Search
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These are the most popular search engines Webmasters want
their sites to be listed on. Not all search engines listed crawl the Web. For
example, Yahoo depends on humans to compile their listings. Fee based submissions
are becoming the norm on the Web and are often the best way to get your site listed
in a timely fashion.
Debuting in 1995, AltaVista remains one of the largest search
engines on the Web. It provides an extensive range of search options, including
an 'Ask AltaVista' option whose results are derived from Ask Jeeves as well as
directory listings from LookSmart. Although they still provide a free submission
service, there is no turnaround time guarantee. The key factors in site ranking
are page title, meta tags, body text and link popularity.
AOL uses the Open Directory and Inktomi for its
results. Primary results come from Open Directory and secondary from Inktomi.
AOL spiders Open Directory listings and applies a proprietary algorithm program
to rank results.
This human-powered search engine service
directs visitors to the exact page for answers to questions. If Ask Jeeves fails
to search out the correct match it draws on matches from other search engines.
Ask Jeeves cannot be submitted to directly, since it relies on other search engines
for results. Getting listed in other engines such as Altavista and the Open Directory
will get you listed in Ask Jeeves.
Considered a popularity engine, DirectHit
ranks sites based on the number of hits they receive from search results. The
more visitors clicking your link the higher you go in the rankings. Direct Hit
also provides the results that appear at HotBot. This service is owned by Ask
Jeeves. Free submission service.
Excite provides a fairly large index
and also integrates non-Web content into appropriate results. Excite acquired
Magellan and Webcrawler in 1996. Although they still provide a free submission
service, there is no turnaround time guarantee. Excite does offer a fee based
submission of $99 and $199. The $199 deal will guarantee your site gets 'reviewed'
within two business days. The $99 takes up to 8 weeks. It is only necessary to
submit your main page as long as the rest of the site are linked to it. Excite
does not currently support keyword meta tags, so you should include keywords within
the title and page content. Link popularity is another factor in determining ranking
prominence.
