AllTheWeb (Fast Search)     http://www.alltheweb.com

Launched in 1999, All The Web (Fast Search) is a popular crawler-based search engine with an excellent database. FAST All The Web offers a free search engine submission and listing service, but doesn't guarantee that sites submitted this way will actually show up. Make sure you submit your home page here - there's no better deal than free!  Usual wait times for indexing ( getting your pages added to the database ) can be be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.  If you want to ensure that you are included in the FAST All The Web database, they offer a paid inclusion service with an Annual Membership fee of $18 per year plus $12 per URL submitted per year. Paid submittals are guaranteed indexing within 48 hours and every 48 hours thereafter. A viable and affordable alternative to the free search engine submit for those who prefer not to wait.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Crawler based index
What Pages to Submit:	Your home page and a couple of interior pages
Free URL Submissions:	http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url
Wait Time Until Indexed:	From 2 weeks up to several months (Indexing does not guarantee pages will be included in the database)
Paid URL Submissions:	Lycos InSite Select Registration (FAST AllTheWeb markets paid inclusion services via portal partners such as Lycos)
Paid Inclusion Costs:	$18 Annual Membership Fee; $12 Per URL Annually
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Guaranteed within 48 hours

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AltaVista  http://www.altavista.com

In existence since 1995, AltaVista is the longest running spidering search engine. Although nowhere near as popular as it once was, AltaVista still boasts an impressive database. AltaVista offers a free URL listing service, but indexing may take from 4 to 6 weeks.  At the time of writing AltaVista appears to penalize pages submitted through their free search engine registration option but even these pages will usually get indexed or added to their database and climb eventually. AltaVista also offers a paid inclusion service for rapid inclusion in the index. See costs below.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Crawler based index
What Pages to Submit:	Your home page and a couple of interior pages
Free URL Submissions:	http://addurl.altavista.com/addurl/new
Wait Time Until Indexed:	4 to 6 weeks
Paid URL Submissions:	AltaVista Express Inclusion (AltaVista partners with InfoSpider to provide this service)
Paid Inclusion Costs:	1 URL - $39; 2~10 URL's - $29; 11~500 URL's - $19
Wait Time Until Indexed:	No specified time - usually within 48 hours plus daily reindexing of pages

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AOL Search  search.aol.com/aolcom/index.jsp

AOL Search has recently partnered with Google and supplies indexed results from Google's crawler-based index. AOL Search also returns directory results based on the Open Directory Project database. AOL members have access to certain content that is not made available to non-members.  You can submit to AOL's free url submission page but the Open Directory handles all free web site submissions. Therefore if you have submitted to the Open Directory, there is little point in submitting again via AOL Search.  As AOL gets most of its results from Google, any page that ranks well in Google's database will usually hold the same position at AOL. If you are having trouble getting listed in the Open Directory then submitting your page to Google will get you a listing in AOL in a lot less time.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Hybrid - Directory listings maintained by Open Directory / Indexed results based on Google's database
What Pages to Submit:	Your home page only
Free URL Submissions:	(If your site has already been listed in the Open Directory Project, there is no need to submit to AOL: Search)
Wait Time Until Indexed:	See Open Directory
Paid URL Submissions:	Not Applicable
Paid Inclusion Costs:	Not Applicable
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Not Applicable

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Ask Jeeves / Teoma  http://www.ask.com   http://www.teoma.com

Ask Jeeves has achieved popularity with many surfers thanks to its unique question style search queries with result provided by editors. Search results are also drawn from Teoma, a crawler-based search engine owned by Ask Jeeves. There are no free search engine submissions to either Ask Jeeves or Teoma, but a paid inclusion search engine listing service is available for a modest fee.

Ask Jeeves also owns the Direct Hit search engine and www.directhit.com has now been redirected to www.teoma.com.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Hybrid - Results provided by both editors and the Teoma database
What Pages to Submit:	Home page - Paid inclusion only
Free URL Submissions:	Not Applicable
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Not Applicable
Paid URL Submissions:	http://ask.ineedhits.com
Paid Inclusion Costs:	1st URL $30.00; URLs 2 - 1000 $18.00 each
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Within 7 Days

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ExactSeek  http://www.exactseek.com

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Google  http://www.google.com

Since its modest beginnings at Stanford University, Google has emerged as the most popular of all search engines. Google provides very accurate search results and a host of site features that make it the main destination for web searchers.  Google crawls the internet quite regularly and they are usually one of the fastest engines for indexing or adding well-optimized pages to their database. At this time, they supply results from their database that are completely integrated into the Yahoo Directory results and they have a similar arrangement with AOL. Yahoo is expected to switch to the Inktomi database in early 2004.

Google is an SEO Optimization dream. Getting top search engine rankings and positioning at Google can mean instant success for your web site. Well positioned sites listed at Google usually get more traffic from this one engine than all other search engines combined.

Google has also launched AdWords, a pay-per-click system of advertising but still chooses not to participate in the paid inclusion market.  Best of all - free site submission is still an option at Google.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Crawler-based index
What Pages to Submit:	Home page only
Free URL Submissions:	http://www.google.com/addurl.html
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Usually within a few days; Sites are normally picked up by the crawler without being submitted at all
Paid URL Submissions:	https://adwords.google.com/select
Paid Inclusion Costs:	$5 Activation Fee; Pay per click thereafter based on amount bid
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Not Applicable

We add and update new sites to our index each time we crawl the web, and we invite you to submit your URL here. We do not add all submitted URLs to our index, and we cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when or if they will appear. Please enter your full URL, including the http:// prefix. For example: http://www.google.com/. You may also add comments or keywords that describe the content of your page. These are used only for our information and do not affect how your page is indexed or used by Google.   Please note: Only the top-level page from a host is necessary; you do not need to submit each individual page. Our crawler, Googlebot, will be able to find the rest. Google updates its index on a regular basis, so updated or outdated link submissions are not necessary. Dead links will 'fade out' of our index on our next crawl when we update our entire index.

Need to remove a site from Google? For more information, click here.

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HotBot  http://www.hotbot.com

HotBot is one of the few engines still offering a free search engine listing. The first link below is about the last place available to submit to the Inktomi database at no cost. Be aware that registration is required to use the free search engine registration service but Lycos/Hotbot offer no guarantees as to the effectiveness of using their free listing service.HotBot, now owned by Lycos, is another once popular search engine that has lost many of its followers over the past several years. However this service has made changes of late and is working hard at a comeback.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Crawler-based index
What Pages to Submit:	Home page only
Free URL Listing:	secure.lycos.de/countries/uk/index.php  (URL not Available)
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Usually within 30 days
Paid URL Submissions:	http://www.hotbot.lycos.co.uk/submit.html
Paid Inclusion Costs:	£69 (Pounds Sterling) for 12 months
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Within 24 hours plus reindexing every 48 hours

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IWon  http://www.iwon.com

iWon is basically a portal site that offers daily, weekly and monthly prizes of all kinds. Search results are from the Google database with paid listings from Overture displayed above the Google listings.
 
Web site submission is therefore not necessary and iWon does not offer a free search engine submit page for this reason.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Portal site offering search capability
What Pages to Submit:	Refer to Google
Free URL Submissions:	Not Applicable
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Not Applicable
Paid URL Submissions:	Not Applicable
Paid Inclusion Costs:	Not Applicable
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Not Applicable

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Inktomi  http://www.inktomi.com

Inktomi is a very important database that supplies results to MSN, HotBot, Overture, Looksmart and about 47 other partner sites. (Inktomi does not have its own search site.) If you have the resources it might be advisable ( certainly much faster ) to submit one paid inclusion page to Inktomi through PositionTech (see table below).

