How do you remove your website from search engines?

Best online search engines + promoting your website

• I WILL ONLY ACCEPT ANSWERS FROM THOSE WITH A 4 OR 5 STAR RATING DO NOT ANSWER IF YOUR RATING IS LESS THAN THAT OR UNRATED HOWEVER ANYONE MAY ADD A COMMENT Background I design websites and promote them for clients. I have read alot about search engines and there are conflicting views over which is best and how to promote sites. I want a fresh view and a summary of the siutation as at now so i can use this as a guide for promoting sites. Also non-search engines techniques. Timing I would like a response within 3 days Don't rush your response - i would rather wait than have an incomplete response. Requirement 1. Please give a list with url of the top 20 general search engines/ directories (eg google and yahoo will be there) 1b. Explain how you decided these are top 20 (Eg by hits etc) ? 2. Which if any of these share the same database ie is it pointless submitting to them both ? 3. How do sites become listed on MSN ? 4. How long does it take for sites to become listed - please note the answer to this against each of the items in answer to 1 (you need to do a table really - perhaps you can upload that to your own url so i can read . Also note in table if payment can be made for a premium or quicker listing ? 5. Which techniques are effective in getting a high rank on general search engines eg i believe that google works based on number of links to that site. 6. Which other techniques are used for online promotion - I know of newsgroups , email and so on but what else and how best to use email etc to promote ? 7. All the above questions are apply as regards websites generally for a variety of types of clients but this question is more specific : what is the best search engine to reach UK 15 - 19 year olds ? 7b. which other sites reach that target audience - not search engines I believe this is a fairly easy question so i could do myself. However, I am paying for your time and your detailed attention to the question. So please don't think that this is easy and anyone can answer - I would like something very well laid out as regards the existing standard sites and promotion methods and perhaps even with new things i don't know of already (ie not the standard obvious stuff but some new insights) I expect you to spend an hour on this at least including typing up the info

• Answer:

  Hi there, 1. TOP 20 SEARCH ENGINES ======================== In my opinion this is best gauged by the total number of hours users spend using each search engine. This also corresponds quite well with the number of referrals websites typically receive from search engines. The top 11 search engines for August 2002, based on search hours, according to Nielsen/NetRatings are: Google 15.1 million hours ://www.google.com Yahoo 6.2 http://www.yahoo.com MSN 5.0 http://www.msn.com AOL 4.2 http://www.aol.com Ask Jeeves & Teoma 2.0 http://www.aj.com Infospace/WebCrawler 1.0 http://www.infospace.com AltaVista 0.9 http://www.altavista.com Overture 0.7 http://www.overture.com Netscape 0.6 http://www.netscape.com Lycos 0.3 http://www.lycos.com Looksmart 0.3 http://www.looksmart.com [from Search Engine Watch] http://www.searchenginewatch.com/reports/netratings.html Search Engine Watch receives special reports on this topic from both Nielsen and Jupiter, which are far more accurate than any other rankings out there. To flesh it out to 20, I would add the following: Alltheweb http://www.alltheweb.com Ixquick http://www.ixquick.com Excite http://www.excite.com Hotbot http://www.hotbot.com iWon http://www.iwon.com FindWhat http://www.findwhat.com 7Search http://www.7search.com espotting http://www.espotting.com DogPile http://www.dogpile.com 2. Which sites use which databases? =================================== Google - Google, Open Directory Yahoo - Yahoo Directory, Google, Overture Msn - Inktomi, Looksmart, Overture AOL - Google, Open Directory, Overture Ask Jeeves - Ask Jeeves, Teoma Infospace/WebCrawler - Metasearch Altavista - AltaVista, Looksmart, Overture Overture - Overture, Inktomi Netscape - Google, Open Directory, Overture Lycos - FAST, Open Directory, Overture Looksmart - Looksmart, Wisenut, Zeal Alltheweb - FAST Ixquick - Metasearch Excite - Overture, Metasearch, Open Directory Hotbot - Metasearch iWon - Google, Looksmart, Overture FindWhat - Findwhat, Direct Hit 7Search - 7Search, Teoma eSpotting - eSpotting, Inktomi DogPile - Metasearch (Metasearch - basically uses everything) (Inktomi - doesn't have it's own search site - each index it provides is slightly different) Two good charts that show all the alliances are: cre8pc http://www.cre8pc.com/search_stateof.html Search Engine Watch http://www.searchenginewatch.com/reports/alliances.html 3. How do sites become listed on MSN? ===================================== There are three ways, and all cost money. Results at MSN come from Looksmart, Inktomi and Overture. See the next question. 