - I know of
newsgroups , email and so on but what else and how best to use email
etc to promote ?
7. All the above questions are apply as regards websites generally for
a variety of types of clients but this question is more specific :
what is the best search engine to reach UK 15 - 19 year olds ?
7b. which other sites reach that target audience - not search engines

I believe this is a fairly easy question so i could do myself.
However, I am paying for your time and your detailed attention to the
question. So please don't think that this is easy and anyone can
answer - I would like something very well laid out as regards the
existing standard sites and promotion methods and perhaps even
with new things i don't know of already (ie not the standard obvious
stuff but some new insights)
I expect you to spend an hour on this at least including typing up the
info

---

Clarification of Question by onetwothreefour-ga on 19 Sep 2002 16:29 PDT

i have increased the payment from ten to thirty dollars now

Hi there,

1. TOP 20 SEARCH ENGINES
========================

In my opinion this is best gauged by the total number of hours users
spend using each search engine. This also corresponds quite well with
the number of referrals websites typically receive from search
engines. The top 11 search engines for August 2002, based on search
hours, according to Nielsen/NetRatings are:

Google              15.1 million hours
://www.google.com
Yahoo                6.2
http://www.yahoo.com
MSN                  5.0
http://www.msn.com
AOL                  4.2
http://www.aol.com
Ask Jeeves & Teoma   2.0
http://www.aj.com
Infospace/WebCrawler 1.0
http://www.infospace.com
AltaVista            0.9
http://www.altavista.com
Overture             0.7
http://www.overture.com
Netscape             0.6
http://www.netscape.com
Lycos                0.3
http://www.lycos.com
Looksmart            0.3
http://www.looksmart.com

[from Search Engine Watch]
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/reports/netratings.html

Search Engine Watch receives special reports on this topic from both
Nielsen and Jupiter, which are far more accurate than any other
rankings out there.

To flesh it out to 20, I would add the following:

Alltheweb
http://www.alltheweb.com
Ixquick
http://www.ixquick.com
Excite
http://www.excite.com
Hotbot
http://www.hotbot.com
iWon
http://www.iwon.com
FindWhat
http://www.findwhat.com
7Search
http://www.7search.com
espotting
http://www.espotting.com
DogPile
http://www.dogpile.com


2. Which sites use which databases?
===================================

Google - Google, Open Directory
Yahoo - Yahoo Directory, Google, Overture
Msn - Inktomi, Looksmart, Overture
AOL - Google, Open Directory, Overture 
Ask Jeeves - Ask Jeeves, Teoma
Infospace/WebCrawler - Metasearch
Altavista - AltaVista, Looksmart, Overture
Overture - Overture, Inktomi
Netscape - Google, Open Directory, Overture
Lycos - FAST, Open Directory, Overture
Looksmart - Looksmart, Wisenut, Zeal 
Alltheweb - FAST
Ixquick - Metasearch
Excite - Overture, Metasearch, Open Directory
Hotbot - Metasearch
iWon - Google, Looksmart, Overture
FindWhat - Findwhat, Direct Hit
7Search - 7Search, Teoma
eSpotting - eSpotting, Inktomi
DogPile - Metasearch

(Metasearch - basically uses everything)
(Inktomi - doesn't have it's own search site - each index it provides
is slightly different)

Two good charts that show all the alliances are:

cre8pc
http://www.cre8pc.com/search_stateof.html

Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/reports/alliances.html


3. How do sites become listed on MSN?
=====================================

There are three ways, and all cost money. Results at MSN come from
Looksmart, Inktomi and Overture. See the next question.


4. Submissions to search engines
================================

I've ranked these in the order of importance and value. The time it
takes to appear in search results is less than a week unless stated.
Paid directory listings are not guaranteed – if your site is not
worthy you still won’t get in, and they keep the money. Paid indexing
has the advantage that they re-index your site every week, and you
initially get into the index faster.

Open Directory
--------------
http://dmoz.org
- Submission is free
- Is operated by volunteers, and getting listed can take between 1 day
and several months. Typically takes an extra few weeks to appear on
Google, AOL, Netscape etc.
- Many tiny search sites also use the data for free
- Browse the directory to find the appropriate category, click on "Add
URL" at the top of the page


Google
------
://www.google.com/addurl.html
- Submission is free
- Takes 1-2 months to appear


Ask Jeeves
----------
Submit via e-mail, with your URL and description. They are mega-picky!
email:url@ask.com


FAST - free
-----------
http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php
- takes 1-2 weeks


Altavista - free
----------------
http://addurl.altavista.com/sites/addurl/newurl
- takes 2-3 weeks


Looksmart - free
----------------
http://www.zeal.com/users/register.jhtml 
- Zeal is like Open Directory, but getting your site listed for free
takes a lot of work


Yahoo
-----
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/busexpress.html
- Submission is free for sites not within the business category, but
the reality is it can take forever to appear, or never
- Paid submission is $US299 per year


Inktomi
-------
http://www.netsol.com/en_US/promotions/offers/options/inktomi.jhtml 
(or) http://ink.ineedhits.com/ 
- 1st URL $39, URLs 2 - 1000 $25 each, 12 month subscription 
- The two different services for paid submission to Inktomi are
basically the same.


