Then nip over to http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/ukie/express/splash.html and either cough up £199 for guaranteed submission or risk free submission route. Commercial sites are supposed to be paid for, but I have successfully had commercial web sites indexed by Yahoo using free route. Yahoo takes a bit more time as you have to navigate to appropriate section before you submit.

Next stop is http://dmoz.org/ - Open Directory. This powers Netscape Search, AOL Search, Google, Lycos, HotBot, DirectHit, and hundreds of others and is still open to free submissions. Beyond this, submission is going to cost you money. For a more comprehensive guide to search engines see www.searchenginewatch.com . Next month we will look at how you can use paid-for advertising on search engines, such as Google Adwords.

FAQs (262 words)

Q. What is a search engine anyway? A. A search engine is a computerised way of tracking down relevant pages on web by looking for keywords that you specify.

Q. So as long as I have registered with a search engine will people find my site? A. Not necessarily. If your company has a unique name and people are searching for that name chances are that you will be found. But if you hope that people will find you with more generic terms like “corporate communications” you are sadly mistaken.

Q. Why is that then? A. A search for “corporate communications” on google.co.uk throws up more than 1,000,000 pages. On Google.com it is more like 7,600,000. To get a high placement for such a term you need keyword rich copy with term “corporate communications” very high up on page and tonnes of reciprocal links.

Q. What is a reciprocal link? A. It is where another site links back to yours. Search engines rate link popularity as an important factor in where it places you in its results. The more links better. It is always worth asking webmasters of relevant, but none competitive sites, if they will swap links with you.

Q. How can I check if sites are linking to mine? A. Use term “link:(yourURL)” on Google to find out. This works on other engines too.

Q. So what is secret to a high listing? A. Unfortunately, secret is to have deep pockets and go for sponsored listings or adverts. But if you apply all techniques in this feature you do stand a better chance of people at least finding you by your company name.

Search Engines Search engines allow user to enter keywords relating to a topic and retrieve information about Internet sites containing those keywords. Many search engines compile a database spanning multiple Internet protocols, including HTTP, FTP, and Usenet. They may also search multimedia or other file types on what is known as “deep Web.” Some of most popular search engines are Google, MSN, Ask Jeeves and Alta Vista.

Technically, a search engine service consists of three parts, a spider, index and search engine mechanism. The spider is a program that combs Web from link to link, identifying and reading pages. The index is a database containing a copy of each Web page gathered by spider. And search engine mechanism is software that enables users to query index.

Here’s how search engines work: With most search engines, you fill out a form with your search terms and then ask that search proceed. The engine explores its index and generates a page with links to those resources containing some or all of your terms. These resources are usually presented in ranked order according to term relevancy.

Check for Accuracy and Reliability Since Internet is a self-publishing medium, anyone with necessary technical skills can place information on Web. Therefore, it’s important to evaluate accuracy and reliability of your research information. You should consider: •Who published information - A site maintained by a university or government organization is probably more reliable than one maintained by a private individual.

•Who wrote information - You can probably assume that material written or otherwise provided by a known expert in field is likely to be reliable.

•The age of material - If you need current statistics, carefully check age of material you’ve found. A site dealing with historical information may not need updating as frequently as one related to news and current events.

•Why material exists - Many special interest groups have Web pages. And while this doesn't necessarily mean material is biased, it’s something you should consider. Think about whether they might have some reason, other than pure helpfulness, for posting information.

For most successful Internet research, try to cross-check information you find as much as possible. Explore another site with similar material, ask someone who’s knowledgeable about topic, review a book on subject or weigh information against what you already know.