Relevant
Information and FAQ:
What's
an Internet Search Engine?
How many search engines will my site get entered in?
How long does it take before my site is indexed on
the search engines?
How will I know if my site has been listed?
How do I get my site to show up on top of the
listing?
1.
What's an Internet Search Engine?One way
of finding information on the Internet is to use a
"search engine". This is an Internet tool which will
search for Internet sites containing the words that
you designate as a search term. It provides results
back to you in the form of links to those sites
which have the term(s) you're looking for.
For example, if you wanted to see if there were any
math lesson plans on the Internet that you could
borrow, you might enter "math and lessons and plans"
as your search term. After a brief wait, you would
receive a web page with dozens of links to sites
which had those particular words somewhere in the
site.
It's important to understand that search engines DO
NOT search the Internet itself. They DO search
databases of information ABOUT the Internet which
the company hosting the search engine has developed.
Each search engine looks through a different
database and that's why they each will reach
different results from exactly the same terms. The
degree of detail recorded by search engines varies
greatly. For instance, some may enter the entire
text of the document into a searchable field and
others may only enter a short description. This is
only one way in which search engines differ. Another
difference is in the level of sophistication
employed by the search engine when it looks through
its database.
2. How many search engines does it get entered in?
Every day new directories come into existence and
others disappear. While we try to keep up with all
of these changes, our list may not reflect the
latest changes to the directories. Generally your
site is submitted to more than 400 of the most
popular search directories available.
3. How long does it take before my site is indexed
on the search engines?
As we submit your site, we immediately send your
Web page information to the server of the search
engines and directories. It normally takes between
one day and six weeks for your submission to become
a listing. Usually, AltaVista and InfoSeek take only
a few days to index your page. Most listings,
however, will take several weeks, because search
engines receive many submissions every day.
4. How will I know if my site has been listed?
Some directories will send you an e-mail
confirming your request. This is not a guarantee
that your site has been listed. The best way to
confirm your listing is to go to the search engine
and search for your site. Note: It often takes a few
weeks for a listing to make it into a search engine.
5. How do I get my site to show up on the top of the
listing?
This is a tough question. There is no one
that can guarantee you top positioning on any search
engine. Each search engine has its own algorithm as
to what it deems most important when cataloging the
content of a particular web page.
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