[jherz]

I don't know much about the search engine process. I did some research and found that perhaps you people might be able to help me. My question is: Is it just a matter of time before search engines that I've submitted my site to add it to their index, or is there a chance that they won't add it at all.

I've submitted it to all of the big ones and none seem to have added it yet. Its been about a month since I started submitting. Granted, I've gone the free route with them, but that should only affect timeliness, right?

Anyway, I'm eager for Google, Altavista, Netscape/AOL, DMOZ, Lycos, et al... to add my site so should I wait even longer or should I just resubmit.

Is the problem with the site itself? http://www.herzliyafilms.com/

Thank you...

[nica]

It will take about 3 months on Google.

Just make sure you have meta tags for
keywords, description and that you don't
have an index page that redirects the user
I found that some won't index you

[jherz]

Thanks... thats just the kind of info I was looking for. So once the site is added, does Google check up on it every once and awhile to recatalogue it?

[nica]

No you must have a Revisit META tag it defines how often a search engine or spider should come to your website for re-indexing.

Often this tag is used for websites that change their content often and on a regular basis. This tag can also be beneficial in boosting your rankings if search engines display results based on the most recent submissions.

[jherz]

Okay. I think my revisit tag is set for 30 days. A nice round number... thanks...

[macvillage.net]

META tags are important.

Most of the "search engine tips" you will find are 100% myth. I can assure you of that.

1. Timeframe for initial spidering varies. That's why they ask for a category when submitting a potential site. They index what they need first. Or they check the home page, and generate their own category based on what they see, then prioritize it. This way a search engine doesn't become cluttered with Fads.

2. For keywords, use specific words, that relate directly to the site. For example: "Mac" isn't the greatest keyword. Most (not all) will ignore it and move on. "iMac G4" is a good one. "Tips and Tricks" is good. "Info" is bad. Not to say don't use generic words, but don't use to many. The site will be ignored. They do this so that you can hijack a search engine by putting "Britney Spears Nude" in the keywords to generate hits.

3. Most engines use more than keywords, actual content. Links in particular, and large paragraphs. They read that. They have been designed pretty well in that sense.

4. They don't go dynamic. If you have something in flash, or a CGI (Perl, PHP, ASP, MIVA, a form) it won't index that. Not even something that appears via JavaScript. They don't see that. This forum isn't indexed. Static pages are. They do this so that the spider doesn't crash servers by loading thousands of CGI instances all at once.

5. They go back and reindex based on how often they see content updated. If you write "30" and update ever 6 months, very quickly, they will wind down to 6 months or worse. If you do update every 30 days, they will reflect that.


This is all from personal experience and research. Spiders hit my site a couple times a week. Only static pages, only take static content. That is why I generate news pages as static HTML, rather than as a CGI (which would save disk space). This way each article finds it's way into the engines. Google indexes certain pages more than others. My news and Mac PR pages get updated quite a bit, but they don't browse arround the rest of the site to much because that is pretty static. They know that they will get new info @ those pages, so they keep going there.



One last note: They only index what is linked to. All pagfes must form a web. Orphaned Pages don't get indexed. And if you site is linked to by other sites, that also increases your "rating".

[jherz]

Wow... lots of helpful info. Thanks...