There are millions of websites out there and leaving your website to get found by chance may take a very long time. So what you need to do is tell the search engines you have a website. But which ones should you tell?
Outside Google, Bing and Yahoo you may not be aware of other search engines, however, there are search engines that target niches that may be useful for your business, which we'll discuss more below.
Firstly though there are two steps here – submitting your sitemap and registering your website with the search engines.
When your website was developed, one of the things that should have been created was a sitemap – this is the overall structure of the website, which updates dynamically. For example, see the Wirth Consulting Site Map. Each of the search engines will look for a site map, but to get found faster, you should tell them where your sitemap is and what your website address (URL) is.
- Google – go to Google Webmaster to submit your site map & Submit Your Site for your website URL.
- Bing – go to Bing Webmaster to submit your site map and Submit your site for your website URL.
- Yahoo – go to Yahoo Site Explorer to submit your URL and site map.
As mentioned, there are also specialised search engines available which may help you target your audience. To find search engines specifically for your niche, go to your usual search engine and type: search engine directory. Or try: [niche] search engine e.g. fashion search engine for fashion specific directories.
If you find niche search engines (which are sometimes just called Directories) list your website on it but don't spend too much time with these sites as the majority of searches are performed within Google, Bing and Yahoo.