While there are many engines that will accept your listing at no cost,you are really taking your chances in terms of locating your site under the most appropriate keywords. Your rank may go up and down, or it may take several weeks for your listing to show up in the first place.Additionally, your site may not be fully optimized, or search engine friendly,meaning the best search terms for your site may not be the ones that actually trigger your listing at all.

A solution that many search engines now employ is called "paid listings" or "paid inclusion" which essentially guarantees your placement for a small fee. This type of inclusion is sometimes referred to as "rapid inclusion" as well, since payment will generally mean your listing gets priority attention,and will be included within a search engine results much faster than through regular unpaid submissions, or by simply relying on an engine to crawl your pages.

The benefit of paid inclusion then is to get your site listed fast, and in top position for the most appropriate search terms, which you are able define and target specifically for your own website. There are a number of methods of gaining paid inclusion, which include pay-per-click advertising,or by paying a flat rate for a certain amount of time for a guaranteed listing.