4. Submissions to search engines ================================ I've ranked these in the order of importance and value. The time it takes to appear in search results is less than a week unless stated. Paid directory listings are not guaranteed – if your site is not worthy you still won’t get in, and they keep the money. Paid indexing has the advantage that they re-index your site every week, and you initially get into the index faster. Open Directory -------------- http://dmoz.org - Submission is free - Is operated by volunteers, and getting listed can take between 1 day and several months. Typically takes an extra few weeks to appear on Google, AOL, Netscape etc. - Many tiny search sites also use the data for free - Browse the directory to find the appropriate category, click on "Add URL" at the top of the page Google ------ ://www.google.com/addurl.html - Submission is free - Takes 1-2 months to appear Ask Jeeves ---------- Submit via e-mail, with your URL and description. They are mega-picky! email:[email protected] FAST - free ----------- http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php - takes 1-2 weeks Altavista - free ---------------- http://addurl.altavista.com/sites/addurl/newurl - takes 2-3 weeks Looksmart - free ---------------- http://www.zeal.com/users/register.jhtml - Zeal is like Open Directory, but getting your site listed for free takes a lot of work Yahoo ----- http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/busexpress.html - Submission is free for sites not within the business category, but the reality is it can take forever to appear, or never - Paid submission is $US299 per year Inktomi ------- http://www.netsol.com/en_US/promotions/offers/options/inktomi.jhtml (or) http://ink.ineedhits.com/ - 1st URL $39, URLs 2 - 1000 $25 each, 12 month subscription - The two different services for paid submission to Inktomi are basically the same. FAST - paid ----------- http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/select_overview.asp?co=atw - Annual Membership: $18, Annual Cost per URL: $12 Teoma ----- http://ask.ineedhits.com/ - 1st URL $30, URLs 2 - 1000 $18 each, 12 month subscription FindWhat -------- http://www.findwhat.com - Pay per click - Mimimum bid 1 cent, minimum deposit $25 Overture -------- http://www.overture.com - Pay per click - Minimum bid 5 cents, with $20 minimum monthly spend Looksmart - paid ---------------- http://listings.looksmart.com/?synd=none&chan=lshomeft - $49 to get listed, and then 15 cents every time someone clicks through to your site. This could become much more expensive than using pay-per-click services like Overture and Findwhat. AltaVista - paid ---------------- http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/express_incl - First URL $39, URL #2-10 $29.00 each, URL #11-500 $19.00 each, 6 month subscription 7Search ------- http://www.7search.com - Pay per click - Minimum bid 1 cent eSpotting --------- http://www.espotting.com - Pay per click - Minimum bid £0.05 5. Techniques for getting a high ranking ======================================== There used to be different techniques for each targeted search engine. However, since the rise of Google, what works for Google is tending to the best way to go. The best techniques do not involve trickery, but rather just making your site useful to visit. SITEMAP: Create a simple site map, which contains links to every page on your site. Use this when making free submissions to search engines, and they will find all the other pages INDEX PAGE: This should not be a "splash page" that is all graphics / animations / Flash / sound. It should have lots of text, and lots of links to other parts of your site. Try to minimize outside links - they are better suited to other pages. LINKS: Google uses links to and from your site as a way of judging how good your site is. If it's a top site, then others are likely to be linking to you. And a useful website should link to other good resources, for this is what makes the web tick. Basically, the more good sites that link to you, the higher your ranking will be. The best links to have are from Yahoo and Open Directory. The next best links pointing to your site are from other sites with high rankings, preferably on the same topic as your site. Use the Google Toolbar to see the ranking of other sites. Try and find sites that are not your opposition, but are complementary to your site. Do not get listed on FFA search engines, or any scheme designed to improve your ranking by using some trickery of clever plan - Google knows most of them and can penalise your site. CONTENT: Search engine algorithms are secret, but as time goes on they seem to be becoming better at judging "good content" in the same way that you or I would. Write for your target audience, and reward their visit to your site by supplying lots of interesting and useful information. Write naturally - that way you will include lots of good keywords without even trying. PAGES: The more pages your site has, with more info on them, the more Google will like your site. Sites with over 100 pages seem to rank higher. Try to keep every page in the top level of your site - pages within sub-directories rank lower. KEYWORDS: The keywords that searchers use to find a site like yours need to appear on your web pages. Try and place them in the title, description, H1 tags and general text. Use the keyword suggestion tool at Overture, and sprinkle your pages with a few popular phrases. http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ COMPETITORS: Work out how they get higher rankings than you, and copy them. Don't copy their content, but rather dissect their web pages and look for why they are doing better... - where are the keywords? - who are they linking to? - who links to them? DISCUSSIONS: There are many places where webmasters discuss how to get high rankings. The best in my opinion is Web Master World http://www.webmasterworld.com Also try this brand new site, Cre8asite: http://webworkshop.net/cre8asite/ Apart from the above, there aren't really any "tricks" to attaining a high ranking. Just make your site the best it can be, and they will come. 6. Other techniques for online promotion ======================================== BECOME AN OPEN DIRECTORY EDITOR ------------------------------- If you are passionate about the topic of your website, then perhaps there is a related category at Open Directory where you could help out as an editor. This puts you in a position to list your site the way you want it to appear. AFFILIATE PROGRAMS ------------------ Pay other sites a percentage of sales, or a few cents, for each visitor they send