Understanding Search Engine Submission
What is a Search Engine Submission?
Search engine submission refers to the submission of information or a website name to a search engine, such as Yahoo or Google for the purpose of indexing. A user will submit this information to a search engine to get a website listed; this practice is initiated either because the webmaster does not want to wait for the search engine to organically add the website or because the search engine listings are only added in a manual fashion.
The majority of dominant search engines will not require a search engine submission for the inclusion of new or updated websites because the search engine will eventually locate the underlying website and automatically update their listings within a few weeks.
A search engine submission that is automated by third parties, as oppose to the search engine itself, will often times violate the terms of service that the engine is mandated to follow. As a result of this characteristic users should operate with caution when trying to become indexed using a search engine submission.
The majority of website owners will seek to have their websites listed on at least a few major search engines; a website user or developer will attempt to initiate a listing on a number of search engine platforms to increase visibility and augment the probability of being discovered. Simply put the more indexes a webpage is found on the increased likelihood that a user will find the page when accessing various search engines.
How do I index a site using Search Engine Submission?
To index an updated or new website, a webmaster or owner, in the majority of circumstances, must navigate to the respective search engine’s “submit your site” tab or page. The primary search engines will have a tab or page dedicated to search engine submission; although not every search engine will have a “submit your site” icon or tab, they will provide something similar in text.
Once the webmaster has activated the “submit your site” tab or page, the individual can fill out a short form that will ask for the website uniform resource locator or URL. The webmaster may also be asked to pass a CAPTCHA test, which will prove the webmaster is not a computer program submitting sites automatically. Following the completion of these tests, the webmaster must wait for the site to become indexed; this process may take up to three months.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of Search Engine Submission?
In some situations, it can be advantageous for the webmaster, to engage in search engine submission. If a new website is not being back-linked by other sites, it is possible that a search engine would take a while to find and subsequently index the site. In a situation like this, engaging in search engine submission may result in the website being recognized faster, thus yielding a greater probability of users finding it through online searches.
A potential downside to search engine submission is that the process is not always helpful or necessary. In most instances, those search engines that are used for the majority of online searches will find new websites without manual submission by utilizing their web-crawling technologies to follow links from other sites.
