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How do websites get onto search engines? Why are some sites shown at the top of the results and not others?

I made a website a long time ago on Geocities, but whenever I searched for it on Yahoo/Google etc. it never showed up. Did I need to do something? Also, obviously the sites displayed at the top of results are going to be more visited, so how do people get their sites to be displayed first?

Public Comments

1. You have to pay to be on search engines. as for how they come up in a particular order i'm not sure!
2. On Google to get on the top (sponsored) you have to pay basically you pay a certain amount every time someone clicks on your link, the more you pay the higher you list
3. Serch engines display two kinds of results, one is the organic search for which you don't have to pay , the other is sponcered results based on your search keywords ( you need to pay for them) We usually pay attention to organic search, The reason why some websites come on top of search results while some not, depends on the search engine algorithm to rate websites based on numerous logics, The question how wesites get listed in search engines is search engines have web spiders or crawlers which keps on crawling from one page to the other across websites. while crawling they index the page contents to their database and based on search logic they search through the results.
4. I don't know for sure whether the format has changed (and I doubt the basic structure has), but most websites search the metadata of your html and pull from that. Depending on the specific search codes and words you have embedded, your site will appear as things get searched. Obviously using quotes in your search narrows it significantly. Additionally, you can submit your website to various spiders that will add your site to the various search engines. From everything I have read, the ones that charge you for this service are a ripoff since some moderate knowledge of html will accomplish the same thing, and results aren't guaranteed anyway. Google (and probably Yahoo and MSN as well) categorizes its searches a little differently, as one of the posters mentioned. I believe its search engine indexes every site, and then, based on search hits, moves your page higher up the list. You may have heard examples of this where during the last presidential election some student tried to associate a search for "waffles" with John Kerry's campaign website. The general premise, however, works across the board for any webpage. More information can be found on the Wikipedia page below.
5. Hello David If you want your website to be listed in some search engines then your website must be linked from other websites. You can ask your friends who are having a website to link your website. Until and unless if you don't have any link from other website, then your website will not be listed in Google. For more info you can see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization
6. Although this may seem simple, it is a very complex question. The first answer is, yes you have to submit your site to the search engines. All of the major search engines have a way to submit your site for free. You can also use a service to submit it to hundreds of search engines at once. I would recommend doing a search for "free website submission" and using one of those. They will try to charge you but unless you are submitting a pay site I wouldn't pay the fee. Search engines each utilize proprietary algorithms for indexing pages based on numerous factors. Some people have a full time job just keeping up with these factors because they change often. You can go to a site like searchenginewatch.com to learn more. Linking is one of the ways to get your site ranked higher. Having the proper Name, Meta-Tags and content (that all match) is the first step. Good luck.
7. Bots download web pages and then index every word and every file name of every image and follow links. If there are no links to your website - no bots will visit. You also need words that are unique or relevant. A lot of people type TalkTalk webspace - because they want to know how to do a Talktalk website - at the top of the page - they get my site on Google anyway! Type Mike10613 into any decent search engine and you'll find my site and my blogs and lots of stuff. Join my web ring - and I'll send the bots - even the Yahoo ones! LOL An email button is on my website - have a good look around - steal some ideas! lol. Incidentally, the bot visiting this site will follow the link to my site! Not that I need it.
8. http://www.addme.com/submission/free-submission-start.php