Do you have to pay to register your site with search engines like Google and Bing? This is actually a question that we get asked often by our clients.
Consider this email that we received last week:
Jason <jason@fakecompany.com>
FW: Google Search Renewal Required
Hi, I have a quick question, hopefully!
I just received this email attached that I needed to pay $80 to renew my registration with Google search. Is this something we need to take care of?
Thanks, Jason
No, you do not have to pay search engines to register or renew your website. Websites are actually performing a service by listing their webpages on search engine sites.
For example, if Google stopped delivering high quality and relevant search results to users, then people would stop using it. So, Google will never charge you for your valuable webpages.
In fact, both Google and Bing have free platforms that you can use to submit your websites if they're not already included in search rankings.
Note that it's never dumb to ask a question like this. In fact, we're thrilled every time we can help our clients avoid paying their hard-earned money to spammers!