After you have compiled your website and hosted it, your primary concern is that it should be visited by, more and more people. For this, you try various tactics to promote your site. One way of promoting your website is to submit it with various search engines.
At times, you have submitted your website to the search engine, but you find that you are not indexed or in other words, your site is not appearing in the searches. There could be many reasons for it. Let's look at some of these reasons:
1. Allocate adequate time - After submission, indexing a website is a time consuming process. Some people in hurry to be indexed, ignore this time period and start expecting their site to appear in the search results, much before the time lapses. Actually, this index time ranges from one to eight weeks depending on the search engine. Some sites such as AltaVista also charge extra if you want to get your site indexed faster.
2. Use Paid Domains - If you have hosted your site on a free domain, you may come across problems in indexing your site. This is because nowadays the search engines either don't index free sites or index only a limited number of free sites. Therefore, it is always better to host your website on a paid domain with a paid service.
3. Select creditable hosting service: It is very important to host your website with a good hosting service. This is because if at any stage the search engine visits your website and finds that it is not functioning then your website will be simply removed from their database. Therefore, make sure your hosting service is a creditable one, which keeps your website up and running most of the time.
4. Frame-based site - Having a frame-based website can also be a roadblock. In a frame-based site, there are different pages in the same page. As a result, it can happen that your text page is indexed but not the menu page. To solve this problem, you should ideally have a non-frame based website. If not then you can try optimizing your frame-based website for a better result.
5. Low Ranking in Searches - It is quite possible that you are indexed on a search engine but you are not aware of it. This could be because your site is getting a very low ranking in the search results. Most people expect that their site to come up in the first few listings. As a result, if their site does not do so then they don't bother to look further and assume that their site is not indexed. Matters are not helped by the fact that most search engines don't inform you after indexing your website.
To get a good ranking in the search results it is important for you to optimise your website according to the search engine guidelines.
6. In-complete Website - Before submitting your website ensure that your site is complete and there are no missing pages. Otherwise, your website may not get indexed.
7. Avoid complicated pages - Sometimes in an effort to have a very dynamic website web developers use complicated scripts such as JavaScript and VB scripts etc. However, the search engines don't always handle these dynamic pages well. As a result, your site could suffer and get a low ranking in search engine results. Therefore, it is advisable to limit the use of such scripts on your site.
8. Link pages from home page - Some search engines follow the policy that they don't show pages which cant be accessed from the home page. To avoid this kind of a problem you can try to limit such pages or submit them separately.
9. Limit page size: Take care that your website pages don't become so heavy that they take a long time to load. In such a case, the search engine spider will not be able to fully index your content. Generally, it is recommended to keep your web pages around 50 k and with images etc. around 70 k. This criterion has been set particularly in view of the users still using the dial-up connection.
10. Link your site externally - Another guideline which some search engines such as Google follow is that they don't index sites which don't have external links with other sites. At times, they even allocate you a time period of around 30 days to get the external links. If you are not successful then your site may get pruned. You can also take the help of a free service to check the popularity of your website links through http://www.linkpopularitycheck.com
11. Maintain quality: Make sure that you keep a quality control over your website. This is particularly important in cases where you are submitting your website to directory site like Yahoo, Open Directory, Looksmart etc. This is because, at these sites, they have personnel who carefully analyze the submissions, and omit any, which do not have a good quality.
12. Search Engine spider blocks - If your website requires forms, passwords or registration for access then the search engine spiders will not be able to index it. This is also the case with sites having a searchable database. In such a scenario, you can try to submit those web pages on your site which are simple and don't have these complications.
13. Sharing IP - Nowadays another problem that you can face is that sometimes the website hosting services give the same IP to multiple websites. As a result, if any one of these websites, using the same IP is involved in any illegal dispute then the search engine de-bars the IP itself making all the associated sites suffer. Therefore, make sure that you have an independent IP and are not sharing it with anyone.
14. Submitting within limit: Some search engines have limits for accepting submissions, for a particular domain, per day. Therefore, before submitting check that you are within limit prescribed for your domain or your submission will go waste.
15. Limit non-indexable content: It is important that you submit only the kind of content that the search engines can index. For example, search engines cannot index embedded text, content in media files, Java applets or in XML coding.
16. Submit link pages separately: Search engines don't take the trouble to fully index your website. They will simply index, one or two links further than the page that you have submitted. Therefore, if you want some particular pages to be indexed it is advisable to submit them separately.
17. Avoid using spam - It is very important to develop your website with full sincerity. Spam, is very seriously looked down upon by the search engines. Make sure that your site is spam free and you don't use any tactic, which can be considered spam such as, excessive repetition of keywords etc.
18. Avoid redirecting: If your website is redirecting the viewer to another site then at times this can hamper your indexing process. This is because search engines are wary of being tricked by "cloaking" or IP redirection technology. If they find out that this is the case then you can be sure that they will not index your site.
19. Allow for fluctuations in index time: You will not believe it but there have been cases when the search engines, after indexing sites for some time suddenly stop doing so for months on end for no particular reason. They do restart the process after some time but the wait can get quite frustrating for the web developers. You can however, try to find out the real-world situation through http://www.marketposition.com
20. Technical errors: Besides all these, there are also some technical reasons because of which websites don't get indexed. These may include technical bugs and errors that arise from the sheer magnitude of the submissions and re-submissions that people make.
21. Submit limited pages: Most search engines have some kind of limits for the number of pages that they will index for each site. The quantity varies from engine to engine. However, if your website is very popular then the search engines stretch this limit for you.
