Improving my search rating

[Skinny]

Hi folks

I did a website for a client a few weeks ago and he's very pleased with it all, but he's very dispondent because the website isn't appearing in any of the major search engines.

Its one area of websites I've never really got to grips with. How do I get the website to start appearing on the search engines?

I've submitted the site to Google and Yahoo a few weeks ago, but nothing is turning up.

You can view the website at http://alb-holidays-morocco.co.uk
I've added keywords in the META tags, and gave it a title and description and everything.

What I'm wondering now though, is that to really get your site noticed you need to pay. Is this correct? I've seen advertisements that read 'submit your website to over 1000 search engines'. Obviously for a fee, but would it be worth paying, because my client is well prepared to pay for such a service.

Sorry for all the questions, but last one. If paying is the way to go, can anyone recommend a good site that provides this service?

Many thanks..

Skinny.

[mairving]

It's not going to happen overnight. Getting placement on search engines takes awhile. Some good tips on SEO can be found here (http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/index.php) You might also look over here (http://www.webmaster-forums.net/forumdisplay.php?forumid=6) for some other tips.

Google pays no attention to Metatags, only titles, content and links. It can take up to a couple of months to get listed after you submit to Google sometimes. Even after Google trolls the site, you may not get listed all that well if it is a popular category.

Don't waste your money on any of the pay to get ranking services.

[Skinny]

Interesting. Thanks for the links. I actually found the SEST website after I posted here, and it does give me some great advice for using all diferent search engines and good techniques.

I had a feeling it took a while to get listed, although from reading through the SEST page, it appears that if you do pay, your website will be listed much quicker other than going for the free option which could take months or not be listed at all.

My client is prepared to pay as the priority is to get onto the search engines ASAP!

I'll go and have a look through TWF now, looks good. Thanks again for the advice..

[reboot]

I submitted my site to every known search engine on the planet.
The little ones that nobody uses got me listed in a couple of days, the specialty ones got me listed in a month or two. Google, Yahoo, AskJeeves, Hotbot, Altavista, and Excite took almost a year to get in the top 10.

[BlueKrystal22]

Check out selfpromotion.com - this guy knows exactly what he's talking about, and has tons of information. He doesn't charge anything - you only make donations when you start feeling guilty. This site comes highly recommended from a website designer (me) who found him randomly on an internet search one day. ;)

[All Righty Then]

Some search engines recognize meta names as spam and penalize you for overuse of same certain names.

Remember, what was once a good listing...gets pushed back in the listings as thousands of new web sites get added to the listings. Be careful on resubmissions as this will be viewed as spam from search engines

Search engine submissions is one of the most difficult and frustrating area's for all websites.

Best of luck,