There are two types of Search Engines - "True" Search Engines and Directories. Although the term "search engine" is used for both, it is important to understand the differences between them.
"True" Search Engines, such as Excite, Hotbot, and WebCrawler, use programs called "spiders" or "bots" to index sites automatically. Visitors can only search them using keywords and phrases.
Directories, such as Yahoo and The Yellow Pages, are organized into a hierarchy of categories. You can list your site in more than one category, however most Directories reserve the right to decide themselves where you are listed. These Directories are also searchable by visitors.
What does all this mean to you?
The single most important thing to do is submit your URL (web site address) to Yahoo. Yahoo has by far the most visitors, and, because it is a Directory, you need to do it manually.
In Yahoo, to add a site to their listings, you first decide on the category(s) you want to be in. Do this by navigating to the section you want (e.g. Business and Economy: Companies: Real Estate: Regional: U.S. States: New York) and then clicking the "suggest a site" link at the bottom of the page. Be aware that Yahoo takes a few weeks to register you because they do it manually.
In addition to Yahoo, you should also submit your URL to Hotbot, Excite, WebCrawler, InfoSeek, and Lycos. Here are links to these sites:
One stop shopping
There are an increasing number of services that will provide you with a form through which to register with multiple sites. Most of these services are free to register with 15-20 of the top search engines. For $50 or so, they will register you with over 200. You can use many of them to track how you are being rated by the search engines (what position you will come up). These services also provide valuable up-to-the-minute information about how to register - how your site gets scored, what keywords to use, etc.. Three popular ones are: The Web Site Garage, NetAnnounce and Submit-It. But be warned, you will still have to do Yahoo yourself.
Before you register…
Make sure your web site is ready. You may get listed low on the search engines if your initial site is "under construction" or incomplete. Do some searches yourself using different search engines. Note the different ways a site is described or listed. In Yahoo, check out companies like yours and how well they are listed. Decide what category you will want to be in.
Getting listed on top.
When a visitor does a search, thousands of results are returned. If your site doesn't show up on the first page or two, it might as well not be there.
The first thing to consider is how will your audience, the people you want to get to your site, look for you? In Real Estate, these are the most common phrases and keywords people use:
General Keywords:
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Property Type Keywords:
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Geography Keywords:
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In addition to your actual site content, the search engines examine 4 main things when they rate your site:
- Your Domain Name
- Your Search Keywords
- Your Search Description
- Your Site Title
When choosing a domain name, there are a few important points to remember. Make the name descriptive if possible and don't make it too long, or difficult to spell.
Search Keywords:
Be careful not to overdo repeating your keywords - it can actually hurt your ranking. A maximum of 1000 characters is suggested.
Search Description:
This text is read by the search engines indexers and used for your scoring. A maximum of 200 characters is suggested.
Site Title:
The site title is used by the search engines in rating your page. You may want to consider using the words "Real Estate" and perhaps the name of your geographical area.
You CAN make a difference
You can win the war of high listings. Try this test. Go to Yahoo, and search for "poconos real estate" and see why Tashlik Real Estate is doing so well. Try it yourself.
