Most of our search engine "traffic" comes from 12 MAJOR SEARCH ENGINES - we estimate about 95%. In listing our various web sites, we only concentrate on major (12 or so search engines) and directories, like Open Directory, who supply their database to many of big SE's (see I'm learning "tech/geek speak" terminology already).

I've found that I check our listings in search engines every two months or so and do resubmit - just to MAJOR search engines. Though I don't try it with Alta Vista and especially Yahoo (as we are already high up there with our creative writing courses). I don't dare risk them chucking us out, though I don't think they will! We've had some difficulty with HotBot and Lycos (especially) and Open Directory in getting listed, so I do re-submit from time to time and they then seem to get listed. Alta Vista seems to take a while- about 6 weeks. Believe Lycos is "winding down" in listing sites incidentally and Infoseek takes a while also. Sorry too late, they have become yet another "dot.bomb" and have ceased operating. Things move very fast in cyberspace!

So suggest checking your listings occasionally and resubmit- ting (INDIVIDUALLY). I don't think any of major search engines see that as spam.

Most of us don't have time or expertise to carefully edit and reedit keywords and meta tags for each engines specific criteria.

In past I had spent many hours tracking words and phrases that came up highest in search engines. I then valiantly attempted to work my site content, key words and meta tags to reflect these words. The results were mediocre at best. It seems that there were thousands and thousands of other webmasters with exactly same idea. It is extremely difficult to get a top 20 listing for a very popular search word.

Until recently I had pretty much given up on expecting traffic of any significance from Search Engines.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert on Search Engine rankings. The following information is strictly based on my own personal experiences and those of a few friends. Even though these techniques have worked well for me, it is possible that they may not be applicable to your particular site. There is nothing for sale here. This is purely for your own education.

An Accidental Discovery

Quite by accident I stumbled upon a technique that brings in a LOT of Search Engine hits to my site.

I have created a small library of reports on Internet Marketing. The intention is to assist website owners with their marketing efforts. I wanted to provide a great source of relevant material that would bring them back again and again. Ezine publishers and other site owners were also encouraged to copy these articles and publish them.

This does work quite well on it's own, but I've been noticing that a lot of people are finding these reports from Search Engines. The hits are happening from obscure search terms that most other sites aren't using. There's little competition for them so my site gets a very nice ranking. Sometimes it's listed in number seven position, sometimes it's in seventeenth spot. It could even be a number three listing. In some cases I've even achieved a number one ranking in a few of major Search Engines. This has been a very pleasant bonus.

Keep reading, we'll be going into specifics shortly. But before we go too much further, let me explain that this technique does not usually bring in thousands of hits. It can however bring in hundreds of extra hits that a site might normally not get.

What Web Searchers Really Want

When you go to a Search Engine, how many times are you looking specifically for something to buy or for an affiliate program to join? If you're like me that's not why you're at Search Engine. You're there to find information on topic of your interest - and it should be FREE!

Example: