Submit your URL so you'll be Found!
"How can you index your website in the search engines?"
This is an often asked question for any website owners, Squidoo users, Bloggers, and eBay sellers. There are several top search engines to think about, the obvious being Google and Yahoo. Indexing your website will let the search engines know you exist and might elicit a webcrawl, but it's your job to increase your page ranking and get visitors there once submitted.
To increase page rank once you have submitted your site, you will need to increase your backlinks, create a sitemap (if you can), choose an excellent title, write excellent, useful content, update your site often, and get the word out about your site.
Now how do you start this whole SEO process and submit your URL in the first place?
Submit your URL to Google
Your First SEO Step
To all readers: if you have StumbleUpon, a thumbs up or review would be appreciated!
Google is the #1 used search engine in almost every country, and should be your first effort in registering your website to the search engines. To submit your URL to Google, simply do a Google search on "URL submit," or click the link below. This should pull up a page to submit your URL. Submit away!
Google Base
If you have an eBay store, Google also has a "Google Store Connector." By downloading this, all of your items will be available on Google Base for free, as long as you set up a google account. Start your free account and download the Google Base Store Connector. This allows you to simply upload all of your items by connecting with eBay. Your items become searchable fairly quickly, and earn you extra sales! Learn all about Google Base here.
>>Click here to Submit your URL to Google. Submissions through Google, are of course, FREE!<<
Google Submit URL Page
Enhance your Web Surfing!
To make your life a little bit easier as a webmaster, Google developed the Google Toolbar. You can immediately find the page rank of your site or lens, find your backlinks, and have an easy Google search box on your screen all the time!
The Poll Results...
We recently took a poll on the Microsoft-Yahoo potential merger. This merger was rejected by Yahoo, so for now, this is not a possibility. Here are the results of the question we asked:
Would you use a combined Yahoo-MSN search engine or still use Google?
- 57% answered "Yes, I would definitely prefer it to Google."
- 43% answered "No, they have a long way to go and I still like Google."
In a very competitive move, Microsoft's bid for $45 billion would have been the largest corporate takeover in history. Yahoo is currently the #2 search engine in the United States.
Google Books on Amazon
A Search Engine Poll
The top 3 search engines take up 95% of the online market. The remaining 5% are going to have a long battle ahead if they'd like to conquer the giants.
SEO for Beginners...
Network Solutions Sr VP; Beginner Tips for SEO
This past weekend, Network Solutions Senior Vice President Stephanie Leffler paid a visit to MSNBC's "Consultants Corner", where she talked about how companies can ensure that their Web sites come out at the top of the search engines. Because being found via search engines such as Yahoo! or Google can be the difference between success and failure for small businesses, Stephanie gave three tips for "leading the listings". Credit: Check out www.MonsterCommerce.com & www.NetworkSolutions.com for services related to this & more.
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Submit your URL to YAHOO!
Get Found by one of the Leading Search Engines
Step 2: Yahoo
Yahoo remains one of the leading search engines, often right behind Google. To submit your URL to Yahoo, sign up for a free yahoo account and click the link below. The first entry most likely will be the Yahoo page to submit your website or store URL. Simply input the URL here and you're ready to go. Yahoo also has Yahoo Shopping, which is similar to Froogle , but is a pay-per-click program. If you feel like experimenting, try it out for a month and see if it works for you.
Click Here to Submit your URL to Yahoo
Yahoo URL Submit Page
Yahoo Books on Amazon
Submit your URL to MSN
Get found on MSN Live Search
Step 3: MSN
MSN has a great search engine that is easy to use and has an extremely easy URL submission. Submit your URL to MSN by doing an MSN search on "msn url submit," or click the link below. Same deal here! This will put you into MSN searches without waiting for MSN to find you. Maybe someday you'll be submitting your URL through the combined Yahoo-MSN search engine that Microsoft is propsing?
Click Here to Submit your URL to MSN Live Search
Search Engine Optimization Books on Amazon
It only makes sense...
Nearly 95% of search engine traffic comes from the top 3 search engines: Google, Yahoo and MSN. It makes sense to concentrate your efforts mainly on these sites. Once you do, the other sites will find you as well!
Keeping Track of your Hard Work
Have an eBay Store? Keep Tabs on It!
Site StatisticsTo track the effectiveness of your efforts, you should check your site statistics. This will tell you where your traffic is coming from and what brought them there. If you own an eBay Store and you'd like to find out how many buyers have been referred to your store through Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other site, log into your eBay account and check your traffic reports. You did sign up for the traffic reports, right? They're free and invaluable to find out where your marketing efforts can be improved, what's right, and what's wrong. Here you'll find a link at the top of the page to report the "referring domains." Click to generate a report with all of the sites that have driven traffic to your store.
