The biggest problem that most are running into seems to do with getting INTO the search engines. Rankings aside, you need to first get them to index you.

A new experiment from Google Labs allows sitemasters with a Google account to request more frequent spidering from the Mountain View-based search engine.

Becuase Google was smart enough to release the software development kit for their desktop search utility, increasing the functionality of GDS is not too difficult.

The Windows Indexing Service provides you with the ability to perform advanced searches on directories located on your computer and on shared directories on the network. The Indexing Service was introduced with IIS (Internet Information Services) and is now installed with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

How do I Create a Successful Directory?

There are a few things which are important to do when creating a directory. To maximize the long term success of your directory you want to ensure:

Reader Question: I’ve been told that I should put my navbar (navigation bar) on the right side of my Web site (or use a table trick to get the same effect) so search engine spiders will read my title and text first, and the navbar last. Is that necessary for optimum search engine positioning?

Ask Shari anything about search engines and see your answer published in DevWebPro’s weekly SEO Corner column.

Have a question? Ask it here.

Know Your Neighbors!
The concept of virtual hosting, where a Web hosting company may host 10 or 12 Web sites on the same IP address, was a revealing topic of discussion during our interview. Erika acknowledged, “What we see on the Internet is that there are the IP equivalents of good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods. So we see it fairly frequently where people on a certain IP exhibit a certain kind of behavior…”

It’s safe to say that the ‘pay-per-inclusion’ model is rapidly catching on with today’s search engines and directories as they are forced to become profitable in a hurry. But there’s also another trend that’s come to the fore.