you. You get to decide which sites qualify. You can run it yourself, or use a third-party service. I can recommend: Commission Junction http://cj.com ClickBank http://clickbank.com PAY PER CLICK ------------- The only three worth bothering with are Overture, FindWhat and Google Adwords. They each have a huge audience. You don't have to pay dollars per click - just look for keywords that are less common, where you can get in the top 3 results for cheaper. This is worthy of spending a lot of effort on. If your site is selling a specific product, it is quite easy to compare how much you are paying for the traffic with how many extra sales you have made. Many websites make a killing using pay per click. START ANOTHER WEBSITE --------------------- Same general topic, but different focus, different products, different information. Domain names are under $10 per year, and hosting can be found for $25 or so per year. The advantage is that you can link the sites to each other, boosting traffic to both of them. This is why Microsoft has Hotmail – it doesn’t make them any money, but when you log out of Hotmail, you end up at MSN. SYNDICATE YOUR CONTENT ---------------------- If you are an expert at your topic, and can create good content, others will want to use it on their sites, or in their newsletters. Give your content away, with the requirement that a link to your site is attached to the article. 7. Best search engine to reach UK 15 - 19 year olds? ==================================================== Although there are search engines aimed at young children that need to be protected from "nasty" content, there aren't any targeting 15-19 year olds. I don't believe that any survey has been conducted regarding teenagers and search engines in the UK, however in the USA they seem to favour the same sites as adults: June 2001 / Nielsen NetRatings 1 Yahoo 7.2 million teen visitors 2 AOL 7.0 3 MSN 6.2 4 Passport.com 4.7 5 Geocities.com 3.8 6 Microsoft.com 2.4 7 Go.com 2.0 8 EBay 1.6 9 Amazon.com 1.3 10 Netscape.com 1.3 http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28158,00.html I would expect that the interfaces of Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, iWon and eSpotting would be more appealing to teenagers than a site like AlltheWeb or Teoma. 7b. Which other sites reach that target audience ================================================ After looking at a number of survey results, the following types of websites are most popular with teenagers: - Anything related to personal contact: email, SMS, IM, online chat, online dating - Homepages of friends - Ringtones and graphics for mobile phones - Sports info - News - Fan sites (music, movie & sports stars) - Video games - retail and sites featuring reviews and cheats - Online video games - Entertainment - TV shows, CD stores, cinemas, music downloads - Retail - clothes, fads (skateboarding etc) - Health information "Email is the most popular use of the Internet by students, followed by study, entertainment, sports info, news and travel." http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356977&rel=true "Chat and e-mail services such as MSN Messenger, Caramail.com, GMX.de are amongst the most popular sites for teens in Europe. Community sites that offer homepages and chat facilities are also popular. Other categories that fare well with European teens include retail, entertainment, news and information and search sites." http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357048&rel=true "According to Nielsen-Netratings, nine out of the top ten online destinations for kids and teenagers featured instant messaging tools and services such as downloadable IM icons and profiles. The top site visited by online kids and teens in the US during July was ColorYourProfyle.com. The second most visited website was ActiveBuddy.com, while IMTools.com, gURL.com, and FireHotQuotes.com round out the top five children’s sites." http://www.e-gateway.net/infoarea/news/news.cfm?nid=2586 "Amazon.com and eBay are popular sites among teenagers -- even if they aren't shopping at them. While only 11 percent of teens have made an online purchase, one-third of them use the Web for researching purchases they'll make offline. Jupiter Media Metrix research shows teens visit the same sites as adults on the Web, but without credit cards lack the ability to purchase at these sites." "42 percent of teenagers view personal Web sites of other users and three of the top 20 sites visited by teens are homepage providers Angelfire, TriPod and Homestead" "Using portals and checking e-mail is tops with teens, who spend between 45 minutes and an hour each month at Yahoo! and MSN, and checking e-mail at Hotmail. Additionally, teens spent on average of nearly an hour each month at eBay, according to research, which points out that while adults spend more time on average each month at eBay, teens with no ability to purchase spend a lot of time on the auction site." http://www.digitrends.net/ebna/index_16632.html See also: "Attack of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Surfers" http://www.igcn.com/solutions/newsletter/1201.htm Many Teens Shop Online, Buy Offline http://www.digitrends.net/mna/index_16639.html Websites which had the highest concentration of USA teen visitors in June 2001 were: 1 Teen.com 67.1% 2 Teenpeople.com 66.9% 3 Katrillion.com 66.8% 4 Sparknotes.com 66.3% 5 Badassbuddy.com 65.9% 6 Blink182.com 64.7% 7 Coolquiz.com 62.7% 8 Teenmag.com 62.7% 9 Teenchat.com 61.4% 10 Seventeen.com 60.9% http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28158,00.html ==================================== Search strategy: Mostly personal knowledge and experience, plus: "percent of teenagers" Yahoo ://www.google.com/search?q=%22percent+of+teenagers%22+Yahoo Best wishes, robertskelton-ga