Top four search engines?

[westmich]

I deceided to add the feature of a free directory submission for my hosting clients. This would be a one time deal with no guarentees. However, for a fee, I will stick with the submission(s) until listed. The sites I plan on submiting to are:
Yahoo
Open Directory Project
Looksmart
AOL

From their own testimony, these four make over 90% of search directed traffic. I also was led to believe that most search engines are obtaining their info from Open Directory Project.

Would anyone recommend different or additional directories?

------------------
IMHO,
Westmich
***********************
Your opportunity on the web is now!
westmichiganweb.com

[simon c]

The only way into Looksmart these days id throuh paid submission unless you are a non profit organisation. AOL is the same as ODP and directory submissions are not something we do with submission software. Best to do them by hand to get the right catagory and to tailor the title and description for each directory.

You might also consider Go.com and Snap.

------------------
Simon Conroy, Acorn Internet Search Engine Placement
http://www.topwebsite.co.uk/

[Hierophant]

I personally would dump AOL because they pull in from ODP and add Google and Hotbot to the list.

------------------
Wayne Luke - Sitepoint Forums Administrator
Digital Magician Magazine - MetaQuark Creations (Coming Soon)
wayne@sitepoint.com

[aspen]

Just by going with popularity.

For the month of July the 4 most popular sites with their own search engines would be aol, yahoo, msn, and the lycos network (that includes hotbot). The next are excite, go, about, and altavista.

Chris

[KeithMcL]

Google would be one to consider seeing as they power Yahoo's search results

------------------
KeithMcL - KMcLUK@aol.com
http://www.webmasterswork.com - #1 source for web developer jobs online.
http://www.webdesignreviews.com - Reviews by the experts.

[This message has been edited by KeithMcL (edited August 21, 2000).]

[westmich]

Thanks for all the input, but this brings up another question; what is the hiearchy of these search engines and directories.

I was under the impression that ODP fed many of the search engines.

According to LookSmart, they power MSN, Excite, AltaVista, and CNN which makes a total of 77% of all searching is based on LookSmart's data. They do offer a basic submission for $49, but couldn't you get around this by adding their search box to your Web site? In order to provide you with site search, they first have to index your site; wouldn't that automatically get you listed or is that in a seperate database?

------------------
IMHO,
Westmich
***********************
Your opportunity on the web is now!
westmichiganweb.com

[Misja]

Looksmart may power the Web Directory on AltaVista and Excite, but most users only use the regular search engine (which is definetely NOT powered by LookSmart) ...