Frequently Asked Questions - Should I Pay to Be Included in a Search
Engine or Directory?
Yahoo charges everyone an annual fee, except nonprofit organizations,
for inclusion into their directories. If you are serious about doing
business on the Internet, then it will probably be in your best interests
to pay to be included in Yahoo, since it is simply the most well known
and used search directory. There are other directories, such as Business.com,
that also charge for inclusion. It may also be beneficial to pay to
be included in these other directories. Some of them can drive a significant
amount of targeted traffic to your site.
Many search engines, including AltaVista, Fast/All the Web, Inktomi
and Lycos, have begun to charge for inclusion into their databases.
Only a few of them still will allow you to submit your site free of
charge. However, by paying for inclusion, your site will usually get
added to the database much more quickly and will crawl your site more
often.
While the final decision is up to you, we do recommend that you use
pay-for-inclusion when and where is is cost effective for your particular
situation. We also recommend the following pay-for-inclusion programs,
in order of importance:
- Yahoo!
- Inktomi
- Business.com
- Lycos
- Fast/All the Web
- AltaVista
However, you must realize that paying to be included in a search engine
does not guarantee that you will achieve good rankings. It only guarantees
that your site/pages will be indexed in the search engine or directory.
You still need to optimize your pages for good rankings.
Return to FAQ Directory
|
