Get Found Faster: The Small Business Guide to Search Engine Submission

In today's digital landscape, simply having a website isn’t enough — your site needs to be visible on search engines to attract potential customers.

Submitting your website to search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, as well as understanding how smaller search engines use these major platforms, is an essential step that can help small businesses improve online visibility and reach. Here’s why it matters and how you can ensure your website is set up for success across multiple search engines.

Why Submitting Your Website to Search Engines Matters

When a website is published, search engines can sometimes take weeks (or even months) to discover and index it naturally. By actively submitting your site, you make sure it’s on search engines’ radar right away, which brings several key benefits:

• Faster Visibility: Submitting your website helps search engines index your pages faster, allowing potential customers to find you sooner.
• Improved Accuracy: When you submit your site, you also have the chance to control how your business appears on search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Increased Organic Traffic: Direct submission enhances your chances of showing up in relevant searches, potentially leading to more organic traffic.

“Don’t leave your website’s visibility up to chance — submit it directly to search engines and put your business on the map.” – MBCS

While search engines like Google and Bing have automated web crawlers to discover new content, submitting your site directly ensures accuracy and improves indexing speed — especially valuable for new websites or those with recent updates.

Key Search Engines to Consider

While Google is the largest search engine globally, Yahoo and Bing also play important roles. Together, they capture millions of searches daily, especially among local and niche audiences. Submitting your website to these platforms ensures that your business has the broadest possible reach.

• Google: Covers over 90% of the global search market, making it essential for almost any business.
• Bing: The second-largest search engine, with significant market share in North America and some specific demographics.
• Yahoo: Managed through Bing Webmaster Tools, Yahoo receives its search results from Bing’s index, meaning a submission to Bing will also ensure your site’s visibility on Yahoo.

“Visibility across multiple search engines broadens your reach and brings more opportunities to your business.” – MBCS

How to Submit Your Website to Major Search Engines

To gain visibility on these platforms, follow these step-by-step instructions for each search engine.

1. Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is the primary tool for managing your site’s presence on Google.

• Step 1: Sign up for Google Search Console.
• Step 2: Add your website as a “property” in GSC.
• Step 3: Verify your website ownership (GSC offers multiple verification methods, including HTML files and domain verification).
• Step 4: Submit your sitemap by selecting “Sitemaps” from the GSC dashboard and entering your sitemap URL (typically “https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml”).

2. Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing Webmaster Tools allows you to submit your website for indexing on both Bing and Yahoo.

• Step 1: Go to Bing Webmaster Tools and create an account.
• Step 2: Add and verify your site by following Bing’s verification steps.
• Step 3: Submit your sitemap in the Sitemaps section by entering your sitemap URL.

Pro Tip: Be sure your sitemap is up-to-date. An updated sitemap is key to showing search engines the full structure and most recent content on your website.

“Submitting your website is step one, but optimizing it keeps your business moving forward.” – MBCS

What About Smaller Search Engines?

While smaller search engines exist, many of them use data from the major players, especially Google and Bing, to populate their search results. By submitting to Google and Bing, you’ll often cover most smaller search engines indirectly. Here’s how it works:

• DuckDuckGo: Known for its privacy-focused approach, DuckDuckGo doesn’t crawl the web like Google. Instead, it sources much of its search results from Bing, which means that submitting your site to Bing also covers DuckDuckGo.
• Ecosia: This environmentally focused search engine also sources most of its search results from Bing.
• Yandex and Baidu: These are specialized search engines focused on specific regions (Russia for Yandex and China for Baidu). If you have a target audience in these regions, consider submitting your site directly to these platforms for maximum reach.

Since many of these smaller search engines draw from Bing’s or Google’s data, submitting to those primary search engines is often enough to get your site indexed across most platforms.

Optimizing and Monitoring Your Website Post-Submission

Once your website is submitted, you can use search engine tools to track performance, manage indexing issues, and monitor traffic. Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools both offer insights into your site’s indexing status and any technical issues that could affect visibility.

• Regular Monitoring: Check performance data periodically using the tools’ insights. Both Google and Bing will notify you of indexing issues, site speed problems, or usability concerns so you can make fixes quickly.
• SEO Best Practices: For optimal indexing, follow SEO basics, such as using keywords in your page titles, ensuring mobile-friendliness, and regularly updating content.
• Update & Re-submit: Whenever you make significant updates to your website (e.g., adding a blog or new product pages), re-submit the sitemap to ensure search engines reflect those changes quickly.

“By maintaining your website’s visibility, you’re ensuring that customers can find you when they need you most.” – MBCS

Conclusion

Submitting your website to search engines is an easy yet powerful way to help customers discover your business online. By following these steps, you can boost your chances of reaching more people, improving your site’s visibility, and driving traffic over time.

How MBCS Can Help You Maximize Search Engine Visibility?

Navigating search engine submission and optimization can be complex, especially when you’re focused on running your business. MBCS offers comprehensive support to ensure your website is fully optimized for search engine visibility from start to finish.

• Direct Submission Assistance: We’ll handle the process of submitting your website to major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, ensuring accurate and timely indexing.
• Customized SEO Strategy: Beyond submission, our team will create a tailored SEO strategy to boost your ranking potential, covering keyword optimization, mobile-friendliness, and other factors search engines prioritize.
• Ongoing Monitoring and Adjustments: Search engines change frequently, so we monitor your site’s performance and make necessary adjustments to maintain and improve your visibility.
• Support for Niche Search Engines: If your target audience uses regional or specialized search engines (like Yandex, Baidu, or DuckDuckGo), we can ensure your website is optimized to reach those users as well.

Let MBCS take the guesswork out of search engine submission and optimization, giving you peace of mind and freeing up your time to focus on growing your business. Contact us today to get started!