We will now take a look at search engines, their importance and how to use them, as well as tips to get your webpage into the search engines and directories.
What are Search Engines?
A search engine is a database of URL's, (websites) designed and presented in a way to show relevant results
when a user enters a particular search term or word.
How To Use Search Engines!
1. 'Search Engines' a great way of finding information you need on the internet.
Search engines have been created to help us find the information we are seeking fast and efficently.
It is simply a matter of choosing your favourite search engine, typing in the search bar the querry you are looking for and presto,
you will be given many thousands results. Remember the more specific words or pharses you type into a search engine the more specific the resilts will be.
The easiest way to get to a search engine is to type the name
of the search engine into the 'address bar'. Try it now:- Type:- http://www.google.com into
your address bar and you will be taken to the 'Google Search Engine'.
Here are a few tips on getting your site into the search engines.
A common misconception is, if you had your own web page, you are automatically in all the search engines, but this is not the case.
There are many different search engines that must be submitted to individually, before your website will be seen in their search results.
Put quiet simply, if a search engine doesn't know your site exits you will not be shown in their search results.
1.
Google.:- Currently the number one search engine and
a large percentage of visitors to this site come from the google search results. To add your site go to
http://www.google.com.au/addurl.html.
It is also a good idea to have a good read of this URL:-
http://www.google.com.au/webmasters
, for a comprehensive guide to googles submission process. This is a free service.
3.
All The Web.:- Another up and coming search engine showing great results.
Submit your website here:- http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php.
And check All The Webs submission tips to ensure you are submitting correctly here:-
http://www.alltheweb.com/help/index.
This is also a free service.
4.
Dmoz.:- Commonly know as ODP (Open Directory Project).This is more
a search engine directory rather than a normal search engine as search engines use software programs to update
and maintain their search database. Dmoz on the other hand uses human editors (real people) to search out, evaluate and add websites to their search engine
directory. Dmoz is the largest human edited directory of the web.
We have found there is a procedure to submitting and checking your progress with regards to your
placement in this directory.
1.
Check to see if your site is not already in Dmoz here.
Dmoz.org
2.
Choose the single most appropriate category that related
to your site. In our case it was http://dmoz.org/Regional/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/
Localities/C/Caloundra/Business_and_Economy/ notice
the regional and Australia categories! We first made the error to submit it to computers as our site relates to computers
but an editor later moved it to the right category. Save yourself some time and choose carefully the correct category for your site.
3.
Once you find the correct category you will see an 'add url' link in the menu where you can fill out your website
description and submit your URL.
4.
If you need more infomation with submitting your website Resource-Zone.com,
has set up a forum to help with any enquires you may have.
Note:-
Google, as well as many other search engines use
the results taken from the Dmoz Directory , however these other search engines sometimes take
a lot longer to update, so once you are listed with Dmoz, your listing may take longer to show in these other search engines.
5.
Links To Related Websites.:- Another way to get your site listed in these search engines is to obtain links from other websites
on the web. As these sites are regularly being looked at by the search engines, once they see your site on their links page
they will come and have a look at your site. This is one of the fastest ways to get a new website a least looked at by the search engines.