One advantage to paying for inclusion is their promise to re-spider your page every 48 hours - meaning you can make changes to your page and see the effectiveness of any change every two days.  Please note that Inktomi was recently purchased by Yahoo so a listing here could get your site listed at Yahoo in the near future. Very sweet - particularly if your listing in Yahoo ( via Inktomi ) is accomplished through a free url registration :-)

Please be aware that registration is required to take advantage of the free submit url option and there's no guarantee your url will be listed.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Crawler-based Index
What Pages to Submit:	Home page only
Free URL Submission:	insite.lycos.com/default.asp  This is a dead link. (This link goes to Lycos InSite Homepage - there is a free submittal link about two-thirds of the way down the page - please note that you will be asked to register as an InSite User to access the actual submission page )
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Usually within 30 days
Paid URL Submissions:	http://www.positiontech.com/inktomi/searchsubmit.htm URL not Working
Paid Inclusion Costs:	$39 per year for 1 URL; $25 per year for additional URL's
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Generally within 72 hours plus reindexing every 48 hours

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Looksmart  http://search.looksmart.com/

Looksmart is a directory style search engine that offers different search engine submission services. LookSmart has recently converted all their business listings to a pay per click model. The rate is set at $0.15 cost-per-click (CPC) OR $15.00 per 100 click throughs.

Site submission for Non-business sites is dine through the Zeal directory. Zeal is a human compiled directory that is owned by Looksmart. After signing up for free membership, you may submit sites to Zeal. Go to www.zeal.com for more info.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Directory
What Pages to Submit:	Paid Listings Only
Free URL Submissions:	Not Applicable
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Not Applicable
Paid URL Submissions:	http://listings.looksmart.com/?synd=none&chan=lshomebus
Paid Inclusion Costs:	$49 Activation Fee $0.15 cost-per-click (CPC) OR $15.00 per 100 click throughs
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Listings upon payment

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Lycos  http://www.lycos.com

Although Lycos was one of the original crawler-based search engines, it now returns results from the FAST (AllTheWeb) database. Paid inclusion is identical to FAST AllThe Web, which markets this service for Lycos. Directory listings are also provided by Lycos from the Open Directory.

Sadly this means that there is no free submission or web site registration at Lycos.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Uses other databases for results
What Pages to Submit:	Not Applicable
Free URL Submissions:	Not Applicable
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Not Applicable
Paid URL Submissions:	Lycos InSite Select Registration  (FAST AllTheWeb markets paid inclusion services via portal partners such as Lycos)
Paid Inclusion Costs:	$18 Annual Membership Fee; $12 Per URL Annually
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Guaranteed within 48 hours

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MSN Search  http://search.msn.com

Microsoft's MSN Search is a directory service that also returns crawler-based results from the Inktomi database. The most popular searches will return pages that are selected by the MSN Search editorial team.

MSN Search still allows you to register urls free. URL Submission is via the Inktomi database. Results are no longer supplied by the Looksmart Directory so it pays nowadays to rank well in Inktomi.

There is indication that MSN is preparing to launch their own spidering search engine - MSNbot is crawling the web indexing and adding pages to a database - so it is probably only a matter of time until that information is made available.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Hybrid - Directory listings and crawler-based results
What Pages to Submit:	Homepage
Free URL Submissions:	http://submitit.bcentral.com/msnsubmit.htm (Submitted sites are indexed by Inktomi)
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Usually within 30 days
Paid URL Submissions:	advertising.msn.com/msnsites/SubmitSite.asp (Not Working)
Paid Inclusion Costs:	Through Overture Fast Track $199 Activation Fee cost-per-click (CPC) based on current bids - or Self Serve with no up-front costs.
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Listings upon payment

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Netscape Search   http://channels.netscape.com/ns/search/default.jsp

Netscape Search uses the Google database for most of its search results. Some listings returned are drawn from the Open Directory. There is also a free web site submission link that takes you to the Open Directory site. As with many other search providers, to rank on Netscape means being listed or indexed elsewhere.

