Do I Need to Do A Search Engine Submission This Year?

Remember the old internet days? You built a website and then had to manually tell search engines it existed. Things have changed! So, is this “search engine submission” thing even necessary anymore?

How Search Engines Find Your Shiny New Website

• Crawling: The Secret Agents of the Web: Search engines like Google send mini-programs called “crawlers” (think of them as tiny, super-fast spiders). These crawlers explore the internet, following links from page to page, mapping and “reading” your website.
• The Crawl Budget: It’s Not Unlimited! Think of a search engine’s “crawl budget” as the energy it spends on your site. Things like slow loading times, broken links, and a ton of duplicate content gobble up that energy, leaving important pages undiscovered.

Sitemaps: Your Website’s GPS

A sitemap is basically a list of all the pages you want search engines to find. Think directions for those efficient little web crawlers.

• Sitemap Tutorial Time! Tools like Google XML Sitemaps generator

(https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/) make this easy-peasy. Many website plugins (Yoast SEO is popular) automatically generate one for you.

SEO: Your Search Engine Superpower

Okay, here’s where the real magic happens:

• Keywords Are Key: Tools like Google Keyword Planner help you understand what people are actually searching for. Use those words strategically in your content.
• Headers: Organizing for Humans AND Robots: Those H1, and H2 tags you use? They signal to search engines which parts of your content are important and how it’s organized!

Extra Tips for Making Search Engines Love You

• Meta Description: That’s the text under your title on a search result page. Make it clear and enticing – it’s your mini-ad!
• Internal Linking: Linking between related pages is like handing crawlers a map AND helping users find more awesome stuff on your site.
• Local Businesses, Listen Up: Keep your Google Business Profile up-to-date, get those online reviews, and use local keywords on your site!

Beyond Google: Think Broader

Bing, DuckDuckGo, and even search engines within YouTube and Amazon exist! Visibility on those can be gold depending on your audience.

The Biggest Secret: Amazing Content Is Everything

All of this tech stuff matters, but ultimately it’s about giving people what they want! Search engines want to deliver helpful, accurate info. Know your audience and what problems you solve better than anyone else.

• E-A-T – The Cool Kids’ Club of the Web: That stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Think of those as qualities that make search engines think, “Hey, this site is the real deal.”
• Fresh is Best (Sometimes): If someone’s searching “best tax software 2024,” you bet an article updated this year will rank higher than one from 2018.

Backlinks: The Web’s Popularity Contest

When other sites link to you, it’s like a little digital thumbs-up saying “This content is good stuff!” Aim for quality backlinks, not spam junk.

Focus on Your Users, Not Just the Bots

A fast, beautiful website that’s easy to navigate? Search engines LOVE that because guess what – people do too! And social signals (shares, likes, etc.) can indirectly give your site a boost.

Paid Search Engine Submission Has its Limits

Automated submission services exist, but they’re rarely worth the money. If a service sounds too good to be true…it probably is.

When Submission Makes Sense

• Brand Spanking New Site: Can’t hurt to give Google a nudge that you exist!
• Super Important Update: If it’s time-sensitive, alert the search engines directly.
• Troubleshooting Weirdness: If Google stubbornly refuses to find a page, submission can force it to take another look.

Bottom Line: SEO and Link Building Win the Long Game

SEO and the slow, awesome work of building links through amazing content outshine quick-fix submission tactics. Do some submission if you want, but don’t stress. Focus on the big stuff, and those search results will shine!