Google and other search engines provide a large amount of traffic to websites every day. However, webmasters cannot take advantage of this traffic if their website isn't found in the search results.

Search engines will eventually find your website, but it could take a few weeks or months. You can speed up the process by submitting your URL to Google. After submission, it may take a few days or weeks for your site to be fully indexed. The results are not the same for everybody and certain factors can affect how long it takes for your site to become indexed.

<h3 style="text-align: center;">Submitting Your URL to Google</h3>
<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/add-url-steps.jpg" alt="add your url to Google" width="840" height="700" style="margin-bottom: 0px;" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5063" />
<div style="text-align: center; margin-top: -10px;">The steps for adding a URL to Google are pretty easy to follow.
<ul style="list-style-type: none; padding: 0;">
	<li>Go to: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl</li>
	<li>Login to your Google Account or create a new one</li>
        <li>Enter your URL in the box labeled "URL:"</li>
	<li>Enter the CAPTCHA Code in the box below</li>
	<li>Click "Submit Request"</li>
</ul>
Once you submit your URL to Google, the page will refresh and you will see a yellow box at the top that reads, "Your request has been received and will be processed shortly." If you type the CAPTCHA wrong the box will be red and will show an error with the submission.</div>

<h3>Automated Submission for Google and Other Search Engines</h3>

Should you use an automated submission program for search engines? Most SEO experts will tell you this is a bad idea because Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines may see this as spam, which is frowned upon by all the major search engines.

It's better to just add a URL to Google manually and you only need to do it once with the main domain name. You don't need to submit your site again whenever you create a page or submit each page to Google. Once your domain name is indexed, the search engines will take care of indexing new content you add to your website and blog.

Many automated programs exist for submitting websites to multiple search engines. These are usually very cheap, but unnecessary. It only takes a few minutes to add a URL to Google manually and you won't need to do it again. Take the time to submit your URL, and then move onto whatever is next on your to-do list.

<h3>Submitting your URL to Other Search Engines</h3>

Google is by far the largest player in the search engine industry. However, they are not the only one and you can gain traffic from Yahoo, Bing and many others. Here are the steps for submitting your URL to Bing and Yahoo.

<h3>Bing</h3>
<ol>
	<li>Go to: http://www.bing.com/docs/submit.aspx</li>
	<li>Enter your URL in the URL Box</li>
	<li>Enter the CAPTCHA Code</li>
	<li>Click "Submit"</li>
</ol>
The next page will tell you that your request was submitted successfully and will offer you the ability to sign up for Bing Webmaster Tools.

<h3>Yahoo</h3>
<ol>
	<li>Go to: http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html</li>
	<li>Click the link saying "Submit Your Site for Free"</li>
	<li>This will redirect you to Bing and you will follow the on screen instructions from there.</li>
</ol>
Since Bing and Yahoo have combined powers, you no longer need to add a URL to both. If you do it with Bing, you will be added to Yahoo, as well.

Another search engine to consider is Ask.com. This search engine used to ask you to submit your Sitemap to them, but they don't allow this feature any longer. You don't need to do anything with Ask.com. They will crawl your site on their own without any submission.

<h3>Why Search Engine Traffic Matters</h3>

You may already understand that you can get a large amount of traffic if you're listed at the top of the search results for specific keyword phrases on Google, Yahoo and Bing. However, understanding the true power of this traffic is important.

Most people using the internet will use a search engine to find whatever it is they are after. Whether they need a how-to video or they want to be entertained by a funny joke, the search engine is where they start.

As you work on building your site, adding content and getting listed on the search engines, you may want to consider what people within your industry need and want. Creating content that answers a question, along with the power of adding a URL to Google and other search engines, may be all it takes to get the web traffic you desire.