Keep all these guidelines in mind while you are submitting your website to any search engine and allocate ample time for the indexation process.
At times, you have submitted your website to the search engine, but you find that you are not indexed or in other words, your site is not appearing in the searches. There could be many reasons for it. Let's look at some of these reasons:
1. Allocate adequate time - After submission, indexing a website is a time consuming process. Some people in hurry to be indexed, ignore this time period and start expecting their site to appear in the search results, much before the time lapses. Actually, this index time ranges from one to eight weeks depending on the search engine. Some sites such as AltaVista also charge extra if you want to get your site indexed faster.
2. Use Paid Domains - If you have hosted your site on a free domain, you may come across problems in indexing your site. This is because nowadays the search engines either don't index free sites or index only a limited number of free sites. Therefore, it is always better to host your website on a paid domain with a paid service.
3. Select creditable hosting service: It is very important to host your website with a good hosting service. This is because if at any stage the search engine visits your website and finds that it is not functioning then your website will be simply removed from their database. Therefore, make sure your hosting service is a creditable one, which keeps your website up and running most of the time.
4. Frame-based site - Having a frame-based website can also be a roadblock. In a frame-based site, there are different pages in the same page. As a result, it can happen that your text page is indexed but not the menu page. To solve this problem, you should ideally have a non-frame based website. If not then you can try optimizing your frame-based website for a better result.
5. Low Ranking in Searches - It is quite possible that you are indexed on a search engine but you are not aware of it. This could be because your site is getting a very low ranking in the search results. Most people expect that their site to come up in the first few listings. As a result, if their site does not do so then they don't bother to look further and assume that their site is not indexed. Matters are not helped by the fact that most search engines don't inform you after indexing your website.
To get a good ranking in the search results it is important for you to optimise your website according to the search engine guidelines.
6. In-complete Website - Before submitting your website ensure that your site is complete and there are no missing pages. Otherwise, your website may not get indexed.
7. Avoid complicated pages - Sometimes in an effort to have a very dynamic website web developers use complicated scripts such as JavaScript and VB scripts etc. However, the search engines don't always handle these dynamic pages well. As a result, your site could suffer and get a low ranking in search engine results. Therefore, it is advisable to limit the use of such scripts on your site.
8. Link pages from home page - Some search engines follow the policy that they don't show pages which cant be accessed from the home page. To avoid this kind of a problem you can try to limit such pages or submit them separately.
9. Limit page size: Take care that your website pages don't become so heavy that they take a long time to load. In such a case, the search engine spider will not be able to fully index your content. Generally, it is recommended to keep your web pages around 50 k and with images etc. around 70 k. This criterion has been set particularly in view of the users still using the dial-up connection.
10. Link your site externally - Another guideline which some search engines such as Google follow is that they don't index sites which don't have external links with other sites. At times, they even allocate you a time period of around 30 days to get the external links. If you are not successful then your site may get pruned. You can also take the help of a free service to check the popularity of your website links through http://www.linkpopularitycheck.com
11. Maintain quality: Make sure that you keep a quality control over your website. This is particularly important in cases where you are submitting your website to directory site like Yahoo, Open Directory, Looksmart etc. This is because, at these sites, they have personnel who carefully analyze the submissions, and omit any, which do not have a good quality.
12. Search Engine spider blocks - If your website requires forms, passwords or registration for access then the search engine spiders will not be able to index it. This is also the case with sites having a searchable database. In such a scenario, you can try to submit those web pages on your site which are simple and don't have these complications.
13. Sharing IP - Nowadays another problem that you can face is that sometimes the website hosting services give the same IP to multiple websites. As a result, if any one of these websites, using the same IP is involved in any illegal dispute then the search engine de-bars the IP itself making all the associated sites suffer. Therefore, make sure that you have an independent IP and are not sharing it with anyone.
14. Submitting within limit: Some search engines have limits for accepting submissions, for a particular domain, per day. Therefore, before submitting check that you are within limit prescribed for your domain or your submission will go waste.
15. Limit non-indexable content: It is important that you submit only the kind of content that the search engines can index. For example, search engines cannot index embedded text, content in media files, Java applets or in XML coding.
16. Submit link pages separately: Search engines don't take the trouble to fully index your website. They will simply index, one or two links further than the page that you have submitted. Therefore, if you want some particular pages to be indexed it is advisable to submit them separately.
17. Avoid using spam - It is very important to develop your website with full sincerity. Spam, is very seriously looked down upon by the search engines. Make sure that your site is spam free and you don't use any tactic, which can be considered spam such as, excessive repetition of keywords etc.
18. Avoid redirecting: If your website is redirecting the viewer to another site then at times this can hamper your indexing process. This is because search engines are wary of being tricked by "cloaking" or IP redirection technology. If they find out that this is the case then you can be sure that they will not index your site.
19. Allow for fluctuations in index time: You will not believe it but there have been cases when the search engines, after indexing sites for some time suddenly stop doing so for months on end for no particular reason. They do restart the process after some time but the wait can get quite frustrating for the web developers. You can however, try to find out the real-world situation through http://www.marketposition.com
20. Technical errors: Besides all these, there are also some technical reasons because of which websites don't get indexed. These may include technical bugs and errors that arise from the sheer magnitude of the submissions and re-submissions that people make.
21. Submit limited pages: Most search engines have some kind of limits for the number of pages that they will index for each site. The quantity varies from engine to engine. However, if your website is very popular then the search engines stretch this limit for you.
Keep all these guidelines in mind while you are submitting your website to any search engine and allocate ample time for the indexation process.
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