The Fastest Way to Get Your Site Listed in the Search Engines

There used to be a time when creating and publishing your website meant letting the search engines know you were out there.  Submitting your site to the search engine meant it could take weeks or even months before you’d see your listing - and even then, there was no guarantee you’d show up at all.

Fast forward to today and search engine submission is a thing of the past.  Some website owners actually report getting penalized if they submit their site to the search engines the “old fashioned” way.  So how do you get your site listed quickly?  Follow these tips:

1. The most important thing you can do is have links pointing to your site.  Search engines pick up and follow links from other sites to yours, and if your site isn’t in their results list, chances are they’ll come back for a second look. 

To get links to your site quickly, submit it to social sites like Digg.com and Propeller.com, as well as search directories like DMOZ.org (the Open Directory Project) and Yahoo Directory at https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit. 

Chances are, no matter what your website is about, you can also find directories that cater to that specific subject.  Just search Google for “your subject directory” (replacing your subject with what your website is about - but leave the quotes as they tell Google to find that exact phrase)

2. Create a sitemap - Google, Yahoo and MSN all use sitemaps to see the structure of your site, and having one is a much faster way of getting your site listed.  To create one for free, visit http://www.xml-sitemaps.com - then login (or have your webmaster do it for you) to your Google, Yahoo and MSN account (you’ll need an account with all 3) and submit your sitemap for them to follow.

Remember, just having a sitemap won’t help unless you let the search engines know about it!

3. Don’t resubmit - If you’ve already submitted your site manually to the search engines (the old fashioned way), don’t keep resubmitting if you don’t find your site in the index.  Search engines view this as spamming and will remove your site from the index - either temporarily or permanently!   Just one submission is all you need to do if you’ve already done it.

4. Add a Blog - Search engines love blogs because of the way they’re structured. It’s easy to find things and you can rank highly on some highly specific, highly targeted keywords (for example, “dog grooming services new york city” as opposed to just “dog grooming”).  Having a blog means that you’ll need to commit some time to keeping it well-stocked with fresh, relevant content.  Search engines hate stale sites!

If you’d like more information about setting up and customizing a blog to match your site, get a free design quote from iElectrify. We can help set up your blog so that you can post helpful information easily and hassle-free!

With these tips in mind, you’re almost guaranteed to see your site listed in the search engine’s results faster than if you would have submitted it by hand.  Plus you’ll be getting extra exposure in directories, social networking sites and through your blog - rather than just one direct link from a search engine!

Recommended Tools and Resources

• Add Audio to Your Website
• Wordpress Tutorials