How can I submit the URL of my web page to search engines?

You have several options when it comes to submitting the URL of your web page to search engines like Yahoo! or Google. If you want to submit to hundreds of sites with very little effort, you can use one of the many pay services available on the web. Use a search engine to find a search engine submission service that meets your needs.

Some online services offer bulk submission for free. Be sure to read the fine print to find out what may be expected of you in return for using this service.

You may also submit to each search engine manually. This takes time and patience, because not all search engines make their submission pages easy to find.

Using Mypage at IU

When you submit a URL to search engines, some will use robots to verify the address. At Indiana University, the personal web page server, mypage.iu.edu, has a robots.txt file that denies access to all robots. Faculty and staff may change their robots.txt search engine crawl settings at Search Engine Crawl Settings for Mypage. Student pages can only be indexed by search engines that do not use robots.

However, if you have a home.html file in your www directory and have run the spinweb command, your page will automatically be linked from the Directory of Personal Home Pages. Once your page is linked from the directory, it will be included in the Indiana University Search Engine's index of pages, so anyone using the IU Search will be able to find your Mypage pages.

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