Search engines - eg. Google.com
Dylan Hunter, of Fast Search alltheweb.com, explains that when search engines look for Web pages, they send out tools called crawlers (also known as spiders, robots, or bots).
These crawlers begin by finding a number of seed pages that include a lot of links. Crawler follow these links, retrieving the linked pages, then retrieving the pages that those pages link to, and so forth, until they come back with a raw index of pages.
Web Directories - eg. Yahoo.com
These sites are created by human editors who define categories, then assign different Web sites to each category. Instead of using searching techniques (although you can enter keyword searches), you drill down through a series of categories to find information about a particular subject
Meta-Search Engines - eg. Crawl.com
These visit multiple search engines, combine search results, and output a consensus of opinion. They should therefore perform better than any single search engine, although a little slower. They arent often used.
The following Search tips are taken from:
A comprehensive and informative guide to searching techniques and new search engines you might wish to try.
1. Be Natural
Type in what you want to know, rather than a list of synonyms. Websites are written in flowing language, and search engines are being taught to understand the same.
| If you would’ve asked a fellow human “Is alphabet soup nutritious?“. Then ask the search engine “alphabet soup” AND nutritious rather than alphabet soup nutrition food health. |
2. Use Rare Words
The more unusual or uncommon the keywords you use are, the more specific the results will be. Taking a moment to think of a valid yet uncommon word is a valuable technique.
alcohol returned 912,620 hits (AltaVista)
vodka fetched 120,740
and it narrows down to 2754 hits when you enter Stolichnaya. |
- Note: For a few engines the word order is important, so always enter the rare word first.
3. Reverse Questions
Search engines look for pieces of text that match your query. Web pages are more likely to contain answers than questions - so search for the answer. Phrase your query how you would expect the answer to read - the difference appears slight, but it makes a huge difference.
| “IRS stands for” rather than “What does IRS stand for?”
“man first landed on the moon in” rather than “When did man first land on the moon?”
“sky is blue because” instead of “Why is the sky blue?” |
4. Dead Link Solutions
Try shortening the URL to the next subheading. Keep doing so until you get to the point that works. Then browse from there to see if you can track down the file that you want.
| If http://www.spock.com/jim/life/not_as_we_know_it.html returns an error, try http://www.spock.com/jim/life/ and if you still get an error, try http://www.spock.com/jim/ and so on down to the root domain http://www.spock.com |
5. Use Boolean Phrases
Named after George Boole, Boolean phrases are a system of logical combinations, using words like AND, OR & NOT. It is best to always capitalise them. Use them when everything else fails
AND or “+”
Larry AND Curly AND Moe
Larry +Curly +Moe
AND requires the word to be present
OR
Chico OR Zeppo
OR allows either word to be present
NOT or “-”
Marx NOT Brothers
Marx -brothers
NOT excludes words. In this example results should display sites about communism and not comedy.
NEAR
“Salman Rushdie” NEAR teatowel
Finds keywords within 25 (Lycos) or 10 (Alta Vista) words of each other. Not supported by the other engines.
NEST THEM!
Marx NOT (Brothers OR Moscow)
BUT DON’T GO TOO FAR!!
((alphabet AND Soup) NOT (twinkies OR “KFC”)) AND nutritious
… is too confusing. Use
“alphabet soup” AND nutritious |
More Tips
Type the most important word first:
This often produces a more relevant search result
Automatic exclusion of common words
Don’t use common words and characters such as “where” and “how”, because they tend to slow down your search without improving the results. Search engines ignore these words unless you specify to include them. They are called “stop words”.
Note: AltaVista and Google will find complete phrases, including stop words, when the phrase is “within quotes”. A phrase without quotes will ignore the stop words.
Example words: the of web a to in & is are “stop words”
“searching the web” contains two stop words: the & web. Consequently the search engine will only look for “searching”. If you are aware of this, you can add a more relevant keyword to narrow your search, like: “people search” or “advanced search”
Google will indicate if a common word has been excluded by displaying details on the results page below the search box.
