Submitting Your Business Website to Specialty Search Engines and Directories

It’s time to locate specialty search engines and directories that your target business website audience uses. Use Google Toolbar or Alexa to quickly assess the PageRank and traffic for these specialty search engines. Bother only with engines that appeal to your target audience and that seem to be maintained.

You’ll find that tracking your search engine and directory submissions is easier if you create a spreadsheet corresponding to the one you build for link requests. A few directories and search engines accept e-mail applications, but most have online forms that are similar to the one at the Open Directory or slightly more complicated.

Don’t worry about submitting to a meta search engine such as Metacrawler or Dogpile, because you can’t! These search engines compile results from the other primary search engines. Don’t confuse meta search engines with meta indices, which are directories of other directories.

In addition to submitting to vertical market, industry-specific, and application directories or search engines, include these essential generic directories:

• Yellow pages and white pages

  
  



• Maps and local directories, especially if you have an office or bricks-and-mortar storefront

  
  



• General business, trade association, and professional membership directories

  
  



• Directories for images, audio, video, and multimedia, if appropriate

  
  

For tables listing some of the resources in the preceding bulleted list, see three tables titled “Basic, Free Directories,” “Free Business Directories,” and “Audio, Video, Multimedia, and Image Directories” in the following website Dummies.com/Webmarketing

If your website uses any of the following elements, submit it to the appropriate directories:

• Chat, message board, or other online feature directories — for example, coupons or contests

  
  



• Public calendars and live event directories

  
  



• Shopping search engines, such as Google Product Search or Shopzilla

  
  



• Directories of social sharing sites for blogs, photos, podcasts, and videos

  
  

Google Places is the new substitute for Google Local. Even if you have no website, you can create a free listing that appears on Google and Google Maps. Your listing can include video, photos, and more. It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s a great way to get started. For more information, see Google.com/Places/Support.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/submitting-your-business-website-to-specialty-sear.navId-811455.html