Using an Automated Search Engine Submission Service

It is not uncommon to see ads for services that promise to submit your site to "all the search engines". They often come bundled as a perk with domain registration or web hosting, so they seem legitimate. And the service fees are pricey, ranging from $9.99 to $59.99 a month, and you are often required to agree to a six month or year long contract for this service.

But will your site really benefit from this kind of service? As with many things, it is a case of buyer beware.

First, there are only a handful of search engines that are important enough for you to submit your site to, such as Google, Yahoo & MSN. And what many don't realize is that these three search engines power most of the smaller search engines out there.

Many of the other search engines that aren't powered by one of the main ones are second or third tier engines, which will usually result in very minimal free traffic to make it worthwhile submitting to.

To sum it up, you can easily find the short amount of time required to submit your sites yourself - for free.

Second, you need to be wary that this service could be submitting your site to "search engines" that are actually thinly disguised link farms. And link farms should be avoided at all costs. Link farms, also known as Free For All (FFA) links, can actually damage your rankings and can even result in being banned from the most important search engines.

And is daily, weekly or monthly submission really neccessary? Absolutely not. For a more in-depth look at precisely why this is not needed, read our article How often should I submit my site to search engines?

You should think carefully before ever using an automated submission service. It is most often a waste of money and is something you can easily do yourself for free. Your money is much better spend putting your money back into pay per clicks, paid directory submission or online advertising.

Related articles:
Submitting your site to search engines
How often should I submit to search engines?

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