Overview: The following comparison chart shows the indexing techniques used and the average submission time required per search engine/directory

We researched the top search engines, indices and other websites that have shown to influence a significant part of the web as starting points. From our findings, we report to you how the search engines work, how they search and what they look for in a website.

Read our findings from the list below or click the search engine name to see more information.

Search Engine Comparison Disclaimer: The research and findings below are independent reviews and should only be used for informational purposes Search Engine Approx. Size META Tags Support Spider Support Popularity Increases Rankings Submit Time Alexa Unknown None No No 4 weeks Altavista 350 Million Yes Yes Yes 2-5 days AOL Netfind & Excite 250 Million Description Only No Yes 2-4 weeks FAST Search 340 Million No Yes Yes 1 week Google 560 Million Yes Yes Yes 2-6 weeks HotBot 110 Million Yes Yes Yes 2-4 weeks Infoseek 50 Million Yes No Yes 1-2 weeks Lycos Unknown No No No 3-4 weeks Northern Light 265 Million No Yes Yes 2-4 weeks Overture 110 Million No No No < 3 days Snap Unknown No No No 2-6 weeks Webcrawler 50 Million Yes No No 2-3 weeks Yahoo! Unknown No No No 4-8 weeks All search engine sizes and submission times are approximations and may be inaccurate.