Part 1: Introduction to Submission
Including the history of submission, how the appearance of directories and early search engines
have changed over the years, and what website owners need to do in order to bring people to
their website.
There are two different types of website submission that truly matter when it comes to promoting
your website and increasing inbound traffic. The first type of submission is the search engine
submission, which is the most common and the most widely known way to get your website out
there. Website submission to search engines basically invites search engine spiders to visit, and
to add your website to the index. Once your website is indexed, it will appear in search engine
results listings for certain keywords and search phrases.
The second type of website submission is actually less widely known, but just as important and
as powerful when it comes to generating traffic for your website. The directory submission
involves asking to have your website link added to a vast directory of websites, which are
usually broken up into relevant categories for easy and straight-forward browsing. Because
search engine results are becoming less relevant due to spamming and fake websites, directories
are becoming a more popular option for Internet surfers who know what they are looking for,
and simply need to know where to find it.
1.1 The history of submissions
Both search engine submission and directory submission are concepts that have been around as
long as these websites themselves have been around. However, they are gaining popularity as
important marketing and promotional processes, simply because websites need to create a
competitive edge more than ever in order to drive traffic to their pages. If you cannot find ways
to use search engines and directories to your advantage, competing companies may steal all of
your potential traffic right out from under you.
While Yahoo functions in the way that search engines do today, the service was originally a
directory service that allowed for easy browsing through a couple dozen different categories, and
an even larger number of subcategories. Finding the types of websites that you were looking for
was simple, as all you had to do was select a category, fine-tune your search with a subcategory,
and then peruse the list of relevant links found within.
1.1.1 Appearance of directories
These days, millions of websites populate these directories, and there are thousands of categories
and subcategories trying to further and further fine-tune selections so that the right website links
can be found amidst all of the clutter. Luckily a lot of smaller directory services are emerging
which allows people to browse based on specific niches, or highly fine-tuned subcategories to
better locate the links they are looking for.
