The number of search engines that will accept web page submissions for free has been dwindling, and search engine marketers are faced with the challenges of gaining high rankings as well as faced with an increasing amount of fee's to simply submit their pages. Not only is there a demand on talent and time, now the cost to simply be included is on the rise. The low budget webmaster finds fewer options and the Internet search marketplace seems to be consolidating.
Google has been a salvation for most webmasters who can take advantage of the large audience reach for low to no money down. Viable traffic streams are still out there, and there are still a lot of places available where you can submit for free. These can be great places to test your optimization because whether it's free or paid inclusion, it still takes top positioning to get noticed. Organic rankings, or primary web page search results that lists sites based on how well they are optimized to match the search phrase, are free to obtain and clicked up to 80% more frequently than sponsored search results (paid) that appear above or off to the side of organic listings.
Raking in Rankings
Gaining top positions in the major search engines can generate more targeted traffic, leads, and sales. Traffic from search engines also offers a better return on investment (ROI) than advertising vehicles like banner ads and email marketing, even though results may take a bit longer to achieve. Of course, submitting is just the final step, but here at the Traffic Lounge we have reviewed some of the latest tricks and tips for optimizing your pages to get those high rankings. What we need to know now is what are the best places to submit (for free)?
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Task Tracking
Developing your own tools for daily marketing tasks is essential for effective SE marketing. I recommend you create a folder in your favorites called "Places to Submit" and bookmark the following links. When you have a list of URL's to submit, make sure you submit them (each individually optimized page) to as many places for free that will accept your submission as possible. Also keep a running text pad and note the date each list or URL was submitted. This is a great reference tool when checking on your submissions and detecting indexing schedules.
Basic Rules of Thumb
Check to see if the page is already indexed. If it is, the engine should automatically index your changes on its next update. Submit no more than 2 new pages per domain per day. One with www. and one without if possible - or decide in advanced if you will market your URL with or without a www., this includes setting a standard for how sites should link to your do main.. Do not submit more than 30 pages per day total from any singular IP address (computer) to any engine.
And this should go without saying by now but it can't be stressed enough; DO NOT USE AUTOMATED SUBMITTERS OR SUBMISSION SOFTWARE. Submitting manually only takes a few minutes a day and is worth the effort. Make your pages count.
Where to Submit for Free
You can still get free listings on AllTheWeb (Yahoo), AltaVista (Yahoo), AOL Search (Google), Entire Web, Google, MSN, Netscape (Google/ODP), ODP (Open Directory Project - Dmoz.org), and Zeal (non-commercial sites). Note that most of these engines won't guarantee to list all sites submitted and can't predict when or if listings will appear in the index. Where possibly, submit directly to the source engine that powers other sites and try not to duplicate submissions.
Continue to Lesson #14 for URL's and outlines of each search engine on how to get listed for free and other options for inclusion.