Q. My site launched today. How come I can’t find myself in Google?

A. Google, or any search engine for that matter, doesn’t actually search the Web when you enter a search request. It searches its own database or “index” of the Web. It’s like a partial snapshot that could be days or even weeks old.

Search engines use programs called “spiders” or “robots” to follow links from one Web site to another, grabbing the content along the way and bringing it back to be added to the search engine’s index.

Sites can also be submitted directly to the search engines upon the launch. Flyte New Media submits our clients’ sites to the major free search engines. At that point inclusion is not guaranteed, but is likely. However, it might be weeks before the site actually appears in the search engines. In addition, flyte may recommend some pay-for-inclusion search engines as well.

If a site needs to be found at the search engines immediately, consider a pay-per-click campaign at either Google AdWords or Overture where sites bid to appear near the top of the listings for specific search. At Google these text ads appear in the right column of the screen; at Overture, and the other search engines that use Overture’s results (Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, etc.) the ads often appear near the top of the page. Different keyphrases attract different types of advertisers, so the bids could range from $.15 to several dollars per click-through or more.

Rich Brooks
F.A.Q. (Frequent Answerer of Questions)