Search engines are automatically updated by special programs called "robots" or "spiders" that search the web for new content and then report their findings to the database. They take the information gathered by their bots and use it to create a searchable index of the Net. The "search" in search engine refers to the searching the bots do, not the searching you do.

Crawler-based search engines have three major elements.

1.      The spider (also called the crawler) - The spider visits a web page, reads it, and then follows links to other pages within the site. This is what it means when someone refers to a site being "spidered" or "crawled." The spider returns to the site on a regular basis, such as every month or two, to look for changes.

2.      The index - Everything the spider finds goes into the index. The index, sometimes called the catalog, is like a giant book containing a copy of every web page that the spider finds. If a web page changes, then this book is updated with new information.

Sometimes it can take a while for new pages or changes that the spider finds to be added to the index. Thus, a web page may have been "spidered" but not yet "indexed." Until it is indexed, it is not available to those searching with the search engine.

3.      The search engine software - This is the program that sifts through the millions of pages recorded in the index to find matches to a search and rank them in an order it believes is most relevant. It is important that your website be optimized in order to rank highly and therefore be found quickly.

All crawler-based search engines have the basic parts described above, but there are differences in how these parts are tuned. That is why the same search on different search engines often produces different results.

Important: The spiders go from link to link so if your site is linked to any other website that is already indexed, it is only a matter of time before it appears on the search page. That means you need only submit your website to a search engine if it doesn't come up in  queries or if you're in a hurry to be listed.

There are many search engines on the net, but you only need concern yourself with the most important ones, because they generate the most traffic. So instead of using one of those paid programs that submit your site to some 150 engines, it is better to register manually (and usually for free) to these few:

MSN Search

Google

Yahoo

AOL (AOL draws their results from Google).

Ask Jeeves

Lycos

Netscape (Netscape draws their results from Google)

Altavista (AltaVista draws the Yahoo!/Overture)

How do I submit my site to a search engine?

After all this theory, it's time for some practical stuff.

You don't have to submit your site to every engine there is. Limit yourself to the major ones as they generate the most traffic.

You can submit your website directly from the search engine's pages, using the "Submit URL/Add URL/" link (or variations of this phrase), but better yet, use the tool NetReal puts at your disposal.

How to: Go to the NetReal Control Panel, after you log in. Press the "E-Market Website" tab in the left-side menu, then the "Search engine" link in the expanded submenu. Fill in the fields with your email and your website's URL, then check the boxes next to the search engines' name. Click on the "Submit" button to finish.