Free submissions

Which are the best to start out submitting to?

[coconubuck]

Hello. I have a new site and I want to submit it to the search engines. I dont have a large budget (about $400) and I want to get the most for my money if possible. What free search engines would you definitely recommend that I submit to? My site has new content that is updated on a normal basis, does that make any difference as to who I submit to or how? Thanks for your help!

[pixel_juice]

Hi coconubuck.

Submissions are pretty pointless unless it's to paid engines or services. Get some good incoming links to your site and all the important engines will find you and list you. Getting links from some established sites will make you a part of the structure of the web that any search engine worth querying will want to include.

You could use the $400 to buy traffic if you go and get the links yourself. Or buy yourself something nice :)

[coconubuck]

Thanks PixelJuice! I'll start going that route. Is there a specific way to go about getting links on other sites? Obviously, I need to look for sites related to mine, but should I just email them and ask them (while giving them reasons it would be mutually beneficial)? Is there anything to steer away from, such as programs that advertise that they will help you get a link on a site. I have heard about link farms but dont know much about them.

Thanks!

[pixel_juice]

Hi again.

A good place to start is webmasterworld's very own link development forum [webmasterworld.com]

Have a look through some of the older posts there and I'm sure you can find lots of ideas. In many cases, the best way to get indexed is to get a (free) listing in the Open Directory [dmoz.org]. This is usually enough to get you indexed and listed on Google, and often on other engines like AltaVista.

However it can take a long time (many months) to get listed so submit your site to an appropriate category with a thoughtful description and spend some time going for other links. If you are in a hurry, you might consider submitting to paid dirctories like Yahoo or Looksmart or using paid inclusion services.

You don't have a very big budget, so I would tend to say that you should invest time rather than cash in promoting your site - hence my advice about building links.

Link farms and 'bad' links arise when webmasters try and automatically generate large numbers of links to their sites. If you only link with sites you respect and think are of value you should not run into this problem.

Some quick ideas for link building (check the forum I mention above for more in depth advice.):

- Search Google for your keywords + "add site" (or "add url" or "submit site" etc.) to find directories appropriate to your industry.

- Find good quality, non-competitive sites in your industry and try and offer an exchange of links via email.

Once you have some incoming links and your site is listed on some search engines, the whole process becomes much easier. Be prepared for some time investments and disappointments in the beginning - it'll be worth it in the end :)

If you want to spend money to get instant results, there are some other avenues you can go down, but these are generally short term rather than long term solutions. Hopefully my advice above will help you with more long term sucess :)

[Robert Charlton]

coconubuck - Try searching on Google for, say:

search engines free submission site:webmasterworld.com

It brings up some good threads.

[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]

Site search on WebmasterWorld might also work.

Yes, Open Directory is a very important place to get listed. As pixel juice indicates, links from other sites already in the search engine you're trying for are also very helpful. It often does not help to submit if you have no links, so you might as well get them. Links help you rank well, too.