Frequently Asked Questions - How Long Will It Take for My Site/Pages to be Indexed?

It sounds cliché and like a cop out, but it's the absolute truth: it depends.

It depends on the search engine. Fast/All the Web clains that they spider and add new sites every 10-14 days. Google crawls the web and updates its index once a month. On the other side of the spectrum, it will take a couple of months or more to see your site added to the AltaVista index.

For the directories, it can take severla weeks or months to get added. This is especially true for Open Directory Project where the editors are volunteers. Additionally, many of the categories have no editor managing the category. When this happens, your submission request is forwarded to the next highest editor. This can increase the time it takes to get indexed.

At Yahoo!, you can only get added for free if you have a non-profit site. If you do, and you choose to try and get added for free, it may take several weeks or months. It may be in your best interests to pay to be included in Yahoo! since your site can be added in no more than 10 days if you pay to be included. Of course, Yahoo! reserves the right to reject your submission, even if you pay for it.

If you don't want to wait, you can pay to be included in many search engines. Inclusion times range from 24 hours to 7 days.

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