FAST - paid
-----------
http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/select_overview.asp?co=atw
- Annual Membership: $18, Annual Cost per URL: $12 


Teoma
-----
http://ask.ineedhits.com/ 
- 1st URL $30, URLs 2 - 1000 $18 each, 12 month subscription 


FindWhat
--------
http://www.findwhat.com 
- Pay per click
- Mimimum bid 1 cent, minimum deposit $25


Overture
--------
http://www.overture.com 
- Pay per click
- Minimum bid 5 cents, with $20 minimum monthly spend


Looksmart - paid
----------------
http://listings.looksmart.com/?synd=none&chan=lshomeft 
- $49 to get listed, and then 15 cents every time someone clicks
through
to your site. This could become much more expensive than using
pay-per-click services like Overture and Findwhat.

 
AltaVista - paid
----------------
http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/express_incl 
- First URL  $39, URL #2-10  $29.00 each, URL #11-500  $19.00 each, 6
month subscription


7Search
-------
http://www.7search.com
- Pay per click
- Minimum bid 1 cent


eSpotting
---------
http://www.espotting.com
- Pay per click
- Minimum bid £0.05


5. Techniques for getting a high ranking
========================================

There used to be different techniques for each targeted search engine.
However, since the rise of Google, what works for Google is tending to
the best way to go. The best techniques do not involve trickery, but
rather just making your site useful to visit.

SITEMAP: Create a simple site map, which contains links to every page
on your site. Use this when making free submissions to search engines,
and they will find all the other pages

INDEX PAGE: This should not be a "splash page" that is all graphics /
animations / Flash / sound. It should have lots of text, and lots of
links to other parts of your site. Try to minimize outside links -
they are better suited to other pages.
 
LINKS: Google uses links to and from your site as a way of judging how
good your site is. If it's a top site, then others are likely to be
linking to you. And a useful website should link to other good
resources, for this is what makes the web tick. Basically, the more
good sites that link to you, the higher your ranking will be. The best
links to have are from Yahoo and Open Directory. The next best links
pointing to your site are from other sites with high rankings,
preferably on the same topic as your site. Use the Google Toolbar to
see the ranking of other sites. Try and find sites that are not your
opposition, but are complementary to your site.  Do not get listed on
FFA search engines, or any scheme designed to improve your ranking by
using some trickery of clever plan - Google knows most of them and can
penalise your site.
 
CONTENT: Search engine algorithms are secret, but as time goes on they
seem to be becoming better at judging "good content" in the same way
that you or I would. Write for your target audience, and reward their
visit to your site by supplying lots of interesting and useful
information. Write naturally - that way you will include lots of good
keywords without even trying.

PAGES: The more pages your site has, with more info on them, the more
Google will like your site. Sites with over 100 pages seem to rank
higher. Try to keep every page in the top level of your site - pages
within sub-directories rank lower.
 
KEYWORDS: The keywords that searchers use to find a site like yours
need to appear on your web pages. Try and place them in the title,
description, H1 tags and general text. Use the keyword suggestion tool
at Overture, and sprinkle your pages with a few popular phrases.
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

COMPETITORS: Work out how they get higher rankings than you, and copy
them. Don't copy their content, but rather dissect their web pages and
look for why they are doing better...

- where are the keywords? 
- who are they linking to? 
- who links to them?

DISCUSSIONS: There are many places where webmasters discuss how to get
high rankings. The best in my opinion is Web Master World
http://www.webmasterworld.com

Also try this brand new site, Cre8asite:
http://webworkshop.net/cre8asite/

 
Apart from the above, there aren't really any "tricks" to attaining a
high ranking. Just make your site the best it can be, and they will
come.
 

6. Other techniques for online promotion
========================================

BECOME AN OPEN DIRECTORY EDITOR
-------------------------------
If you are passionate about the topic of your website, then perhaps
there is a related category at Open Directory where you could help out
as an editor. This puts you in a position to list your site the way
you want it to appear.


AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
------------------
Pay other sites a percentage of sales, or a few cents, for each
visitor they send you. You get to decide which sites qualify. You can
run it yourself, or use a third-party service. I can recommend:

Commission Junction
http://cj.com

ClickBank
http://clickbank.com


PAY PER CLICK
-------------
The only three worth bothering with are Overture, FindWhat and Google
Adwords. They each have a huge audience. You don't have to pay dollars
per click - just look for keywords that are less common, where you can
get in the top 3 results for cheaper. This is worthy of spending a lot
of effort on. If your site is selling a specific product, it is quite
easy to compare how much you are paying for the traffic with how many
extra sales you have made. Many websites make a killing using pay per
click.


START ANOTHER WEBSITE
---------------------
Same general topic, but different focus, different products, different
information. Domain names are under $10 per year, and hosting can be
found for $25 or so per year. The advantage is that you can link the
sites to each other, boosting traffic to both of them. This is why
Microsoft has Hotmail – it doesn’t make them any money, but when you
log out of Hotmail, you end up at MSN.


SYNDICATE YOUR CONTENT
----------------------
If you are an expert at your topic, and can create good content,
others will want to use it on their sites, or in their newsletters.
Give your content away, with the requirement that a link to your site
is attached to the article.



7. Best search engine to reach UK 15 - 19 year olds?
====================================================

Although there are search engines aimed at young children that need to
be protected from "nasty" content, there aren't any targeting 15-19
year olds.

I don't believe that any survey has been conducted regarding teenagers
and search engines in the UK, however in the USA they seem to favour
the same sites as adults:

June 2001 / Nielsen NetRatings
1 Yahoo          7.2 million teen visitors
2 AOL            7.0 
3 MSN            6.2  
4 Passport.com   4.7 
5 Geocities.com  3.8 
6 Microsoft.com  2.4 
7 Go.com         2.0 
8 EBay           1.6 
9 Amazon.com     1.3 
10 Netscape.com  1.3
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28158,00.html

I would expect that the interfaces of Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, iWon
and eSpotting would be more appealing to teenagers than a site like
AlltheWeb or Teoma.



7b. Which other sites reach that target audience
================================================

After looking at a number of survey results, the following types of
websites are most popular with teenagers:

- Anything related to personal contact: email, SMS, IM, online chat,
online dating
- Homepages of friends
- Ringtones and graphics for mobile phones
- Sports info
- News
- Fan sites (music, movie & sports stars)
- Video games - retail and sites featuring reviews and cheats
- Online video games
- Entertainment - TV shows, CD stores, cinemas, music downloads
- Retail - clothes, fads (skateboarding etc)
- Health information


"Email is the most popular use of the Internet by students, followed
by study, entertainment, sports info, news and travel."
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356977&rel=true

"Chat and e-mail services such as MSN Messenger, Caramail.com, GMX.de
are amongst the most popular sites for teens in Europe. Community
sites that offer homepages and chat facilities are also popular. Other
categories that fare well with European teens include retail,
entertainment, news and information and search sites."
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357048&rel=true

"According to Nielsen-Netratings, nine out of the top ten online
destinations for kids and teenagers featured instant messaging tools
and services such as downloadable IM icons and profiles. The top site
visited by online kids and teens in the US during July was
ColorYourProfyle.com. The second most visited website was
ActiveBuddy.com, while IMTools.com, gURL.com, and FireHotQuotes.com
round out the top five children’s sites."
http://www.e-gateway.net/infoarea/news/news.cfm?nid=2586

"Amazon.com and eBay are popular sites among teenagers -- even if they
aren't shopping at them. While only 11 percent of teens have made an
online purchase, one-third of them use the Web for researching
purchases they'll make offline. Jupiter Media Metrix research shows
teens visit the same sites as adults on the Web, but without credit
cards lack the ability to purchase at these sites."

"42 percent of teenagers view personal Web sites of other users and
three of the top 20 sites visited by teens are homepage providers
Angelfire, TriPod and Homestead"

"Using portals and checking e-mail is tops with teens, who spend
between 45 minutes and an hour each month at Yahoo! and MSN, and
checking e-mail at Hotmail. Additionally, teens spent on average of
nearly an hour each month at eBay, according to research, which points
out that while adults spend more time on average each month at eBay,
teens with no ability to purchase spend a lot of time on the auction
site."
http://www.digitrends.net/ebna/index_16632.html

See also:

"Attack of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Surfers"
http://www.igcn.com/solutions/newsletter/1201.htm

Many Teens Shop Online, Buy Offline
http://www.digitrends.net/mna/index_16639.html

Websites which had the highest concentration of USA teen visitors in
June 2001 were:

1 Teen.com         67.1% 
2 Teenpeople.com   66.9% 
3 Katrillion.com   66.8% 
4 Sparknotes.com   66.3% 
5 Badassbuddy.com  65.9% 
6 Blink182.com     64.7% 
7 Coolquiz.com     62.7% 
8 Teenmag.com      62.7% 
9 Teenchat.com     61.4%  
10 Seventeen.com   60.9% 
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28158,00.html


====================================

Search strategy:

Mostly personal knowledge and experience, plus:

"percent of teenagers" Yahoo
://www.google.com/search?q=%22percent+of+teenagers%22+Yahoo


Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga

Thanks. Good answer.

