SolveYourProblem
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Series
Learn The Rules For Web Site Submissions
Are
you going to submit your site to the search engines the
right way or the wrong way? To do it right,
you need to know what you’re doing, and your site needs
to be optimized before you take it anywhere near a search
engine.
How
can you know if your site is ready? You consider
these things before you submit. Have you included your
keywords in your title tag, description, and content?
Make sure you’re tightly focused on only one or two keywords.
You should also check for broken links, as these can
cause big problems with search engines’ spiders.
Once
you’ve submitted your site, you need to be prepared to
wait. The chances that you won't be added to any engine's
database for at least a month.
The
Rules of Submission
1. There’s
no need to submit more than once. Despite the
hype, you should never resubmit your site unless it gets
dropped entirely. This doesn’t apply to new pages, however.
If you have created a few hundred pages in the last month
or so and you don’t think that they will be indexed quickly
enough via links to them it is a good idea to submit
them manually rather than waiting for your site to be
indexed again. If you are using a Google Site map, simply
adding them to this document will get them indexed pretty
quickly.
2. Do
it right the first time: be thorough when submitting,
especially to directories. Take the time to research
and find the most appropriate category for your site.
If your site would fit into multiple categories find
out what the policy is on multiple submissions. Some
directories want you to submit to every relevant category,
others want no more than one submission or they reject
all submissions. Some want every page, others (most)
want your index page and nothing more.
3. Be
brief when you describe your site: get right
to the point in two short sentences. Most directories
will actually restrict the number of characters that
you can use. If they don’t it is still a good idea to
try to wrap it up within twenty-five to thirty words.
This is one of the largest differences between directory
listings and search engine listings. In the directory
you only get a short line to attract visitors; this is
static for every visitor.
4. Be
as accurate as you can. Don’t try to trick people
into visiting your site, as it’ll only backfire. Most
directories are actually monitored by a team of editors.
These editors will visit your link and red flag you if
you are trying to deceive visitors or if you are trying
to cheat in any other way. When it comes to directory
listings, there are even less avenues for cheaters than
there are in search engine listings as directories are
checked out by hand.
5. Make
sure that all your information is relevant,
and try to make it appealing to humans as well as dense
with keywords. Directories don’t care about your key
words very much. If your site isn’t attractive to human
beings it will be listed poorly. When human beings edit,
human beings rank, and human beings get what they want.
6. Be
patient: good things come to those who wait.
Let the search engines take their time.
7. Don’t
submit any more than your homepage. The crawlers
are quite capable of following your links and indexing
your whole site from just your homepage’s URL.
If
you’re submitting you site to the DMOZ directory, follow
these steps. If one doesn’t work, wait a while and then
do the next.
-
Submit
your site.
-
Write
a follow-up email to the category’s editor, explaining
that you’ve been waiting and would like to know your
site’s status.
-
Email
the next category editor up, in case there’s a problem
with your category’s editor.
-
Seek
assistance at the Open Directory Project’s public forum.
-
Email
DMOZ senior staff seeking help. This is pretty much the
last resort.
Submissions
can be time consuming at first, but you’ll quickly get
it down to a science. If you work hard on your SEO before
you submit your site then you can get to the top more quickly
than you’d think.