If you don't have an eBay store, it is still essential to track your web hits. If your site does not have a stats page, you can easily place a free one on your page from sites like StatCounter or OneStatFree.com.
More URL Submissions!
Get it out There!
- SplatSearch URL Submit
- Add your webpage to this search engine.
- Scrub the Web
- What a great site! Find out how your meta tags, keywords, title tag and other features are working (or not working) for your site, for FREE!
- Exalead URL Submit
- Exalead FREE URL Submission.
- Jayde URL Submit
- Free URL Submission through this site.
- ExactSeek.com URL Submit
- Create an account for FREE URL Submission.
- WebSquash URL Submit
- Enter a web address to start the crawler.
- Suggest a Site to Open Directory
- Have something worth submitting? The Open Directory Project is a web directory of Internet resources. A web directory is something akin to a huge reference library.
- InfoTiger Website Submit
- Try it out! Just submit your URL along with your email and you're good to go.
- Url Submitter
- Submit Your Website To 66 Of The Top Search Engines Every Month For Free!
Who is the Best?
According to hitwise.com, not surprisingly, Google is the leading used search engine, and continues to grow in popularity every month. Here are some statistics about search engines that may help you:
The Yahoo! logo for the 2008 4th of July.
This is AOL's primary logo that is currently used. I used this to support my d...
The Earth Day logo for Yahoo! Pretty cool
Your Search Engine Favorite
Shopping Comparison Websites
Pay Per Click for your Sales
If you sell items online, you can also submit your store to shopping comparison sites like Shopzilla, BizRate, , Price Grabber, Shopping.com, and more. To find the leading shopping comparison sites, search "shopping comparison" and you'll find a good list. These will cost a fee, so make sure you do your research before you commit! These are often pay-per-click advertisements, so you're items have to be very targeted and easy to find. You can always take a trial and see how you do with it. If it doesn't work, you can always change the keywords or cancel. To access these programs, visit the homepage of the shopping comparison site. A tiny link at the bottom of the page will read something to the affect of "merchant advertising and accounts." Here you'll find the details on each site's advertising/pay-per-click programs.Here are some shortcuts to some of the price comparison sites:
Some of these great images provided by Wallpaper by Design.
Have you Tried Google Base?
If you sell online and aren't using Google Base, you are putting yourself at a huge disadvantage. Google Base can increase sales by 10%, 25%, and in some instances account for most of a site's web traffic.
Google Base: It's not just for eBay!
- CafeGrabber
- Generate your Froogle / Google Base feed AUTOMATICALLY for CafePress items!
- Instant-Cafe Feeder
- Sounds delicious! It's not a cup of java, it's the CafePress feeder from Instant-Cafe. Upload your items to Google Base!
New to Google Base?
See this Google Base Help page to see exactly what Google wants for its feed. Basically, you're creating a spreadsheet that has the information about your items in each cell, such as the title, description, price, etc.
Long URLs that are HARD to Remember
Forwarding Domains
Do you have a page on a website that you wish were a shorter URL? For example, say you have an eBay store and your store name is Fonzy's House of Cool. Your URL that eBay will give you is http://www.stores.ebay.com/fonzyshouseofcool. This is WAY too long for anyone to type in or remember for the most part. You can shorten it up by buying a forwarding domain. These are usually pretty cheap, under $10 at most hosting companies like Go Daddy, Host Gator, or Blue Host, to name a few.Buy the URL you want, like "Fonzyshouseofcool.com," then you'll have a URL that your customers/readers can remember! It can't take longer than five minutes, and it's excellent especially for your advertising on printed material. It should be noted that forwarding domains are tough or impossible to index, so you'll have to index the original site.
Search Engine Marketing
SEO is now one of the TOP forms of advertising!
Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site (Ibm Press)
Amazon Price: $31.49 (as of 10/11/2008)
List Price: $49.99
Here's one of the great themes of this book: make other websites want to link to you, attract their links so you don't have to do the work of pursuing them. Linking is one of the most important steps in getting search engine traffic, and without them, you won't get too far.
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Confused by the Weird Terms?
We just discovered this site, SEO Glossary.com that explains all of the complex terms you run across here and elsewhere. Bookmark it!
Backlinks
Search engines highly value how many links are incoming to your URL. This affects the page rank and ultimately the popularity of your website. If you have many links incoming to your site, then you will already have been indexed in the search engines. These links are commonly known as "backlinks." How can you get some backlinks to your website? Create great content! Make other sites WANT to link to you because of your outstanding content.
Not any backlink will do for your site.
Search engines rate the quality of the site linking to you. If the site that links to you has no similar content or reason to link to you, this can be negative to your search engine ranking. Be careful about who you ask for a link! Beware also of sites known as "link farms." These sites carry nothing but links to others sites, and Google (and other search engines) have punished them and any outbound link from that link farm.
