How do I add my site to the search engines?

[froghat]

Sorry, I know this is a newbie question but I'm not sure how to do this. Can someone help me? Thanks

[diamondgrl]

The best way is to convince other webmasters to link to you. Then the search engines will automatically pick you up. Direct "submission" to search engines is mostly an antiquated concept, at least for those search engines that matter.

[froghat]

Hmmm, interesting. Well I have a sports website so I figure the best way to draw traffic and links is to advertise my page on sports message boards. Have any other suggestions? Thanks

[diamondgrl]

Be careful of the terms of service of those message boards. You might be public enemy #1 if they don't allow spammy postings.

There are directories like Yahoo, DMOZ and others that are obvious places to get listed. You could put out an online press release. And if you have a useful and/or interesting website, bloggers and others might be convinced to link to you. Find anybody who has a website really. The more links the better from the standpoint of search engines.

[stevehbs]

Hi Frog. Try doing a search for seo freindly directories.

This should produce a decent list, try to find directory lists that have been around awhile.

When submitting to the directoies make sure you put your site in the proper catagory.

[froghat]

diamondgrl, so basically I just have to email a bunch of topic related webmaster and ask for ads? Are most webmasters good about giving you an answer? I know lots of blog sites have listed links on the side of their page so maybe I should start there.

[peregil]

Froghat. A nice method of doing this, without anyone accusing you of spamming, would be like this:

* Build your own link list. 10-20 links that you think your visitors would enjoy. Like: "My recommended sport sites".
* Ideally you should make sure that all these sites have an OK Google PageRank (PR4+), but at this stage, you really do not have to worry about that.
* Mail the webmasters of these sites. Tell them what you like about their page, and why you have added them to your list. Try to be personal. Ask them nicely if they could link back to you.

If you write a nice mail and have a decent page with real content, you should get a few link this way. Do not send reminders if they dont link back.

[rj87uk]

This is your first steps into link development. Always follow this rule of thumb - Go for traffic not a better placement in search results. If you follow this rule you will end up with a lot of traffic and search engines will pick your website up anyway.

There was a thread, maybe one of the best ive seen at webmasterworld here:
[webmasterworld.com ]

I should have bookmarked that.