The act of supplying a URL to a search engine in an attempt to make a search engine aware of a site or page.
Information
At a minimum, submitting to a search engine involves adding the URL
of the site or page that will be under consideration. Search engines
sometimes ask for additional contact information, including name and/or
email address.
Policies for adding URLs vary among various search engines. Some search
engines only ask for the main URL of a site, claiming that the rest
of the site will be spidered; others require the submission of
individual pages. Variation also exists with regard to how often URLs
may be added, as some engines have tried to discourage bulk submissions
in an attempt to minimize spamming.
Submitting sites/pages can be done manually or in an automated manner.
Manual submission involves going to each of the "Add
URL" pages and filling out the form fields individually. Automatic
submission involves filling out information only one time; the necessary
information is then used by a software program to submit to many search
engines.
Confusing search engine submission with search
engine optimization is a common mistake. The mere act of submitting does nothing to optimize
the pages in question and achieve higher rankings. In fact, submitting
poorly-optimized pages can do more harm than good.