Are reciprocal links okay?
A reciprocal link is a "I'll give you a link if you give me one" technique that has been very popular. Again, you must be careful who you are linking to. If the site is relevant, it is okay, however reciprocal links have been devalued by Google. Inbound links are much more valuable to page rank. Reciprocal links can be okay IF the sites linking together are relevant to each other's topics.
Remember...
Submitting your URL will help get your site crawled, however you must still build relevant links to get traffic to your site. The best way to do this is through good content!
So you've Added your URL...
"I added my URL and I'm still not getting traffic!"Adding your URL is just a drop in the bucket of what you need to do to get your website noticed. As we've said before, content is what will make other people recommend, share, and continue to visit your website. How do you create good content? Make something unique! Don't regurgitate information and content that is already out there in the exact same way. Either find an original subject, product, topic or idea or find a way to present something in a fresh new light and the visitors will come...of course, it doesn't hurt to do a little website promotion as well.
Want to Build a Lens Like This?
Create a Squidoo lens to promote your website, products, store, blog, MySpace, non-profit, charity, movie, book, or anything great and you'll get $5 after earning your first $15!
Already on Squidoo??
- SquidUtils.com
- The place to find complementry utilities and tools for your Lenses on Squidoo
- SquidooCool.com
- The blog to be an expert lensmaster!
- Lensroll.com
- The Cream Rises to the Top...The Best of the Best on Squidoo!
- SquidU
- Some of the best information about Squidoo is offered in this forum. Check it out!
- The Isle of Squid
- A great web directory for your quality Squidoo lenses.
- Captain Squid
- Real tips to make money on Squidoo, create a quality lens, and get noticed.
An Hour a Day...
Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day
Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 10/11/2008)
Here are a few things that are mentioned in this book that make it worth purchasing:
- What keywords to use on your site and where to find them
- Why spying is actually a good thing in SEO!
- The importance of the HTML Title and how to utilize it
- How to create an SEO friendly site map and how to submit it
- How to get links to your site (this is a big one!)
This book is easy to read and highly recommended by us.
Avg. Customer Rating: 
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How to Use Google Base to Increase your Sales
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So you'd like to kick your sales up a notch but don't know how? After you've already optimized your listings by completing the checklist below, you're ready to move on to download the Google Store Connector. If you don't have an eBay Store, Yahoo St...
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101 Ways To Promote Your Online Store
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SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Human Visitor Optimization are very important for your online store. No human and spider will find your shop if you do not work on your SEO. Below are a list of things you can do to improve your optimization. I wi...
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Increase your Squidoo Earnings with Affiliate Marketing
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Squidoo is a great place to earn a little extra cash, but are you realizing your full potential? You can further monetize your Squidoo lens, blog, or website by adding some affiliate marketing links! Hand-pick products and make recommendations, prov...
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Lensmaster Tools and Utilities
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SQUIDUtils.com Utilities and Tools for the Expert Lensmaster SquidUtils is the place to find complementry utilities and tools for your Lenses on Squidoo. Here you can see all of your lenses and groups, with shortcuts to some of the most vital fu...
A Poll About this Lens
Leave your vote and help to determine what gets added next! You're the boss!
How's your "About" Page?
It's one of the most clicked and visited pages of most websites. It can be a landing page through search engines, and the final page a potential customer will click on before deciding to make a purchase. What is your "about us" page saying to your re...-
How to Create a Captivating About Us Page for your Business
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An "about," "about us," "about me," "company information," or "about the company" page can be a valuable asset to a website, and is one of the most important web pages of your site. Often times an about us page will be one of the first results when s...
More Great Links...
- Blogging To The Bank 2.0
- How One Dumb Little Blog Can Earn Over $3,947 Per Month
- Url Submitter
- Submit Your Website To 66 Of The Top Search Engines Every Month For Free!
- 30 Minute Backlinks ** More Traffic & Higher Search Rank
- Build 1 Way Links To Increase Search Engine Rank, Google Pr And Site Visits. Everyone Needs More Traffic - This Will Help Them Get It.
- Hige Pr Backlink Generator
- Quickly Create 1000s Of Unique Blogs And Give Yourself 10s Of 1000s Of Instant Backlinks! ... Shoot Your Pr Sky-High!
Did Submitting Help You?
It's Controversial!
Submitting your site to search engines is controversial amongst SEO experts. Some say it doesn't hurt, while some say if you do it more than once, you could be put into Google's "sandbox." The vast majority of users submit once and have good luck with that, but don't try it more than once!
More SEO Lenses...
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Where to get Backlinks to your Site
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Well, no one...except search engines! If you want to people to read your page on the web, you need to have plenty of incoming links pointing right at your site. Search engines value the quantity, quality, and relevance of these links. The trouble wit...
