Portuguese ranks among the top 10 languages in the world. The two main Portuguese-speaking countries are Brazil and, of course, Portugal. While Portugal plays a major role Europe, Brazil does the same in the Western Hemisphere as it is also the largest and most populous country in South America. With such a large population, Brazil also has its share of regional search engines. While there are many, here are a few of the more popular ones.
Google Brazil (http://Google.co.br). Just like the American Google, the Brazilian regional counterpart is the most popular search engine in this country. Google’s version of social networking, Orkut, is reported to be very popular in Brazil. You can submit the URL to your main page in Portuguese by going to http://www.google.com.br/intl/pt-BR/add_url.html.
MSN (http://Br.MSN.com). Statistics show that Microsoft’s search engine ranks second behind Google with roughly 25 million visitors annually. Searches on MSN are done using Bing and you can submit your Portuguese pages through http://www.bing.com/docs/submit.aspx.
Yahoo! (http://Br.Yahoo.com). Yahoo is not quite as popular as Google in Brazil. It has to share roughly 10% of the search market with other non-Google websites. Yahoo Brazil is just like its American owner in that it is a portal with news, groups, free e-mail, and other services. Yahoo ranks just behind MSN with around 17 million visitors each year. You can submit your web pages to Yahoo! Brazil by going to http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/br/free/submit.
Aonde (http://aonde.com). Aonde is a directory and search engine. You can submit your Portuguese pages to http://www.aonde.com/inclusao.htm. Their standard submission option gives no guarantees of page term or inclusion. They also have a Partnership Inclusion option that is free but requires the owner of the pages to maintain either a search field or direct link back to Aonde. The advantages of the Partnership option is that Aonde can include your site within 3 days. You can submit your pages at http://www.aonde.com/inclusao.htm.
Achei (http://www.achei.com.br). Achei not only accepts pages in Portuguese but also in other languages like Spanish, English, Italian, and French. Submission is free but they make no guarantees as to when your site will be included in their index. The submission link for your web pages is at http://www.achei.com.br/incluir/index.htm.
Buscar (http://www.buscar.com.br/). You can register with Buscar online however doing so notifies a staff member who will review it. This search engine seems to be more popular in the Brazilian city of Divinópolis according to Alexa.com statistics. They also have a sponsored link program. To submit your website, go to http://www.buscar.com.br/incluir_url.html. They advertise a 24-hour turnaround time for inclusion if everything is in order.
Guiaweb (http://www.guiaweb.com). While this site is actually located in the United States, about a third of its users come from Brazil and its pages are written in Portuguese. Its default search interface is simple like Google’s. Inclusion is free and easy and can be done at http://www.guiaweb.com/addurl.php3.
Brbusca (http://www.brbusca.com/). This search engine has a different type of search query entry page. You can enter how you want keywords evaluated and results displayed right on the page. Roughly two-thirds of the traffic to this search engine comes from Brazilian users according to Alexa.com. To submit your pages, go to http://brbrasil.com.br/cgi-local/brbusca/submit/cadastro.cgi. The submission page also allows you to check other search engines where you want to register at the same time.
Portalbusca (http://www.portalbusca.com/). This is classified as a directory of Brazilian web sites. You can submit your website at http://www.portalbusca.com//link_submit.php and you must be registered in order to do so.
Achem (http://www.achem.com.br/). Achem is a directory but somewhat unique because the most popular sites in each category are listed as icons. This style of display takes up more real estate on the page but it takes advantage of visual brand recognition. Achem is reported to be popular in the Brazilian city of Moji Daz Cruces. To submit your pages, go to http://www.achem.com.br/cadastrar.asp.
Localiza (http://www.lokaliza.com.br/). Localiza is a search engine in addition to an information portal such as Yahoo. Its search entry page is simple with the various portal category links displayed in simple link text. To submit pages to Localiza, go to http://www.lokaliza.com.br/inclusao.htm.
Brazilian search engines are a little more flexible when it comes to page language. In other words, your web pages do not always have to be in Portuguese. This is different from some regional search engines that require pages be written in the dialect of their geographical area in order to be indexed. It is also not always necessary for web pages to be under a Brazilian domain name before they will be indexed. However, keep in mind that if a foreign-owned company wants to procure a Brazilian domain name that it must usually have a legal entity representing it within the country.
Tags: brazil, brazil seo, search engines