You might have better luck getting your nine questions answered if you
post them individually or in pairs.

--Missy

With respect, almost none of these questions are capable of being
answered within an hour, just by themselves. At least to any standards
a 4-5 star researcher would adhere to. You would have a far better
chance of getting your question answered if you made the reward more
commisurate with the effort involved.

Your points regarding payment are fair - however, i have had previous
problem where i post a higher reward that this attracts many
researchers and the worst but quickest one takes the question and i
get a bad answer.
However in those cases i had not specified a 4/5 rating minimum so
perhaps, having done that, i ought to have removed my concerns on that
and revised my pricing up.
Also to be fair, i posted questions when google answers first started
and enthusiasm was very high and my questions were answered happily by
researchers for what was i thought , a low reward. It seemed like
people were enjoying answering for fun ?! One person wouldn't take
payment at all even though i asked them repeatedly to submit their
answer as an answer - but they posted only as a comment (and gave me
the exact answer i wanted).
I wish the system here were more like elance.com where researchers can
bid the appropriate fee i could choose among them based on feedback
and qualifications for the most suitable person - and indeed choose to
pay a higher fee for a higher quality answer .
The other issue is that i am paying for this info and yet it is
available to anyone else browsing google answers for free - this is
another thing that puts me off paying a higher fee.
Perhaps i should post the question on elance.com instead.
Please suggest what you think is a suitable price for the answer and i
will consider revising the posting if there are no takers at this
price.
(There is also the exchange rate factor : i forgot its ten dollars not
uk pounds and the fact that even ten dollars is fair per hour in some
countries where international researchers are sometimes based - eg
quotes for work from india and russia are often very competitive for
this reason)

ps i also forgot that google takes one quarter of the researcher's earnings too !

My suggestion is to split the questions and price them as follows.
Perhaps start with whichever is more important to you, and see how it
goes, before submitting the others.

===========================
$10 - How long it takes to get listed is not an exact science -
anecdotal evidence is probably the best you can get. This question
could possibly warrant being on its own.

1. Please give a list with url of the top 20 general search engines/ 
directories (eg google and yahoo will be there) 
1b. Explain how you decided these are top 20 (Eg by hits etc) ? 
2. Which if any of these share the same database ie is it pointless 
submitting to them both ? 
4. How long does it take for sites to become listed - please note the
answer to this against each of the items in answer to 1 (you need to 
do a table really - perhaps you can upload that to your own url so i 
can read . Also note in table if payment can be made for a premium or
quicker listing ? 

=========================
$2
3. How do sites become listed on MSN ?

==================
$5 - Search engines in general is a very open-ended question. I would
ask for techniques specific to Google because it is by far the most
popular index (there are few techniques that work on directories like
Yahoo). Specify free ways, or paid services.

5. Which techniques are effective in getting a high rank on general 
search engines eg i believe that google works based on number of links
to that site. 


=====================
$10 - clearly specify what you already know. Specify paid or free. Ask
for something like top 5 techniques or top 10, as an indication of how
much info you require

6. Which other techniques are used for online promotion - I know of 
newsgroups , email and so on but what else and how best to use email 
etc to promote ? 

=====================
$10 - if there is a product category that would be helpful

7. what is the best search engine to reach UK 15 - 19 year olds ? 
7b. which other sites reach that target audience - not search engines

Rob
thanks for your helpful comments regarding pricing. .
I think your approach was very helpful- ie instead of just criticising
like some people, you proposed a specific solution on the money thing.
In fact, I had not read this when i reposted the price in fact - I
only just read it now !
I have been away and also only just now really read your answer
properly.
 I appreciate your answer and consider that you have done a good job
for the price. There is stuff i might otherwise pay more for but i
don't like the fact that i pay for stuff which is then available to
anyone else publicly for free - seems unfair. I think google answers
are going to bring in a private answer option soon which would be
great.
It would also be nice if i could specify which researcher i want to
answer eg i would be happy to work with you again !