Signpost does all the above and more, automatically, tirelessly, intelligently.

Why is Signpost any better than other promotional services?
Because it offers an integrated system which no other submission service can match. Signpost spiders and indexes your web page on a daily basis and knows instantly if you have made any changes. It will then automatically schedule your web page for appropriate re-submission.

Signpost searches regularly to ensure your web page has been indexed by the search engines and directories. Signpost bases its submission strategies on complex decision-making algorithms which allow it to determine what action is most relevant to your web site. This may include submitting to submit forms, edit forms, delete forms, or feedback forms. Or it may involve sending enquiry e-mails to search engine webmasters if it decides they are taking too long to index your page. Or it may send an e-mail alerting you to server errors or other problems it may find at your web site.

In addition to the features outlined above, we also offer facilities to help the user check the HTML content of any page they wish to submit. In this way, our subscribers can ensure the best possible performance for their site. If certain ommissions are reported by the checking process, (eg. no keywords have been included), then it is possible to use our free facility to produce a suitable tag for immediate inclusion in the page concerned. Of course, there is absolutely no obligation to do so, but we feel it is worth every effort to optimize the performance of our submissions.

How come you only submit to a hundred or so resources?
At Signpost we believe in quality over quantity. When we add a resource to Signpost's database we have to be sure that submitting to it will be of benefit to you, the customer. The harsh fact is that there are only about 100 general purpose promotional resources which will have any appreciable affect on the hits your site receives. The exception to this are specialized resources (Incidentally, if you have a specialized resource you would like us to consider adding to Signpost, please contact us). You won't find any 'Free For All' (FFA) pages listed on Signpost for the simple reason that they are ineffective as a promotional tool.

Each addition we make to Signpost requires comprehensive testing. For directories we may have to accurately match up to 600 categories. All of this takes a lot of time and effort. When you see promotional services claiming to submit to many hundreds or even thousands of resources for only a few dollars, you can draw your own conclusions.

Surely submitting by hand is more reliable?
Not necessarily. As long as the information sent to the search engine is accurate, the submission software sees no distinction between submissions from Signpost and those made manually. Signpost's accuracy is ensured by a daily maintenance routine involving both software and expert human input.

Why don't you guarantee that search engines will accept my submission?
It's a legal thing. We can't guarantee the actions of third parties because we don't control them. If you read the disclaimer on most search engines or directories, you will usually find that they don't offer a guarantee themselves. However, in practice, for most search engines (with the possible exception of Yahoo, see below), the majority of submissions are accepted.

What about Yahoo?
Yahoo is special because it is one of the few directories which index their submissions manually. This means that a team of cataloguers have to trawl through many thousands of submissions each day, checking out the web sites, assessing their quality and suitablity for inclusion, and perhaps editing any they feel are inaccurate. Because of the volume of submissions Yahoo receive, they can't index them all and so they have become more stringent regarding their submission rules.

If you don't adhere to them, you won't get indexed, it's as simple as that. At Signpost we've taken particular care to produce a system which takes those rules seriously. We offer nearly 600 categories for you to choose from, all based on Yahoo's own, to give your submission the best chance of being accepted. You still need to take care when filling in the Signpost form. Don't make unrealistic claims about your site. Don't turn your description into blatant marketing hype. Make sure you choose the most appropriate category. And if your web site is in any way commercial, it must be submitted under a category below 'Business & Economy'.

How soon after submitting can I expect to find my site in the search engines?
That depends on the particular search engine or directory. In general it takes anything from 2 weeks to several months. You can find out the search engines' own estimates by visiting their sites. You can find links to them in our A-Z listing, but please remember that these estimates are often overly optimistic. Search engines can receive many thousands of submissions each day, and backlogs can rapidly build up. Unfortunately we have no direct control over indexing time.

Will my site appear near the top of the list in search results?
As far as the search engine spiders are concerned, it will depend on how well you have designed your web page. For the directories, it depends on the suitability of the keywords and description in your submission. You can find out about good design technique in our design pages.

No matter what you've read, there is nothing a system like Signpost can do to improve your site's ranking in a search engine. And Signpost neither practices nor condones any activities which search engines regard as abuse.

What if I'm dissatisfied with your service?
We are so confident that Signpost represents the best web site submission service available, that we make the following offer - If, during the first 30 days of your subscription period you are not completely satisfied with Signpost's progress, we will refund your money in full.

Will you add my search engine/directory to Signpost?
We are always interested to hear about new promotional resources to which Signpost can submit. The main criterion we apply when considering the addition of a new resource is whether it will benefit our customers. If you have a promotional resource you would like us to consider adding to Signpost, please feel free to contact us. (We are particularly interested in specialized resources).

I run an ISP and would like Signpost to handle submission of our web sites. Is this possible?
Yes. Please contact us for more info.