 Search engines don't share with each other. If you work hard at becoming #1 on Yahoo's search list, that doesn't mean you'll show up on Google, MSN, HotBot, DogPile, AskJeeves, or the literally dozens of other independent and unconnected search engines that are popular. Some consolidation is occurring, but the search engine companies usually share raw data only, not the ranking that various sites have literally bought.
Search engine placement is partly free - most search engines will take a look at your site for no charge. However, getting "crawled" by a search engine isn't enough. You need to show up near the top of the list and you need to be listed under the right keywords for search engine advertising to work.
Placement in the top 1% is deceptive. For a search result-set of 100,000 records (not too uncommon a number), being in the top 1% will only get you in the first 1,000 records returned - or somewhere in the first 100 pages of results. Most people do not look past the first 20 pages at best, or past the first 5 at worst.
Placement in the top 10, or the very first page, is much better. However, this will usually take a combination of time, money, and luck - depending on the search engine you work with and the popularity of the keywords you want to be shown under.
Almost all search engines want your money in return for more traffic to your Web site. This transaction is priced using the laws of supply and demand. If 50,000 people want to be listed in the top 10 for the keyword "401k", then the price for those coveted spots will be extremely high.
To top off these hurdles, take a look at keywords and content. Keywords are by their very nature a homogenized distillation of how the average person thinks. If your product or service could be explained in a large number of different words or phrases, then you will have a large list of keywords to work with. The cheapest choices are the words or phrases that are unique to your business since there will be less competition for high ranking under them.
The keywords you choose to submit your Web site under are just as important as the content of the pages themselves. Small changes in keyword choice can result in dramatic differences. Using the keywords "real estate" and "property" may seem like the same thing, but they yield wildly different results.
To get the most out of the keywords you use and/or purchase ranking under, make sure that the keywords actually show up in the content of your Web pages, especially the homepage. Many search engines value the keywords they can find in the content of the pages above the ones you say are important.
The success of those who claim that search engine placement has expanded the amount of Web site traffic they get is almost always:
1) Ignoring the other factors that account for business success such as traditional methods of advertising, strategic alliances, key customer deals, local and national politicking, sound business planning, experienced executives, investors and mentors, etc.
2) Counting accidents as worthwhile hits. Hits from people who are looking for something else will not do you any good. Getting twice the hits for your Bed & Breakfast site isn't much good when there is another one with the same name in London and all of your new visitors are seeking information about that one.
3) Failing to mention or to understand that increased traffic and increased revenues are not directly connected. If the people who visit your site aren't interested in what you have to say, then the additional traffic is worthless (unless you are paying the search engine for every new person they send to your site, in which case it is a loss). If the success can't be explained by the above reasons then it is certainly an exception, not the rule - much like the spokesperson for a fad diet who lost 200 pounds in three months. It is the result of a complex set of factors the likes of which even the successful company can't figure out (not that they would ever admit it).
Search engines are like the Yellow Pages in some ways. Getting listed in the Yellow Pages is easy enough, but if a bold listing or a full-page ad is wanted to attract the eye of people who flip through it, it's going to cost some money. The free listing in the Yellow Pages is most effective if people already know who they are looking for.
In other ways, however, Search engines are not like Yellow Pages at all. The Yellow Pages has a fairly standard set of categories a company might be listed under that is relatively small and simple. Search engines have millions of categories and new ones are made up all the time. There's no way to skim through the search engine's data.
The bottom line: Search engines are one of the many ways you can advertise your business and make it easier for people to find information about you, but only if you use other methods in conjunction with it.
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Search Engine Snake-Oil