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Registering your site with a search engine is easily done. Go to the main page of the search engine and look for a link labeled "Add Your Site" or "Summit a Site". Follow the link to the "Add URL" page. Once there, enter the main URL of your site and your email address. Most engines also permit registration of internal pages. Some request a short description. Write carefully! This description is often the one shown when the engine lists your site.
Some of the more popular search engines are:
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Alta Vista
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Excite
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Google
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Hotbot
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Lycos
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Yahoo
Various search engines use different programs and strategies for reading a website or page in order to catalog it. They might read any of the following or any combination of the following parts of a site or page:
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Site title*
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Major headings
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Minor headings
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First line of first paragraph
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First line of all paragraphs
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All text on the site
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Photo and graphics captions
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Alternate text for graphics
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Keywords provided in meta tags*
Notes: By for the most important of these is the meta tag for a site's title. An effective title in the source code of a site can be difficult to compose because it must serve two distinct purpose: (1) announcing your site and (2) providing the words that many search engines use to rank one site over another.
Some search engines clean their databases on a regular basis. So you need to re-submit your site with the engines every few weeks. |
