Register a user account with Google and sign in

Access the webmasters' tools area

Once you have set up your Google account and logged in, you can use the free tools available at https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dashboard?pli=1 or at its new home ...https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/new/home?hl=en.

Enter the URL of your new site in full (omit the page name) and then click on the 'Add Site' button to get started ...

Create a verification Meta Tag

Before Google will send its robots to have a look, you need to prove that it exists and that you are really in control of it.

Select 'Verify your site' to do this.

The easier way is to add a Meta Tag.

Use the built-in tool to generate one.

Add it to your home page

Copy it, and paste it into the head of your home page. (Delete the empty space at the end of the Tag - shown in black below - it's against the W3C rules to leave it there.)

FTP the revised file to your hosting company.

Verify the site

Now the Tag has been added and the page posted again, you can finally verify the site. Back in the Webmasters' Tools area on Google, select 'Verify'.

Sitemaps

Having successfully verified your site and now that Google knows about it officially, you should create a Sitemap for the GoogleBot to find and use so that it knows what's there and you get the most from the search it carries out.

You can read more about sitemaps by clicking on the 'Sitemaps' link.

Create a Sitemap at xml-sitemaps.com

Go to http://www.xml-sitemaps.com to generate a free sitemap.

Enter the site address and complete the other boxes as appropriate.

Set the overall site change frequency from the drop-down box. (You will change this on a page-by-page basis later.)

Download the sitemap.xml file that is generated and save it in the root of your local copy of the website. (You will upload it later.)

Edit the Sitemap file

Open the sitemap.xml file that was generated in your favourite text editor.

Change the page update frequency to suit the content.

Save it when completed and upload it to the root of your website.

Now it's back to Google Webmasters' Tools ...

Submit your Sitemap

Results

After a few hours (or days) your site will have been searched and indexed on Google. Your site is now visible to the world!

Yahoo also offers a similar service. The process of getting listed is is similar and another Meta Tag will need to be added to the head of your home page.

You already have a sitemap in place, of course, and Yahoo will use that.