Search Engines - A Look At the Beast's Underbelly

Where should your web site be listed?
Despite what the search engine marketing spammers may claim, there are only a few hundred legitimate search engines and directories out there (you've probably seen the ads for "get listed and resubmitted to 3,500 search engines every 30 days for just $29.95 a month"). Of those few hundred sites, only a very small handful are important to consider for your site. The top half dozen search sites will bring in 95%+ of the search engine traffic to your site.

To succeed in the search engines, you need to target the search sites that are important. Agape Web Promotion specifically recommends targetting the following three search sites, with secondary emphasis placed on the search engines and directories on an as-needed basis:

1. Google (www.google.com) is the king of search on the web. A good listing in this search engine is crucial. The good thing about Google is that it is still free; the bad thing is that it is huge and the competition is horrendous. If you want to pay for an advantage, Google Ad Words - their pay-per-click service is everywhere on the web and offers great exposure (at a price).

2. MSN Search (search.msn.com) rolled out its own search engine on February 1, 2005 and has since been building up its index. It is free and, as it is built in to Internet Explorer, remains important. It is currently using Yahoo's sponsored listings, although that will be expiring June 1, 2006, in favor of (presumably) its own pay-per-click service (which, rumor has it, Microsoft is working on).

3. Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) was the big gorilla of search on the web for many, many years before Google. When it purchased Overture, Inktomi, AlltheWeb and AltaVista several years ago, it remade itself and is once again a powerhouse. Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture), along with Google's Ad Words, are THE pay-per-click services on the web (where you can pay for your site's placement in their listings).