I don't know the proper term for this....

If you type McDonalds into the URL, and hit enter, mcdonalds.com shows up. If you type "coke", Coca-cola.com shows up.

My website used to do that a couple years ago. I let it go dormant so to speak and noticed it wasn't doing it a while back. But now I am actively using my site and I want it to do that again. I am still the first result on Google if that makes any difference.

So what do I need to do, and what is this called that I am trying to do?

Is your website number one on the list on all the major search engines? I would have to imagine that if it is number one it will by default go to your page.

You need to promote and advertise your site.

Originally Posted by Leopard

Is your website number one on the list on all the major search engines? I would have to imagine that if it is number one it will by default go to your page.

On Google, Bing, and Yahoo, it is #1. I haven't checked any others.

This is what you're talking about for firefox at least:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Smart+Location+bar

I think it only works if you've been there before. Otherwise it send you to a google search for what you send.

Originally Posted by Nill

This is what you're talking about for firefox at least:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Smart+Location+bar

I think it only works if you've been there before. Otherwise it send you to a google search for what you send.

No that is not what I am talking about. These are not sites I have been to. I just typed Pepsi into the location bar, and it went right to Pepsi's site upon hitting enter. I did not have to type .com, and it did not offer me Pepsi as a previous visit based on my browser cache.

What browser are you using?

Originally Posted by Madman340

What browser are you using?

Firefox. It works on both XP and Kubutu versions.

There has to be something I can do to "help" the process along, because typing "coke" goes to Coca-cola.com, and obviously coke is a different word than coca-cola.

I realize this might be something that is done from the browser, as Konqueror doesn't allow URL without the proper formating (I don't use IE unless a page absolutely will not load lol, so i can't speak as to it)....but to my point, somehow Coca-cola and other companies got their sites to show up automatically. So i just want to know what it is they did, or a browser has to do, in order for this to take place, so I can work to make my page do the same.

It is definitely a browser-specific task, as IE8 does not do it, it does the default search engine search.

It would possibly be a plugin or a setting somewhere? Have you reformatted or anything since it worked last?

Originally Posted by Madman340

It is definitely a browser-specific task, as IE8 does not do it, it does the default search engine search.

It would possibly be a plugin or a setting somewhere? Have you reformatted or anything since it worked last?

Well yes, but I am also running a separate OS along side.

I don't get how that would affect it. My site doesn't do it, but Coke and Pepsi do. Its not like the function is broken, it doesn't do it for my site.

Is your site as big and as well known as the Pepsi or Coca Cola websites are ?

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Is your site as big and as well known as the Pepsi or Coca Cola websites are ?

Thats where I am getting at. What specifically is it that Firefox latches onto to select them?

FireFox uses Google search as the default when searching from the address bar.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

FireFox uses Google search as the default when searching from the address bar.

Hmm. Thanks. I guess I will heed your initial advice and see how things go.

If you haven't already.. you need to submit your website url to google, bing, yahoo, ask.. and all of the other search engines

Second, you need an XML sitemap for your website so that the search engines can browse through all of your pages without missing any.

Third, you need to advertise and get backlinks to your website. Website directories, social bookmarking, forum signatures, and article directories are all good ways to get backlinks. There are more ways, which you probably need to read up on.

Advertise!!

Pepsi, coca-cola, mcdonalds all have billions of dollars in advertising at their disposal. Unless you offer an extremely unique item or have the money to dish out for the keyword advertising, the chances of you being able to compete with these companies are slim.

That is why we choose niche topics for our websites. Less competition.

Also, search engines see how often the website is updated. If you do not update your website for a while, you will lose your search engine ranking. You need to update your website often or use an RSS feed to do it for you.

You don't need to submit to ANY search engines EVER!

You DON'T to update your site to keep any "rankings"

AND the big players do NOT dish out millions on "keyword advertising" (whatever that means).
They already have the branding, so they do not need to mess about with penny ante trivia.

The SE's pick up on websites. That is what they do... There is no need to submit; in fact that process usually takes longer to appear on the results page than just letting it find you.