# Google Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-question/162042 "2003-03-17T17:26:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-question/162042/1 "2003-03-17T17:26:37Z")
I managed to build a little website, but how do I get it to show up if anyone does a search on google ? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-question/162042/2 "2003-03-17T17:44:16Z")
You can manually add your URL to the list of sites they index. This will get you in their database: [http://www.google.com/addurl.html](http://www.google.com/addurl.html) Google uses a page ranking formula that gives heavy weight to how many sites link to yours. That is, if lots of people link to your site, you will rank higher than a site with similar keywords but to which no one links. That means getting indexed by Google is not enough to get ranked highly in search results, and you will be well-served by getting others to link to you to demonstrate your popularity or usefulness. ---
**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-question/162042/3 "2003-03-17T18:13:33Z")
Do a Goolgle search on the term ‘Meta Tags’. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-question/162042/4 "2003-03-17T19:26:21Z")
Don’t place too much reliance on meta tags. Because they’re easily abused sites like Google prefer to rely on how many other reputable and relevant sites link to you as an indication of relevance. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-question/162042/5 "2003-03-17T19:46:56Z")
Do a search using “google tips”. You’ll find a site with **everything you ever wanted to know about getting your site listed.** [ul]😃 [sup] **Oh, hell, here is the one I was thinking of:** [/sup] [Google Tips & Page Rank](http://www.smartwebby.com/website_promotion/google.asp) [/ul] But there are more if you do the search. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-question/162042/6 "2003-03-17T20:54:05Z")
Keep in mind it’ll probably be a few weeks before your site actually makes it into the Google index. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-question/162042/7 "2003-03-18T08:27:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crusoe \* > \*\*Don’t place too much reliance on meta tags. Because they’re easily abused sites like Google prefer to rely on how many other reputable and relevant sites link to you as an indication of relevance. \*\* Sorry. Just realised this could have been read as a little snappy towards **NoGoodNamesLeft**. That wasn’t what I intended; just an addendum. Meta tags are used by many search engines, but aren’t a guaranteed solution since they’re open to misleading manipulation (i.e. using “sex sex sex”).