Get Indexed - Submit Your Blog to Search Engines

One way to help your blog get "found" is to submit its URL to Google and Yahoo! search indexes. I had forgotten that I had done this, until all my Google traffic disappeared in mid-February, 2007. Orginally, I had only submitted to the Google search index. This time I included Yahoo!

Here are the links to submit your URL:

Google - http://www.google.com/addurl.html

Yahoo! - http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request

MSN.com - http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx?FORM=WSUT

How Often Should I Submit My Website To Search Engines provides more information on having one's site indexed.

My Google Traffic Disappeared

Last week, traffic from Google on My Wealth Builder declined to virtually zero by mid-week. This was concerning since about 25% of My Wealth Builder's reader traffic was coming from Google search. And I believe almost all the the advertising revenue was coming from Google directed traffic. Therefore, this change was a major disappointment.

Had I done something in my blog to cause this change? The only new activity was introducing members of a new network and hosting the Cavalcade of Risk carnival. I thought that the multiple links to other blogs might be penalized by Google.

However, after checking with a few resources, I learned that traffic reduction from Google was a common occurrence as Google periodically updates their search algorithms. ProBlogger had these articles about the issue:

What to Do when Your Google Traffic Disappears?

What to do when your Google Rank Falls and you lose all your traffic?

Coincidentally, November, the month of both posts, is when My Wealth Builder's traffic began to increase. So My Wealth Builder likely benefited from the initial Google changes.

I plan to take this change in stride:

1. I have done more reading on the issue and reacquainted myself with submitting blogs to different search engines.
   
2. I have re-evaluated my post content and blog design. I had become overly concerned with posting every day to maintain my Google Page rank.
   
3. I have taken some time to reconnect with the personal finance blog community by increasing my reading an commenting on other's blogs.
   
4. I will invest less time in monitoring Adsense and Site Visit results. I was monitoring these statistics mulitiple times each day, almost an obsession:-)

Over time, I expect that Google search traffic will return, especially if the initial ratings were correct.