You've tested your Web site and found a host. Now you are ready to let the world enjoy your work. One of the best ways to make people aware of your site is to register with one or more search engines.

Fortunately, registering your site is easy, quick, and something you can do on the Internet.

Contacting search engine companies

Most search engine companies are proud of the number of sites their engines can find. Therefore, these companies make it easy for you to register with them. Most search engines will register your site at no cost. For a fee, there are also registration services that will list your site with hundreds of search engines.

In addition to the well-known search engines, there are also country-specific and subject-specific engines. For example, if your Web site is devoted solely to music, you can register with a music-specific search engine.

Most of the major search engines, such as MSN, Yahoo, and Google, provide links to their registration pages. To find a listing of search engine companies, visit the Search Engine Watch Web site.

Registering your site

If you browse to the home page of a search engine, scroll down to the bottom of the page. At the bottom, often just above the copyright notices, you will see a series of links that typically includes disclaimers, advertising information, and a link to a registration page. The registration link generally is listed as one of the following:

• Add URL
• Add a page
• Add your site
• Promote your site
• How to suggest a site

When you click the link, you see a registration page. Typically, you provide your site's URL and your e-mail address at the very least. Other information you might be asked to supply includes:

• Primary language.
• Geographic location.
• Category that describes the subject of your site.
• Type of site, such as personal or commercial.

 Note   Some search engines do not accept URLs that contain certain symbols, such as ampersand (&), percent sign (%), equal sign (=), or question mark (?).

When you get to the search engine's registration page, follow the directions. In addition to the forms for registering your site, many registration pages contain helpful hints and other useful information.

For more information about optimizing your Web site for higher search engine results, see Make sure people can find your Web site and Search engine optimization: Higher rankings with FrontPage 2002.