How do I submit my site to Howdy?
You can submit your site without charge by using the submission tool. You may consider reading over the F.A.Q. below to make sure your site abides by our standard policy concerning inclusion in our index.
How can I have my site removed from Howdy?
If you're the site owner or webmaster, carefully follow the instructions on the removal page.
I found a site that causes damage to a visitor's computer. What should I do?
We would request that you please submit the link you found with details on what happened when the site was visited so we can review the site and remove it from our index if necessary. If you know of sites that are considered dangerous (including pornographic sites, scams, warez, sites that attempt to install software without the user's knowledge, hate/racist sites, etc.), and even if they're not in our index, we would appreciate knowing about them. We will add such sites to a database.
Should I submit my site on a regular basis?
Only submit your link one time. There is no need to re-submit because Howdy will index your site periodically in case you have added new content. Over submission is viewed as abuse of the free service and your site may be banned from future submissions.
Is my submission automatic?
Submissions are not automatic. Normally, submissions are reviewed on a case by case basis to insure that the site being submitted does not contain adult oriented or hate/racist related content. However, submission results may take as little as 24 hours.
How do I advertise my site listed in the section that shows up near the top of the search results page?
These links are generated automatically based on the number of individuals searching for particular information and not necessarily due to your current search keywords. If a site is popular it automatically gets listed at the bottom of the search form on the results page. This is not an ad section. At the moment, Howdy does not accept requests for ad space.
Why can't I find wiki type websites in Howdy?
Due to the nature of many wiki or wiki-encylopedia type Web sites, we have found that many of these sites have adult related graphics in their pages because such sites allow almost anyone to edit pages on their sites. We do not accept submissions for pornographic/adult oriented Web sites. As a part of our official policy, Howdy reserves the right to reject or remove any link for any reason, without prior notice or explanation.
Can I pay to get top results or faster submission?
No. Howdy's submission service is free of charge. Top results generally depend on the way you have set up your meta tags and other features of your site. This includes the proper use of relevant content in conjunction with your title tag. Howdy pays a lot of attention to the relevancy of keywords, descriptions, title tag and content.
Will I be penalised for bad keywords, links or hiding text?
Absolutely. If you use adult oriented keywords, have links to adult oriented sites or attempt to hide text (for example, putting white text on a white page), you could get banned from various search engines - not just Howdy.
What happens if an adult site is linking to my site?
Because Howdy does not index adult oriented sites there is no fear of your site being penalised. While the practice is unfortunate, we do understand that you can't help who links to your pages. However, if you link to sites that do serve up adult content, you can get banned without notice.
Will my site be penalised for duplicate content?
Under normal circumstances, Howdy ignores pages with duplicate content; however, if you have several links going to the same content or redirecting to the same page, then Howdy will probably remove all but the index page to your site.
Can I use automated submission software to submit my links?
No. Howdy may ban links or entire domains if auto submission software is detected.
Some of my pages are in Howdy but my front page never shows up in the results. What's happening?
This may be due to a number of issues on your site: If you use javascript to produce links or to provide rollover text or images, if you use only flash on your front page or if you have "noindex" in your metatags or if your robots.txt file rejects Howdy, then your page will not be indexed. Also, if your site has less than 10 words (not including common terms such as "a, and, the, of", etc.) it may not be indexed.
I have a photo gallery without text - how can I get the pages indexed?
Howdy's robot will not crawl pages that have less than 10 words as a part of the page's content.
Does Howdy crawl frame sites or sites that use iframes and mapped images?
Generally Howdy indexes links in a mapped image and for sites that use iframes, provided the content or links are not produced with javascript. Sites built with frames will most likely not be indexed unless you submit a link directly to a page containing a site map. To learn more about site maps, see this Web site.
Why doesn't Howdy grab my rollover javascript menu?
Howdy ignores any content produced by javascript. You might consider using CSS to produce rollover effects for your links instead of javascript.
When I submit my site, will Howdy submit my links to Google, Yahoo or other search engines?
No. You need to use the individual submit features available on these sites.
I recently visited China and wasn't able to access Howdy. Is China blocked from your site?
The Chinese government has a habit of blocking certain Web sites around the world. Additionally, Howdy has blocked certain schools or institutes in China from accessing our site due to previous abuse of our various services. The block includes certain other countries as well.
Why was my free email account with Howdy deleted? or I can't upload music or movies in Howdy Movies or Howdy Music and the screen says my IP address has been banned.
This may have been due to abuse of the free service. If you believe this was an error or technical problem, please contact us with your details and we will attempt to find a solution. Response time may take up to seven (7) days. If the reason was due to your abuse of one of the services, you will not hear back from us.
I'm a school principal and our computers can't access your sites any longer. We keep getting a page that says "You don't have permission to access this page."
This may be due to someone at the school attempting to abuse one or more of Howdy's services or you may be in a country that no longer permits certain sites to be viewed from your location. If you feel this is an error, we encourage you to contact us with details.
Does Howdy archive my searches?
Howdy keeps an archive of key word and phrase searches for about 24 hours at the most, afterwhich the log is automatically deleted. We do keep a list of top searches but this information is not connected to your personal use of Howdy unless you are breaking the Terms of Use or abusing the system in some manner. Otherwise, your searches are deleted within 24 hours. The reason we keep a log of the top searches is to help improve the search system itself and to report such information (words, phrases and links - not personal information) to our Howdy Hotwords service.
When I submit content to your site, do I retain my copyright?
Yes, you retain your copyright, however, when you submit any work to Howdy you agree to terms and conditions that include this: "by using Howdy's site or related sites, you give Howdy a worldwide, non revocable, perpetual, royalty-free license to copy your submitted content or submitted statements in any medium and for any purpose." This means, among other things, that your submissions can be incorporated into documentation, FAQs, code and marketing materials without further consent from you. These works may be issued under a variety of licenses. However, you retain the copyright to your individual work.
Why did I receive an email from someone@howdysearch about my credit card or bank account?
We assure you, the email did not come from Howdy. We do not use the HowdySearch.com domain name to send any email. Besides, when we do send email it has nothing to do with credit cards or bank accounts. We suspect someone is faking the email address, which is a common practice for many online scam artists. Do a Howdy search to learn more about these practices.
I'm concerned about Howdy handling my private information.
Please read our Privacy Policy concering how Howdy deals with any of your private information.
Does Howdy support any particular political party?
No. Howdy is a search engine. Vote for Howdy!
