Surf successfully using search engines

Welcome to Surf Successfully Using Search Engines! This How-To will hopefully improve your internet searching skills for quicker and more precise results!

For those wondering just what exactly a search engine is...

A search engine can be defined as a set of coordinated programs that include:

A spider (also known as a "crawler" or a "bot) that visits and reads every website that wants to be searchable. The spider using hyperlinks on each page to read and navigate through the website's pages.

A program that creates a massive index (sometimes called a "Catalog") from the pages that have been read by the spider.

A program that receives your search request and compares it to the entries in the index and then returns the results to you in a list.

For this part of the tutorial, I'll be using www.google.com as my search engine.

It's all in the details

The most significant tip in using a search engine is to be specific! This will immediately help narrow your results down. For example, if you're searching for a breed of dog, don't just search for dog, try German Shepard Dogs.

Another example: say you're planning a vacation to Hawaii and want to get some information. Search for vacation Hawaii or Hawaii Vacation. Both will return different results as they're in a different order. Once you've found some information narrow your search even more by selecting the island in Hawaii you want to vacation on, and don't forget to send an invitation my way!

Common Words

By default Google, along with various other search engines will automatically exclude common words (where, how, as well as certain single digits and single letters). If a common word is essential to your search you can include it by putting a + before the word, letter, etc. Example: Searching for Star Wars Episode I, use: Star Wars Episode +I for Episode I specific sites.

"Phrase Search"

You can also use a phrase search. This simple means you put quotation marks around your search phrase. "Star Wars Episode I" for example. Phrase Searches are especially helpful in looking for very specific names, titles, etc.

Exclude -

Sometimes you may be searching for something that has double meanings. For example, you're searching for information about Bass fish and you search for Bass, your results will likely include information about bass music. To avoid this, search for Bass -Music. Which will remove any music results from your search for bass.

OR Searching

To search for two things at the same time, include the word OR. For example: Vacation Hawaii OR Alaska, would return results for both vacations in Hawaii or Alaska.

Within a Website

If you know the website where information is located but don't know where within the website the information is try a domain restricted search. enter your search followed by site:www.website.com. For example, searching for chat on Youth Tech's website you'd use: chat site:www.youthtech.com. This could also be used to exclude a website. for example. Windows Help -site:www.microsoft.com

Conclusion

I hope this tutorial has helped you learn something about improving your search engine results! Please don't hesitate to mix and match all of the above techniques for the best results. Happy Searching!