Chances are, when you want information, you now use a search engine. So do your prospects. The current struggle many companies face is trying to get their website listed in search engines. Many sites now charge for the 'privilege', but those listed before the fees began are 'lifers'. Lucky them — until policies change, of course.

Some search engines are created via computers called crawlers. These crawlers search constantly from website onto website through links. These searches don't like getting to a site that doesn't continue its search of the web. To make them happy, you need links from your site to others and vice-versa.

If you change your web pages, such as adding a new product, crawler-based engines eventually find the changes and that affects how your site is listed. Not too long ago, the time lapse was 6 weeks; now it's more like 6 months — and getting longer.

Human-powered directories rely on humans. You submit a short description of your site and editors review it. Changing your site's content has no effect on the listing.

Which is better really only depends on where you are listed. If, in a crawler search engine you are number 130 and in a human powered engine, you are number 5, the human powered engine is better. The converse would be true if you were number 5 on the crawler. Bottom line — you've got to work them both.

The search comes down to multiple factors and one of the most important concerns are your META's — but that's another topic for another day.