Search Engine Optimization Submission FAQs

Hi there,
Today, I will be sharing some answers to questions frequently asked before, during and after submissions of web pages/articles to search engines like Google and Yahoo.


Do I need to submit?

It depends on the type of search engine where you want your site to be listed. Web directories will not learn about a new site unless someone tells them about it. Therefore, submission to directories is very important.
There are hundreds of smaller search engines that do not spider the Web regularly. They only go and check if the site exists based on the URL submitted and your information - this is the only way they find and add new sites to their databases. These search engines make up the majority on our auto-submission list, so submit to these if you want your site listed.
In contrast, a crawler-based search engine will find your site by following a link from the page that is already in its index. All major search engines either have their own crawlers or use the indexes gathered by crawlers. Therefore, it is important to have many links to your site from other sites so you are indexed. If the linking sites are big and established, like Yahoo! and DMOZ directories, this will make a big difference.


How do I know a Submission tool has submitted my site?

You can view the submission confirmation (or error) page. A confirmation page returned by a search engine in response to your site info submission is the best way to tell if your page was successfully submitted.


Does submission to a search engine guarantee inclusion in its index?

No, it does not. Search engines often provide no guarantee of inclusion of submitted sites in their search indices. They warn of this on their submission pages.


How do I know if I need to resubmit?

If you do not see any traffic from a search engine where you submitted your site more than a month ago, you should find out if that search engine has indexed your site. To check, you should use a unique phrase from the main page of your site as a search term for the engine. If you see your site's listing in the returned results, you do not need to resubmit. I also suggest that you only resubmit pages that you have changed.


How soon can I see my site listed by search engines?

It depends on the search engine. Some will pick up the submitted sites in a few days or even minutes; others may tell you that they have thousands of sites in a queue, so you can expect their robot's visit in about a year. For major crawlers, it is important that your site has many incoming links. In general, you cannot expect wonders overnight - it takes time for your site to get listed.


Do I need to submit all pages of my site?

It is not always necessary. Directories prefer only the main page of your site -- they do not like including many different listings of the same site. Crawler-based search engines will follow links from the main page and include other pages. Submission to small search engines is the only incentive for you to submit more than one page. As they do not spider websites, they only add submitted pages. This is why I recommend submitting only the most important and optimized pages.


Is it important to optimize the title and description before I submit?

Sure! I recommend this. The title and description that you provide on the website information page is used for automated submissions to some directories. Directories often rank results based on how important the keyword is in the title and description. Besides, titles are often used as text links -- this makes keywords in the title important for high rankings.


Will search engines blacklist the site for repeated submissions?

Most search engines will not. If they did, it would be a great trick for competitors to spam a search engine by frequent submissions of your site to get it blacklisted.


Is it safe to use an auto-submission tool?

As a rule, search engines do not like automated queries made to their indexes. They want human users, not robots. On the other hand, used with caution, automated tools can save a lot of time.


Why do I get so much spam after I use a submission tool?

Unfortunately, no one can control how some search engines use the information they get from you. They often mention in their Terms of Use that by submitting your site, you agree to receive their newsletters by e-mail. If an e-mail address is needed, I recommend you use a second, non crucial e-mail address for submissions.

I hope I have been able to satisfy some of your curious yearnings for an answer to those questions that have been bugging you concerning submissions to search engines.
You can get lots more useful information here