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Contrary to popular belief there’s no need to submit your Web site pages to
crawler-based search engines—if your site is built with search engine’s and your visitor’s best interests in mind, crawler-based engines will find it on their own. I’ll talk about this in more detail in a future chapter.
The two major crawler-based search engines supply results for:
Google - AOL, Netscape and iWon
Yahoo (synonymous with Inktomi) - MSN, Alta Vista and AllTheWeb
Online Directories
Directories are like giant yellow pages that compile, rank and organize listings into different categories and sub-categories. They do not crawl Web looking for content but rely on submissions from web site owners. Professional, human editors generally edit directories. Most of them work something like this:
You want to buy a pair of jeans so you go to a directory like DMOZ and click on main shopping category. Then you click through sub-categories, “apparel” “retail” “jeans” and so on, until you find exactly what you’re looking for.
Top Directories include:
The Open Directory (supplies directory services to Google) Yahoo Looksmart Gimpsy Zeal JoeAnt
Although submitting your site for inclusion in directories will drive some visitors to your site, you should not necessarily base your decision to submit on how much traffic you think you’ll receive from directory. But, rather, view submission as an opportunity to obtain a link to your Web site. Why? Because a directory listing will allow crawler-based engines to follow a link to your site and help get your site indexed in their database quickly. It will also give your site a good quality incoming link (more about this in later chapters).
Next month: Words. Words. Words.
