April 14th, 2006
How Google finds web sites
by Susan Snipes
I was recently forwarded an email from a friend promoting their newly launched Web site. In the email was a request that went something like this “please visit my Web site so I can get in Google.” Oh no! I didn’t realize there was still confusion about how the big search engine finds Web sites. Google isn’t magic and won’t figure out that you have a Web site unless they can see a link that points to it. Google doesn’t read your email! The only links that Google can see are on Web sites that they already know about.
You could think about it like this…
Google is like a map of the locations of all the books in a really messy book warehouse. In a warehouse full of books placed randomly on thousands of shelves, a map would the most practical way to locate specific books. (Go to Aisle 857, Shelf 149, Rack 6, 22nd book from the right for a great book on logo design!) And this map needs someone to record the location of all the books. If you just walked into the warehouse and put a book on a shelf, who would be able to find it? Only the people you told where you put the book, or the ones that happen to walk over to that spot. It’s similar with Google, your Web site won’t be on the Google map if no one told Google about it.
There are only two ways for Google to find your Web site:
1. Another Web site links to yours
2. Submitting your Web site directly to Google
Another Web site links to yours
The best way for Google to find your site is when they follow a link to your site from one or more different Web sites. Google spiders repeatedly crawl the internet to categorize and index Web sites. The spiders go from Web site to Web site by following the links between them. When your friend’s Web site has a link to yours, the next time a Google spider crawls your friend’s site, it will follow the link to your Web site and most likely add it to their index.
Submitting your Web site directly to Google
Although not encouraged, Google still allows Webmasters or Web site owners to submit their url. When you submit your url to Google, it is a request for the Google spiders to add your Web site to their next crawl. This method is not recommended because it may take several weeks for the spiders to go to your Web site and there is no guarantee Google will index and list your site. If no one is linking to your Web site or if it’s so new it doesn’t have that many pages, Google may not include it in their listings. If you feel you must use this method, the place to submit your url to Google is here: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
Additional Reading
Google’s Web site talks in more detail about the topic “How do I add my site to Google’s search results?”
