Summary: At one time this engine used to be one of if not THE leading metasearch engine. Things have changed now, but it is still high on the list. The reason for AltaVista dropping is probably because of two main reasons; one being that they no longer provide the backup database for Yahoo! (Google does now) and for the longest time AltaVista indexed newly submitted sites very quickly, within days but, more recently it normally takes months to see a site get listed. There have been some very recent glimpses of a new AltaVista that is indexing pages fast again. We'll see...

How to get listed: There are two ways to get listed; paid submissions and free submissions. If you want your site a guaranteed review within 2 days use their Express Submit which will also get you listed in the LookSmart Network but will cost you $199. If you don't want to shell out the cash use their normal Submit a Site form which is still free.

How to get a good listing: Recently AltaVista seems to be changing their algorithm so predicting how to optimize your site for this engine can be hard. It is known though that AltaVista relies heavily on Meta Tags (read more on Meta Tag tips). Rankings can also be affected depending on a site's age. The longer a site is listed in AltaVista, the better a listing it will receive. For some more hints check out AltaVista's webpage about their Search Engine, here.

Frequency of updates: Very recently I have heard of many websites getting listed within days of their initial sumbission. This has not been the normal case in the recent past, though. It used to take a month or two to get listed.

Name of bot: Scooter

Read more at: Zettas.com