If a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can include it by putting a “+” sign in front of it. (Be sure to include a space before the “+” sign) eg. [how +to post +in WordPress]
Google: Query Modifiers
[define:]
Will provide a definition of the words you enter after it, gathered from various online sources. The definition will be for the entire phrase entered (i.e., it will include all the words in the exact order you typed them).
[allintitle:]
If you precede your search words with [allintitle:] Google will restrict the search to sites displaying those words in their title
[intitle:]
If you include [intitle:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the title. For instance, [intitle:google search] will return documents that mention the word “google” in their title, and mention the word “search” anywhere in the document (title or no). Note there can be no space between the “intitle:” and the following word.
Real Names
The most simple of “advanced” techniques is using real names. The introduction of realnames.com
has made this easy as pie. Simply enter the name.
Its not all about Google: Choose the best Search Engine
Experiment with different search engines:
Use the advanced ones: they bring great results
If a search engine is not giving you results, try a different one
There are a host of great search engines on the net. Try a new one regularly - all of them have advanced search options you can investigate:
Exalead
Services the corporate sector, but results are the equal of Google. Comes with thumbnails previews & advanced results refinement.
Gigablast
This is a great search engine. Less spam. It features links to the Internet Archive, cached copies, the ability to report spam and more…It suggests alternative searches & has no ads!
Google Chrome is a brand new addition to the list of web browsers: you can download its Beta version free from the internet and give it a try
Google Scholar
Ask.com
Lycos.com
AltaVista.com
alltheweb.com
Yahoo.com
A9: Is a commerce search engine: go shopping, browsing for goods and products
Meta-Search engines to try
Selections from RobsSearchEnginz website
Combines the results of MSN, Yahoo & Google, and very nicely provides a frame for viewing the results
If you wish to really go to the extreme, try Rob’s unique Meta-Meta-Search Engine
An excellent collection of engines are searched - MSN, Yahoo, Google, Ask, Open Directory & WiseNut. Fast results, clusters, nice layout. Use this!
- Surfwax - Uses Yahoo & MSN, plus some less useful sources. Gives unique info on pages found such as number of links, images, words etc. Allows you to focus on keywords, to find a more precise meaning. Heavy use of Javascript. Best suited to serious researching of rare topics
- Kartoo & Ujiko - have a unique visual display of results and clustering
- Xooda - works well if you select just the top 4 engines
- Twingine - shows Google and Yahoo results side-by-side. Very simple, very useful!
- TurboScout - a serial meta-search. A very quick way to search different engines, one at a time
- IceRocket - better known for its blog search, the web search has great results - although there’s nothing on their site now, it used to say it was powered by WiseNut, Yahoo, MSN, Teoma, Altavista, Alltheweb, Lycos etc
- Zuula - side-by-side results of Yahoo, MSN & Google, plus brilliant new engines Gigablast & Exalead
- GoYaMs - lets you alter the weighting of the Big 3 how you like
- Zippy - meta-searches the Top 4, with lots of related searches from each to refine things
Further Reading
There are some excellent books available to further help you with your web searching:
How to Find Almost Anything on the Internet : A Kid’s Guide to Safe Searching
Search Engines for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide
The Extreme Searcher’s Guide to Web Search Engines :
A Handbook for the Serious Searcher
Two chapters present general principles that apply to all search engines, the following ten sections go deep with usage guidelines for 8 major search sites, plus a dozen or so metasearch engines and others of interest. Emphasis throughout is on precise understanding of advanced search techniques
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Search Secrets
The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can’t See
This is the first comprehensive guide to searching the Invisible Web — the vast online resources that are ignored by major search engines — covering how search engines work, to why/where/when to use invisible search techniques, to case studies of several typical searches. Highly recommended for serious searchers.
