Search Engine Adding

[am0463]

How do I add my blog to search engines? I cannot find a link on google.com, msn.com, and didn't waste my time on yahoo. Any help is much appreciated!

[brianj]

I personally would not look for an 'Add Url' on google or msn... I would recommend posting your blog URL on blog directories, on your own web site, friends web sites, myspace, etc... you'll be better off in the long run because the search engines will find you organically and you will have started to build a nice little linking strategy for yourself.

[kebtek]

Good post, but I was wondering what I can do to get listed quickly. The reason I ask is because I have a client (several actually) that's developing a brand new site, and they want to get as much exposure as possible.

I've looked at a few online places that submit to 100's of search engines for around $100, this seems to be reasonable, but I was wondering how effective it is?

I'm also looking at google adsense stuff, but from what I hear, that can get really expensive, really quickly.

Any help on where to start with a new site, and get them listed quickly would be great.

Thanks.

[am0463]

To kebtek's problem first, there are numerous search engines/directories you can submit to for free. They will probably be just as effective. Google adsense can only add up in a good way for you. Google adwords is what you are talking about I think.

So what you're saying is if I just get enough traffic and backlinks to my site google and msn will add it as it gets better?

[brianj]

kebtek, I don't personally use those $100 services, but I have some developer friends that do and I've never heard any complaints. If you have a budget you can get listed in Yahoo's directory and some other industry specific directories within days. That is not going to help you with ranking though.

If you need to get listed quick and ranked well, you should consider adwords. Adwords can be very cost effective if done properly. First you can set your own daily budget. If you have $10 per day to spend, that's all you will spend. The trick is getting enough traffic or clicks for that $10 per day.

Try doing some keyword research for your client. I personally use keyworddiscovery and wordtracker, but they do cost money to use. You can do keyword research for free using google's keyword tool.

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Search for single words first and look for potential keyword phrases your client's demographic could be searching for.

Target phrases that have a higher search volume vs competitors.

See how much it is going to cost you to get in the top 5. Drop out the keywords that are expensive assuming you are on a budget.

Target the inexpensive keywords that will give you the most traffic and good ad positioning.

This can work very nicely for you and will keep your budget it check.

[am0463]

Another would be to buy keywords, how does that work? The process of buying keywords from like microsoft and ect. What exactly does that do?

[brianj]

am0463, not sure what you mean by buying keywords besides from a PPC program like adwords...

[bcarl314]

I've used those $100 services before that "submit to 100s of search engines". And I've also used google adwords. In my opinion, the $100 is well spent if you're looking to get listed quickly. Organic can take a while, but so too can the paid services.

In my experience the paid services basically just have an auto submitter that submits to the 100+ sites. It's a great time saver because if you did it manually, it's going to take you days to complete. The only catch is that the submissions take just as long to get a response from the search engine. The good "bulk submitters" out there will give you a report (usually via email) of all the sites they submitted to, success and failure on those sites, and average time to get listed. Most search engines take between 2 weeks and 8 weeks to actually get a submission into their system.

If you need immediate presence on "the net", then ad words is the way to go (or the msn or yahoo equivilants). You get instant exposure on thousands of sites. But it can be far more expensive. There are companies that literally spend thousands / day on that stuff.

One suggestion that might work is to get a site, basic skeleton (with content) up right now and get a few links in from other sites. This will at least make the search engines aware that you exist. Then when you're ready to launch, you'll already have a foot in the door.

[am0463]

Ok thanks for the tips bcarl. I'll try to do some of those in the next few days and see how its works out.

[kebtek]

Thanks for the replies. Very good info. So basically, from what I get out of this info is, if you want to get listed in seach engines like google and the like, there's going to be some time before you actually get listed. Regardless of if you get people linking to your site or if you submit your site yourself, Right?

Sounds like the only way to get in front of people quickly, if you're not listed right away, is to pay for it through google ad words and msn, and yahoo and stuff?