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Why you Need Targeted Web Traffic & How to Get It
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It doesn't matter if you get a gazillion visitors to your website, if they aren't buying, what's the point? So what should you be doing? Try to get targeted web traffic. This means, in short, that you are only getting the visitors who are really inte...
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The Google Toolbar: A Must Have for Web Site Owners
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The Google Toolbar is a great way to surf the web, keep track of your own web pages, and make your overall online experiences quicker, easier, and more effective. Here you'll find links to download the Google Toolbar, some of it's features, a run-th...
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Web Directories: Submit your Site!
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A web directory is an excellent place to add your URL and gain a quick backlink. Not to be confused with search engines, web directories are compilations of websites categorized by topic. Not only do they offer a backlink, but traffic from directorie...
Here's that List Again...
- Google URL Submit
- Google's URL Submit page. Your most important submission!
- Yahoo Search Submit
- Submit your URL to Yahoo. All it takes is a free account.
- MSN URL Submit
- MSN's URL submission is easy and quick.
- SplatSearch URL Submit
- Submit your Site to SplatSearch.
- Exalead URL Submit
- The Exalead URL submission is also very quick and easy.
- Open Directory Project Submit
- DMOZ is a reference point for the entire web. Don't miss out here.
- InfoTiger URL Submit
- Submit here to InfoTiger.
- Gigablast URL Submit
- This only takes a second!
Drop a Line and Say Hello!
Have any Tips? Be Sure to Leave them Here!
SEO can be a challenging prospect for any website owner. Have you learned anything you'd like to share with the Squidoo community?
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Teddi14
Thanks for visiting my lens about getting your lens noticed and adding your lens link. Posted September 22, 2008 |
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MJA
This is a great lens. Lots of good info. Keep up the good work! http://onlinepeoplelookup.com Posted September 16, 2008 |
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wahguide
Solid seo information. You certainly won't go wrong following all of the steps outlined here! Time to scroll back up and start submitting, thanks! Posted September 05, 2008 |
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ChristieB
Hi Clhoe, Posted September 02, 2008 |
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henrykaye
Wow! Lots of places to submit. Some are new to me. 5* Posted September 02, 2008 |
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RayWallace
Great lens. Thanks for the information. Posted August 27, 2008 |
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cflick
Wow thanks for all the great stuff in this lens, It gets 5 stars from me, lenrolled, and faved! Posted August 19, 2008 |
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affiliatepayloads
Great 5* lens. Thanks a lot for sharing all these information. Posted August 18, 2008 |
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JziE
This is what I call very interesting information. And I really appreciate it. Thanx Posted August 14, 2008 |
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WallaceNuanez
Wow! I am blow back, I learned a lot from this lens thanks. Posted August 13, 2008 |
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sophiesara
your lens provide clear ideas and good tips for getting good rank. thank u...:) Posted August 12, 2008 |
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Ideas4U
Thanks for the helpful article. Posted August 11, 2008 |
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jenifersdesignercloset
Very helpful lens! Thanks for the detailed info! Posted August 05, 2008 |
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Roxy_Calamari
Thanks for the info. I submitted our eCRATER store, Sheridan Collectibles, to sites you recommended in this lens. Well-organized and informative lens! Posted August 05, 2008 |
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Treasures-By-Brenda
Thanks for helpful page. I'm trying to create backlinks! Posted July 29, 2008 |
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sbaokay
Excellent lens with loads of great information. Posted July 28, 2008 |
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Steve-SEO-UK
Had some good results with Google Base. Seen a couple of things here to follow up on. Great Lens and well laid out. 5* & Favorite. Posted July 17, 2008 |
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Tadiko
A really cool and informative lens. Thanks for sharing Posted July 16, 2008 |
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linhuck
Excellent lens! As you say it basically boils down to good relevant content. Posted July 14, 2008 |
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sbaokay
You just reminded me that I haven't submitted my lens to MSN. Just going to head over there now. Thanks! Posted July 13, 2008 |
SEO Links
- 21 Great SEO Tips...
- Mattcuttsarama: 21 Great SEO Tips From Google's Matt Cutts.
- Google Ranking Factors - SEO Checklist
- There are "over 200 SEO factors" that Google uses to rank pages in the Google search results (SERPs). What are the search engine optimization rules?
Need Some Free Advertising Techniques?
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The Best and Most Effective Way to Promote your Business...FREE Advertising!
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Time for a Break!
Now that you've read this entire lens, aren't you a bit tired? Why not retrain yourself how to take a break?-
How to Take a Break!
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It seems cliched, but everyone in the world is always in a rush. Does the rushing really get people anywhere, or are they just treading water? Sometimes, you just need to take a break. That break make be much more important and should come more ofte...
Take a Poll on this Lens!
Now that you've read this entire lens,
