Different search engines use different criteria to determine a website’s rank in a search. There is no guarantee that any search engine will list your site after you use the site promote application. You should read each search engine’s help files to learn exactly how websites are ranked. Understanding how search engines work will help you use these tools more effectively.
Note: The name of each search engine in the site promote application is a link to the search engine to help you find more information.
Generally speaking, search engines match criteria entered by a user with information contained in a database of Internet resources. These resources can be anything from HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) links to File Transfer Protocol (FTP) links to Newsgroup postings and references. Some search engines are more effective than others due to the size of the resource database and the method in which it is queried.
Many search engines use “spiders” that roam the Internet looking for websites. These spiders crawl from page to page via hyperlinks, so the more sites that link to you, the more likely it is that the spiders will find you. Other search engines use criteria such as the title, keyword meta tags, word frequency in the document, and document length to determine your listing.