This realization hit me between eyes recently when I read a comment in a search engine forum from an SEO who claimed he used his ethical SEO methods as a Unique Selling Point. Look what we've been reduced to - differentiating ourselves from masses because we DON'T break rules. What other industry could boast such a thing? Apart from used car industry, I can't really think of any.

So where did this nasty reputation come from and why has it been allowed to propogate? Well, it's mainly care of hundreds of cowboys out there who decide one day they are online marketing experts, announce themselves as SEO's and set up a backyard biz, deciding (naively) that fastest way to achieve high rankings is to break rules, "crack" search engine algorithms and undermine search indexes by generating pages and pages of search engine spam. They do this by creating doorway pages designed for search engine spiders rather than humans, complete with hidden text, hidden links, cloaking and lots of other "tricks" they come across as they surf Internet.

Problem is these self-proclaimed experts don't bother to do their research and learn that such spamming techniques have long been ineffective. Nearly all search engines these days have sophisticated methods of detecting and removing spam within days of receiving submissions. Penalties for spamming search engines differ from engine to engine, but can range from being "red flagged" and put on a watch list, to being hit with a ranking penalty, to having your site permanently banned from their index (in severe cases). The type of scumbag SEO's that would play Russian Roulette with their client's web sites in this fashion are well-deserving of scorn. It can take months for search engines to lift such penalties, if they decide to at all.

author's bylines and author's resource box remain

intact.

Title:Search Engine Overview Author:Sandra Lawton Contact:sandra@sandradesign.co.uk

Copyright:©2002 by Sandra Lawton All rights reserved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More about Search Engines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget search engines are only one way to

promote your site. Ezines are an excellent source of

visitors. More about this topic at:

http://www.ezine-info.co.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Search Engines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The page on our web site,

http://www.lawtoninfo.co.uk/se.htm, covers an over

view of search engines, so this page is very much

about giving you relevant links and prices, so you can

make your own decisions.

This information is accurate as we find it, but

changes happen daily on internet, so we make no

guarantees.

Before you begin any submissions you must submit your

site to Open Directory,

http://dmoz.org/add.html Read submission policy first, but you won't get in

AOL, MSN, Netscape etc. if you're not in here.

It's FREE!

If your site is non commercial also submit to Zeal at, http://www.zeal.com/users/become_a_zealot.jhtml

Free Submission ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Automated submission services submit to several

hundred engines at a time, either by software that you

can purchase and download or if you just want to

submit one site you can use a service such as World

Submitter.

Go to: http://www.worldsubmitter.com

For more control over free submission, visit our site

and use links to two services provided.

http://www.lawtoninfo.co.uk/freewebpages.htm

See below for free submission to Crawlers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paid Submission - Read submission policies first! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yahoo ~~~~~ If your site is non commercial you can submit to

yahoo, through their suggest a site, free of charge.

Go to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest

Yahoo is still biggest in business, but they

also charge $199 just to look at your site. There is

no guarantee they will index you, and I know some guys

who are pretty expert on search engines and they have

had sites rejected by Yahoo.

If you want to give it a shot, here's link:

http://add.yahoo.com/fast/add?+Business

Good Luck!!

Ask Jeeves/Teoma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Both of these are powered by Teoma. Ask Jeeves is

built to 'answer questions' and sites that feel they

fit this criteria can attempt to submit free, but it

is not easy.

Paid subscription covers both services and is for a 12

month period. For $30 for first URL and $18

dollars thereafter. You get:

>Your site indexed within 7 days. >Your page refreshed every 7 days. >Your page remains in index for 12 months.