SignPost ...Directing Traffic to Your Site!



						The third step on the route to web success is to register your pages with the general search engines, such as AltaVista and Excite, not just because it's easy to do, but because people are more likely to use general search engines than directories to look for things AND find them! Drive on for details.

[image saying: Step 3 - Submitting to Search Engines]

	AltaVista \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| Owned and operated by Digital Equipment Corporation. Uses META tags for indexing and keywords. Submit your URL using their form. Don't spam them or you might be shut out. AltaVista rightfully claims to index new sites within 24 hours.

	AOLSearch \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| AOL Search is a hierarchical Web directory, organized by subject. All user-submitted Web content is maintained by the Open Directory Project (http://www.dmoz.org).

	Écila \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| Status \| Born in 1995. For French-Language resources, but you can submit in English. Does not appear to use META tags for indexing and keywords. Submit your URL using their form, which asks for more than just the URL and e-mail address. The added info helps Écila decide whether to index a submitted site, which they do once a week.

	EuroSeek \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| Multilingual European search engine. Uses META tags for indexing and keywords. Submit your URL using their form, which asks for more than just the URL and e-mail address. The added info is for future use. EuroSeek does not accept automated submissions; they must be done manually.

	Excite \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| Excite, formerly known as Architext, was founded in September 1993 by six Stanford University graduates. Excite uses proprietary technology called Intelligent Concept Extraction. Summaries sometimes look like a hodge-podge of text from the page. Does not use META tags and explains why. Submit your URL using their form. Indexing appears to be within a couple of days.

	Go \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| Status \| Once called InfoSeek. Uses META tags for indexing and keywords, failing which it uses the first 200 characters after the HTML <BODY> tag that appear on your web page. Submit your URL using their form. Limit keyword repetitions to three. Indexing is now virtually immediate.

	HotBot \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| Uses the Inktomi search engine. It uses META tags for descriptions. Submit your URL using their form. HotBot stores entered URLs for examination in the following weeks.

	Lokace \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| For French-Language resources only. Interface is French and site content MUST be French. Does not use META tags for indexing and keywords. Submit your URL using their form, either for general indexing or for a specific category. Indexing is based on keywords in the document and occurs within 2-3 weeks.

	Lycos \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| Developed by Carnegie Mellon University. Now owned and operated by Lycos, Inc., a public company. Submit your URL using their form. It looks for the URL while you wait and confirms contact. Listing takes two to four weeks. Search result summary descriptions are based on the initial text on your page.

	Magellan \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| Originally conceived by McKinley, now owned by Excite, which handles site submissions. Although the Magellan editorial review process was suspended, they encourage you to submit you URL anyway. However, it's unlikely that there will be a review of the gazillions of sites submitted.

	Nomade \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| For French-Language resources ONLY. Does not appear to use META tags for indexing and keywords. Use their form to submit your URL and e-mail address to a specific category. They acknowledge your successful registration immediately by e-mail. Indexing is claimed to be within 72 hours.

	Northern Light \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| In addition to information admitted to its database through URL submissions, this service also accesses an 1800-item special collection of magazines, reports, etc.

	WebCrawler \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| Status \| Previously owned by America OnLine, now owned by Excite. Summaries come from initial text on the page. Submit URLs one at a time using their form. They have a form for checking on the status of a submitted URL. Indexing occurs within a few days.

	What-U-Seek \| Search Keywords \| Add URL \| Entered the search scene in late 1996. Extremely fast and simple to use. Submit one URL only; their spider, Winona, is supposed to pick up all the other links. If you can't wait for Winona, do the linked pages yourself. How long does it take to get indexed? Forever (read never!) Search results sometimes appear bizarre.

	SignPost is a creation of Donald A. Coggan, PE, 1433 Lajoie, Montreal, Canada, H2V 1P7, (45° 31' 7" North by 73° 36' 47" West), E-mail: don@coggan.com, Tel: 514-273-9774, Fax: 514-273-4863.


		Registering with a search engine involves submitting only your page URL and sometimes your e-mail address. The process can be speeded up somewhat by having a registration service do it for you. If it's only the search engines, the service is usually free. Be aware that not all services include all the search engines. List with all that you can find because it's so easy to do. If your site consists of several pages, the search engines claim that their robots will find and index them all. Register each page separately anyway; it's more likely to get indexed faster. If the search engine has advice, read and follow it.

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