The good news is free web submission is still available through both Google and the Open Directory.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Hybrid - Crawler-based results with some directory listing
What Pages to Submit:	Not Applicable
Free URL Submissions:	See Open Directory
Wait Time Until Indexed:	See Open Directory
Paid URL Submissions:	http://digitalwork.netscape.com/searchengines_buy.html
Paid Inclusion Costs:	Basic Plan - $129.99 for 1 Year (Includes submission to multiple engines, but doesn't say which ones) Professional Plan - $169.98 for 1 Year (Guarantees 2 day turn around) Also offers another two higher cost premium plans
Wait Time Until Indexed:	2 Days for Professional Plan

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Open Directory Project (ODP)  http://dmoz.org/

The Open Directory Project is the only major directory that continues to accept free web page submission. The editors are volunteers who have to be dedicated to their task considering the volume of submittals they must receive. Read their free search submission guidelines carefully and follow them.

ODP supplies listings to a number of other engines, making a good listing very valuable indeed. Google's directory section is powered by the Open Directory database.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Directory
What Pages to Submit:	Homepage only
Free URL Submissions:	http://dmoz.org/add.html
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Usually 2 to 3 weeks
Paid URL Submissions:	Not Applicable
Paid Inclusion Costs:	Not Applicable
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Not Applicable

How to suggest a site to the Open Directory

The Open Directory Project is a web directory of Internet resources. A web directory is something akin to a huge reference library. The directory is hierarchically arranged by subject - from broad to specific. The ODP is maintained by community editors who evaluate sites for inclusion in the directory. They are our experts, and all submissions are subject to editor evaluation.

We care a great deal about the quality of the ODP. We aren't a search engine and pride ourselves on being highly selective. We don't accept all sites, so please don't take it personally should your site not be accepted. Our goal is to make the directory as useful as possible for our users, not to have the directory include all (or even most) of the sites that could possibly be listed or serve as a promotional tool for the entities listed.

To keep the ODP running smoothly and to assist us in exercising our editorial discretion, we have set up policies for submitting sites for our consideration. We may reject, delete, or edit submissions that violate these policies or that we otherwise believe, in our sole discretion, should not be included in the directory. We may also reject, delete, or block other sites that we believe to be associated with a user who has violated these policies.

You should take a few moments to understand these policies and the steps to submit a site before you begin.  Failure to understand and follow these instructions generally will result in the rejection of a submission.

Step One

Determine whether a site is appropriate for submission to the ODP:

• Do not submit mirror sites. Mirror sites are sites that contain identical content, but have altogether different content.

• Do not submit URLs that contain only the same or similar content as other sites you may have listed with the directory.  Sites with overlapping and repetitive content are not helpful to users of the directory.  Multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites.

• Do not disguise your submission and submit the same URL more than once.
  Example: http://www.dmoz.org and http://www.dmoz.org/index.html

• Do not submit any site with an address that redirects to another address.

• The Open Directory has a policy against the inclusion of sites with illegal content. Examples of illegal material include child pornography; libel; material that infringes any intellectual property right; and material that specifically advocates, solicits or abets illegal activity (such as fraud or violence).

• Do not submit sites "under construction." Wait until a site is complete before submitting it. Sites that are incomplete, contain "Under Construction" notices, or contain broken graphics or links aren't good candidates for the directory.

• Submit pornographic sites to the appropriate category under Adult.

• Submit non-English sites to the appropriate category under World.

• Don't submit sites consisting largely of affiliate links.

Step Two

Do a quick search in the directory at dmoz.org (the home of the Open Directory) to be sure your site isn't already listed. This saves everyone time.

Step Three

Identify the single best category for your site. The Open Directory has an enormous array of subjects to choose from. You should submit a site to the single most relevant category. Sites submitted to inappropriate or unrelated categories may be rejected or removed.

Note: Some categories do not have "suggest URL" or "update URL" links. These categories don't accept submissions, so you should find a more specific category for your site.

Step Four

Once you've selected the best category for your site, go directly to that category on dmoz.org and then click "suggest URL." Follow the instructions on the submission form carefully.  Descriptions of sites should describe the content of the site concisely and accurately.  They should not be promotional in nature. Submitting a promotional description rather than an objective, well written description may significantly delay your site from being listed or prevent your site from being listed at all. Auto-submission software is (and always has been) a violation of this procedure. Sites submitted automatically are flagged and deleted after the submission is accepted, without notification to you. Persistent automatic submission may force us to ban you from the dmoz site, so we can provide resources to real human beings.

An ODP editor will review your submission to determine whether to include it in the directory. Depending on factors such as the volume of submissions to the particular category, it may take several weeks or more before your submission is reviewed. Please only submit a URL to the Open Directory once. Again, multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites.  Disguising your submission and submitting the same URL more than once is not permitted.

If a site has been accepted for inclusion in the directory but you are dissatisfied with how the site is described or titled, you may go to the category where it is listed, and fill out the "update URL" form. If you are dissatisfied with the category in which your site is listed, you may send an e-mail to an editor for the category explaining your disagreement. Be polite and civil -- threatening or abusive behavior will not be tolerated.

If (but only if) you are dissatisfied with the editor's response, you may then use the "Feedback" link at the top of the page to "appeal" the editor's decision. Be specific concerning your disagreement (including why you believe the editor's response is inadequate). Comments made through the feedback link are reviewed by the ODP staff, who will make the final decision. Please do NOT send correspondence to Netscape, as that will only slow down and complicate the process. We take all feedback seriously and give it our thoughtful consideration. But please remember that we must exercise our discretion and make numerous judgment calls as to how to make the ODP as useful as possible -- no matter what decision we make, we may not always satisfy everyone.

If your site has been accepted into the Open Directory, it may take anywhere from 2 weeks to several months for your site to be listed on partner sites which use the Open Directory data, such as AOL Search, Google, Netscape Search, Yahoo Search, and hundreds of other sites. We make updates of the data available weekly, but each partner has their own update schedule.

Please recognize that making the ODP a useful resource requires us to exercise broad editorial discretion in determining the content and structure of the directory. That discretion extends (but is not limited) to what sites to include, where in the directory sites are placed, whether and when to include more than one link to a site, when deep linking is appropriate, and the content of the title and description of the site. In addition, a site's placement in the directory is subject to change or deletion at any time at our sole discretion. You should not rely on any aspect of a site's inclusion in the directory.  Please understand that an editor's exercise of discretion may not always treat all submissions equally. You may not always agree with our choices, but we hope you recognize that we do our best to make fair and reasonable decisions.

The Open Directory team welcomes comments and feedback about the directory generally. Please let us know what you think, and how we can improve the service. Thanks!

Proceed to the Open Directory home at dmoz.org - Start here to find a category to submit to.

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Yahoo  http://www.yahoo.com

Yahoo began in 1994 and has become the most popular directory on the web. Like many other search engines, free commercial listings are a thing of the past at Yahoo. Yahoo requires a hefty payment of $299 to even have your commercial web site reviewed. This does not guarantee inclusion in the directory. It simply means that an editor will review your site and decide if it is worthy of inclusion.

The good news is that Yahoo still uses Google for its main search results. This means that sites not included in the Yahoo directory can still show up in the search results if they are well ranked in Google. Of course the actual Yahoo catalog may still be searched separately. Therefore it's definitely worth gaining a listing in the directory if you have the budget.

Also worth noting, Yahoo is set to switch it's results from Google to the Inktomi database in the first quarter of 2004 so once again a good ranking on Inktomi will be well worth the effort.

Key Information:

Type of Search Engine:	Directory
What Pages to Submit:	Homepage only
Free URL Submissions:	http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/ (Follow instructions - Non-commercial sites only)
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Up to 3 months for a review
Paid URL Submissions:	http://www.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
Paid Inclusion Costs:	$299.00 for a site review (does not guarantee a listing) If site is accepted the yearly fee is also $299.00
Wait Time Until Indexed:	Review guaranteed within 7 days

 

 

 Last Updated:  June 2, 2007