by StaffTechAlert - GoDaddy.com
"I can’t find what I’m looking for!” We’ve all felt lost when searching for something on the Web. With billions of pages of information, sometimes even the simplest search can seem like looking for a grain of salt on the beach. However, with a little inside knowledge of how search engines work, you can target your searches and find what you’re looking for a lot faster.
We’ve all felt lost when searching for something on the Web. With billions of pages of information, sometimes even the simplest search can seem like looking for a grain of salt on the beach. However, with a little inside knowledge of how search engines work, you can target your searches and find what you’re looking for a lot faster.
Search engines use automated software programs called spiders, bots or crawlers. These programs analyze Web pages and add the data they’ve collected to the search engine’s index. When you enter a term into a search engine, that term is checked against the search engine's index. Any Web pages matching the term are listed in the results page, with the closest match at the top.
Most people search the Web using keywords, which can be single words, phrases or proper names. Keywords are effective for very specific searches, but don’t do as well for general terms. For instance, searching for “Joe’s Bar and Grill” returns just under 4 million results from Google®. If you’re looking for a specific location and it doesn’t appear in the first ten results, you might feel like you’re looking for that grain of salt on the beach.
For phrase searches, quotes are your first best friend. For example, searching for Web Search Engine returns more than 15 million results. However, by putting that phrase in quotes you will drastically reduce the number of results to just under two million – and every result on the first page matches exactly the phrase you’re looking for. This one small tip is a huge time saver, but if you want to improve your search skills even further, you can use more advanced search techniques, such as Boolean searches or site-specific searches.
A Boolean search is based on the logical relationship among search terms. Boolean logic consists of three operators:
- AND – If you are searching for information about Ford Mustangs and you search for ford mustang, the search engine returns results about President Ford and horses. However, if you search for ford AND mustang, your search engine returns only pages that have both of those terms. These days, many search engines default to AND. Always play it safe and consult the Help files at your search engine site to find out which logic is the default.
- NOT – If you are searching for information about BlackBerry® devices and you search for blackberries, the search engine returns results about fruit and pies. However, if you search for blackberries NOT fruit NOT pies, your search engine returns items that are less likely to be about the tasty fruit and are instead about the “crackberries” we all know and love.
- OR – If you search for cats, the results are limited to only pages that contain the word cats. However, if you search for cats OR felines OR kittens, your search engine returns pages that contain either the word cats, or the word felines, or the word kittens. This trick actually gives you MORE results, but can still be very helpful.
If you know what you’re looking for on a specific site but can’t find it when you look there, no problem – add a site-specific tag to your search. For example, if you want to find information about strep throat on WebMD.com, just enter “strep throat” site: webmd.com into the search engine. The “site:” command tells the search engine to limit its results to the site specified; in this case WebMD.com
With those few simple tips, you can greatly increase your search ability and get what you need on the Web in less time. That grain of salt is there–you just need to know how to look for it.
Happy Surfing!
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