In the ever-advancing world of web sites, everyone is trying for a gimmick to boost their visitor base. Some are doing it by advertising, but most are trying to jockey for position on the major search engines. There are a few companies that are putting out software that help get your site placed on a search engine in a favorable position, say in the Top 40. At least that's how they portray the software. As a fledging web site, BVS Reviews could use some help like that. So I decided to test-drive a couple of these programs. One that I really liked was AddWeb 3.20 Professional by Cyberspace HQ.

I became interested in AddWeb after reading a press release from Cyberspace HQ. They were touting AddWeb as the next greatest tool for getting your web site at the top of the search engine heap.
Always looking for a better angle, I decided to give this program a whirl. I downloaded the professional version and tried it out. It worked better than I thought it would.

One of the most helpful functions of AddWeb is the Page Builder. Because the program submits only the URL of your site to some of the search engines, the Page Builder function makes sure that your home page is formatted properly. These search engines have programs called spiders that go out and find key words and phrases off of your home page. What the spider finds on your home page determines how the site gets indexed on the search engine. Page Builder makes sure that the proper keywords and site description has been added to the home page source code.

The program has you set up a profile for your web site. The profile includes the URL for the site, a description of the site, the site title, and a reciprocal URL if there is one. For submitting to search engines like Lycos that have definite categories, you can select a Main Category to place your site in. That can create a problem with sites like BVS Reviews, which can be covered under several different categories.
But with Yahoo, Snap and AOL Search you can submit to a custom category. The Profile also has you define certain keywords for the site. There is also an area in the Profile for owner information. That way the people controlling the search engine can reach you if necessary.

One of the major parts of the Profile is the Automated Reporting feature. This feature lets you set how the various reports that are generated will be viewed. The report formats can be either ASCII text, HTML or e-mail text. The reports include data on your ranking with a specific search engine and which search engines accepted your last submission.

AddWeb has 2701 entries in its search engine database. These entries range from some obscure search engines like Island Sunrise Links to major players like Northern Lights and Snap. When submitting your site, you can limit the submission to specific target areas or send it out to the whole shooting match. Make your selections in the Engine area of the AddWeb program window. Then move over to the Submit area. This window has a list of the engines that you are submitting to. There is also a list of the web sites that are being submitted. There are listings for successful, failed and skipped submissions. A submission will fail if the server can't be found or if it won't accept any new ones. At various points in the program there is information as to why a search engine accepted or declined your submission.

AddWeb has a Ranking robot that goes out to each search engine and tries to find your site based on criteria you provide. Enter a phrase or keyword and then the URL of the site you want checked out. The Ranking module will seek out your site see where it ranks in each search engine. You can specify the search depth, from the top 10 sites listed on an engine to upwards of the hundredth listing for a keyword or phrase.

There are several other elements that AddWeb has that I don't have time to cover here. Let's just say that it is a full-featured program that submits your web site to more search engines than any other in its class that I'm aware of. It allows you to do for yourself what commercial enterprises charge a fortune for.

You can download AddWeb 3.20 Professional from the Cyberspace HQ web site. After a trial period you will need to spend $ 149 to register the program. There are also Standard and Gold versions of the program for less money. But they also have fewer features than the Pro version.

The Cyberspace HQ web site can be found at www.cyberspacehq.com.