There is no question that internet search has drastically improved in the last decade. But that doesn’t mean you haven’t been frustrated with your search results, right? To search the Web more effectively, there are the fundamental laws of internet search you must master.
These basic skills will make your searches less frustrating and more successful. In this article, we’ll go over the top basic Web search shortcuts that will make your searches more successful by bringing back relevant results the first time you use them.
See how many you use often.
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These are tried and true web search methods that will work in virtually any search engine and directory. All of these tips can be used by anyone regardless of skill level.
The more narrowed down you can get your keyword descriptors, the more successful your Web search usually will be.
For example, if you were searching for “coffee,” you’d get way more results back than you could use; however, if you narrowed that down to “roasted Arabica coffee in Detroit Michigan,” you’d be more successful.
Now that is a long-tailed keyword phrase, yes?
Fundamental laws of internet search … use specific terms
It is simply amazing how many Web pages are returned when performing a search. You might guess that the term blue dolphin is relatively specialized. A Google search of those terms returned 3,240,000 results! Amazing, isn’t it?
To reduce the number of pages returned, use unique terms that are specific to the subject you are researching.
The minus operator (-) to narrow the search
How many times have you searched for a term and had the search engine return something totally unexpected? Terms with multiple meanings can return a lot of unwanted results.
The rarely used but powerful minus operator, equivalent to a Boolean NOT, can remove many unwanted results.
For example, when searching for the insect caterpillar, references to the company Caterpillar, Inc. will also be returned. Use Caterpillar -Inc to exclude references to the company or Caterpillar -Inc -Cat to refine the search further.
Quotation marks for exact phrases
Probably one of the most useful ways that have saved me some serious Web search time over the years is the simplest – and that’s searching for a phrase by putting it in quotes.
When you use quotation marks around a phrase, you are telling the search engine only to bring back pages that include these search terms exactly how you typed them in order, proximity, etc.
This tip works in almost every search engine and is very successful in bringing back hyper-focused results.
If you’re looking for an exact phrase, put it in quotes. Otherwise, you’ll come back with a huge jumble of results. And that is not a good result, is it?
Fundamental laws of internet search … maximize Google AutoComplete
Ordering search terms in general to specific in the search box will display helpful results in a drop-down list and is the most efficient way to use AutoComplete. Selecting the appropriate item will save time typing. You have several choices for how the AutoComplete feature works:
The standard Google start page will display a drop-down list of suggestions supplied by the Google search engine. This option can be a handy way to discover similar, related searches.
For example, typing in Tucson fast will not only bring up the suggestion of Tucson fast food but also Tucson fast food coupons. Use browser AutoComplete.
Use this Google start page to disable the Google AutoComplete feature and display a list of your previous searches in a drop-down box. I find this particularly useful when I’ve made dozens of searches in the past for a particular item. The browser’s AutoComplete feature must be turned on for this option to work.
Click one of these links for instructions detailing how to turn AutoComplete on or off in, i.e., Firefox.
Fundamental laws of internet search … employ the operators available
There are several other less well-known ways to limit the number of results returned and improved your search effectiveness.
The plus operator (+): As mentioned above, stop the search engine typically ignores words. The plus operator tells the search engine to include those words in the result set. Example: tall +and short will return results that include the word and.
The tilde operator (~): Include a tilde in front of a word to return results that include synonyms. The tilde operator does not work well for all terms and sometimes not at all.
Numeric ranges: You can refine searches that use numeric terms by returning a specific range, but you must supply the unit of measurement. Examples: Windows XP 2003..2005, PC $700 $800.
Site search: Many Web sites have their site search feature, but you may find that Google site search will return more pages. When doing research, it’s best to go directly to the source, and a site search is a great way to do that. Example: site:www.intel.com rapid storage technology
The wildcard operator (*): Google calls it the fill-in-the-blank operator. For example, amusement * will return pages with amusement, and any other term(s) the Google search engine deems relevant. You can’t use wildcards for parts of words. So for example, amusement p* is invalid.
You can use “wildcard” characters to throw a broader search net in most search engines and directories. These wildcard characters include *, #, and ? with the asterisk being the most common. Use wildcards when you want to broaden your search.
For example, if you are looking for sites that discuss trucking, don’t search for the truck, search for truck*. This will return pages that contain the word “truck” as well as pages that contain “trucks,” “trucking,” “truck enthusiasts,” “trucking industry,” and so on.
The OR operator (OR) or (|): Use this operator to return results with either of two terms. For example, happy joy will return pages with both happiness and joy, while happy | joy will return pages with either happiness or joy.
Related sites: For example, related:www.youtube.com can be used to find sites similar to YouTube.
Change your preferences: Search preferences can be set globally by clicking on the gear icon in the upper-right corner and selecting Search Settings. I like to change the Number of Results option to 100 to reduce total search time.
Forums-only search: Under the Google logo on the left side of the search result page, click More | Discussions or go to Google Groups. Forums are great places to look for solutions to technical problems.
Advanced searches: Click the Advanced Search button by the search box on the Google start or results page to refine your search by date, country, amount, language, or other criteria. Lots of flexibility for you.
Use browser history
Many times, I will be researching an item and scanning through dozens of pages when I suddenly remember something I had originally dismissed as being irrelevant. How do you quickly go back to that Web site?
You can try to remember the exact words used for the search and then scan the results for the right site, but there is an easier way. If you can remember the general date and time of the search, you can look through the browser history to find the Web page.
Search within a site
Here you can use Google to search within the site, and since most site search tools just aren’t that great, this is a good way to find what you’re looking for with a minimum of fuss.
This is a great way to easily find what you’re looking for. Simply use this command within Google’s search bar to search within a site: the word “site,” then a colon, then the URL of the website you’d like to search within.
For example; site:websearch.about.com “how to find people” plugged into Google will bring back search results only from this domain that are related to finding people online.
You can search within a Web address using the “inurl” command via Google; this allows you to search for words within the URL, or Uniform Resource Locator. This is just another interesting way to search the Web and find Web sites that you might not have found by just entering in a query word or phrase.
For example, if you only want to find results from sites that have the word “marshmallow” in their URL, you would plug this query into Google’s search bar: inurl: marshmallow. Your search results will only contain websites with that word in their URL.
The bottom line
A tool is only as useful as the typing fingers wielding it.
Remember, you must practice being good at most of these techniques.
That old acronym GIGO, garbage in, garbage out? Search engines will try to place the most relevant results at the top of the list, but if your search terms are too broad or ambiguous, the results will not be helpful. It is your responsibility to learn how to make your searches both fast and effective.
The Internet is a great equalizer for those who know how to use it efficiently. Anyone can now easily find facts using a search engine instead of dredging them from the gray matter dungeon — assuming they know a few basic tricks. Never underestimate the power of a skilled search expert.
