Frequently Asked Questions About Search Engines

What is a Search Engine?
What is the difference between a search engine and a directory?
How do I get listed in Search Engines?
Does HostSave submit my domain name in search engines?
How long does it take to be listed?
How do I get my site to show up on top of the listing?
Why is the title tag important?
What are META tags and why are they important?
Why are ALT tags important?
Why is having HTML text important?
What is search engine spamming?
Can I submit multiple pages?
Why is using frames problematic?


What is a Search Engine?
A search engine is a special web site that catalogs other web sites and has search capability. Their function is to somehow catalog websites into a database and they each have their own algorithm for searching their databases. A search engine uses something called a 'spider' or 'robot', which are automated programs that scour the web jumping from link to link, cataloguing web sites.

What is the difference between a search engine and a directory?

A search engine uses automated 'spiders' or 'robots' to catalog websites. A directory uses people to go through a web site and catalog the web site. Therefore, Yahoo is really a directory and not a search engine, as they employ a team of people to go through every site listed in their database.

How do I get listed in Search Engines?

Unless you tell the search engine about your site, they will have a hard time finding you. There are several ways to get listed in search engines:

• Visit each search engine and register your site. On each search engine there is a link typically named 'Add URL', 'Suggest A Site', 'Add Page' ...etc. You should click through and follow the instructions. This method also takes the most time but often allows you to be most specific about where your listing should be.
• There are some online web-based services that will register your site in various search engines for free. For example, Register It! Be aware that many of these services may say they can submit to over 300 sites, however, many of sites may be multi-level marketing sites and spam email list collection sites.
• We provide a search engine submission service. For $14.95/mth we will submit your site to over 700 search engines and directories. 24 hours after submission, you can access a registration results report and have the report emailed to you as well. More.
• You can pay a marketing service to help you market your site. As part of the strategy you can have them worry about how to get your site listed.
• You can buy special software that will submit your site to various search engines and directories.

Does WeHostWeb submit my domain name in search engines?

HostSave provides a search engine submission service. For $14.95/mth we will submit your site to search engines and directories. 24 hours after submission, you can access a registration results report and have the report emailed to you as well. You can sign up for this registration service from inside the control center.

How long does it take to be listed?

Each search engines varies in the time it takes for your site to be listed. Usually directories will take a long time - a couple months, because some personnel at the company must review your web site. Search engines will list you faster but it can be from 48 hours to a few weeks. You will have to check with the search engine itself for this information. Typically you will find some answers in their FAQ or help section.

How do I get my site to show up on 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 cataloguing the content of a particular web page. In addition, search engines will periodically change their algorithm so what helped you get higher listing may not always work. You will have to keep up with each search engine or hire someone to keep up to date for you. However, there are some strategies in web site design which can help you raise your position. Read through the Search Engine Optimization Tips.

Why is the title tag important?

You should place a TITLE tag on every web page on your site. Most spiders will first look to the TITLE tag to decipher the web page content. Therefore, it is advisable to not use acronyms, and you can even use a few descriptive keywords. Also, some search engine will penalize you if your TITLE is too long.

What are META tags and why are they important?

META tags should be used on every page of your web site. These are special tags that sit in between the HEAD tags in your HTML code and are invisible to the viewer. For an example, look at the source code for this web page. Many search engines will store the META tags in their databases. META tags allow you to include a description of the particular web page and also store additional relevant keywords that may or may not exist on your page. However, keep in mind that many search engines will penalize you if you use repeated keywords.

Why are ALT tags important?

We recommend that you always use ALT tags with your images. There are some search engines that record this information in their database. There are some search engines where you can actually search for images - typically using the ALT tags as references for the search.

Why is having HTML text important?

If your web page is composed only of images, the search engine spider will have no idea what your content is about, as it typically will look to the HTML text on your page to try to automatically decipher the web page content. This is why it is good to have text navigation links (even as a supplement to your graphical navigation) and text content. Some spiders will weigh sentences with proper punctuation marks as more relevent than single words. Some spiders consider text links to be more important. It is also a good idea to try to raise your HTML text content up on the page as high as possible. Some search engines limits the kilobytes of data that it will scan for its database. Therefore, if the spider doesn't see any HTML text, then it can't figure out your page content.

What is search engine spamming?

Each search engine has a policy on spamming. Spamming is considered the act of abusing the registration process and the use of some tricks to attempt to raise a web site position.

For example, it was common in the past to use the background color for addtional HTML text on a page. Since the color of the text matches the background - the visitor would not see the text. In this way, you can hide all sorts of keywords. Search engines will automatically drop your web site if you do this.

Another example is repeating keywords unnecessarily or using keywords that have nothing to do with your content, just for getting a higher listing. If caught, the search engine will usually drop your site.

If you are concerned about spamming, you should visit the search engines and read through the help documentation. Each search engine will have different criteria and spamming policy.

Can I submit multiple pages?

For the most part the answer to this question is YES. We recommend that you submit a few key pages of your site to all search engines. However you should be very careful as any abuse of multiple page registration is considered search engine spamming. If the search engine catches you spamming then they will drop your site entirely from the search engine. You should read the search engine's help documentation to determine at what point they consider a person to be spamming.

Why is using frames problematic?

Because of the way frames work in HTML, some search engines will not follow your pages correctly and your site will not be completely indexed. If you are using frames, then it is advisable to make sure your site is navigatable without frames, you have an option for using frames or not, and/or use the NOFRAMES option.