For the new website owner, the launch of a new site can be daunting.  This article looks at the basics of:

  • how to get your website indexed by search engines.
  • what you can do to help.

It hopes to overcome the fear of "that my new site won't be found on search engines."

Getting Focused: Do I need to submit my website to 10,000 Search Engines?

So where do you start?  Do you need to submit your site to 1000's of search engines.  No, in Australia there are 3 major players - Google, Yahoo and MSN which account for the majority of all search traffic.

Understanding: How Search Engines Work

Little bits of software called robots / spiders automatically visit websites and 'crawls through' (reads) all of the website's code and sends what it is found back to the search engine.  This process is called indexing.

The robots and spiders systematically follow links to see where they go and what information is listed on the site.  This is their preferred method of finding new sites because if someone is linking to the new site, the search engine immediately thinks that your site is important, as opposed to manual submission whereby you are telling them that your site is important. 

With websites Managed Content Webs develops, we usually add a page in our folio that contains links to your site, so that the spiders will notified of your new site, however for piece of mind you can also submit your sites manually to the various search engines (International and Australian indexes):

Please note that no specialised software or recurring submissions are required.

Monitoring the process: Getting picked up in by search spiders

Monitor the progress of this indexing occurs easily through your web statistics which are standard as part of all our serviced website packages.

There will be others, but the key ones to look out for are:

  • Googlebot (Google),
  • MSNBot (MSN),
  • Inktomi Slurp (Yahoo). 
Click to enlarge

How long does it take to get listed in search engines?

Once search engines have been alerted to your new site, you shouldn't expect a new site to be immediately or rank as well as an established site.  Yahoo! and MSN tend to rank sites quicker (within 1-3 months of launch) while Google takes a little longer (6-9 months after launch). 

As this process occurs, you can expect to see an increase in the visitors to your website, as shown in the graph below.

Sites experience a general upward trend in visitation as their search engine ranking improves.

Be the First to Know: Automating the Alert Process

Google also provides you with a way that they notify you when your site hits their index. Google Web Alerts allows you to enter in your unique search expression (such as your company name or company website address), set the alert to look for new Web pages, ask for an alert once a day, and you should be notified by email when your site appears in the index.