Search Engines

How can you find what you're looking for online? You can aimlessly follow link after link, hoping to land on a page that has what you need, but of course the best way is to use a Search Engine.  Almost every Internet user has been to Yahoo or Google, but there are a few things to know in order to search efficiently. How can you find exactly what you are looking for online?  That is the real challenge.  If you just type a few words into the textbox of a Search Engine, chances are you'll have to wade through pages of results.  Below, we present an article that provides some tips on how to find just what you're looking for. Here's a quick tip: This works on Yahoo and Google.  If you want to search for something but want to filter out some unwanted results, put a minus sign (-) before a term that you do NOT want to see in the results.  For example, say you wanted to find out the name of a singer but all you could remember is that her last name is Bush.  If you search on Bush, you'll get loads of results about President Bush. Instead, enter "Bush -president" and you'll have far less results to wade through.  In this case, on the first page of results on Yahoo, the fourth entry is a web site for Kate Bush, a singer.  Please see our article below for more on Advanced Searches. Related Links: Five very popular Search Engine web sites are Google.com, Yahoo.com, MSN Search, AOL Search and Ask Jeeves.   For more information on ratings for Search Engines, see Nielsen NetRatings Search Engines at SearchEngineWatch.com.   Here is another good article on Major Search Engines and Directories, also on  SearchEngineWatch.com.   Three good Search sites for Geneology are familysearch.org, rootsweb.com, and ancestry.com .   Wikipedia has a good article on Search Engines with links to other articles and web sites.   Alex Linsker recently wrote an informative article on using Search Engines, entitled "How to Search and Find Whatever is Most Important to You." For more information on Search Engines, we recommend the following books: Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook A guide for anyone who makes use of the Internet for research, including librarians, teachers, students, business researchers, and writers, this book details what serious users have to know to fully take advantage of Internet search tools and resources. Newsgroups, image resources, and reference resources are covered, as are the major tools - search engines, directories, and portals - and strategies needed to access these resources. For those with little to moderate searching experience, friendly, easy-to-follow guidelines to the world of Internet research are provided. For experienced searchers, new perspectives on content and techniques are discussed. Google Power: Unleash the Full Potential of Google Learn advanced techniques for maximizing the Google search engine and extract the best content from Google without having to learn complicated code. Go under the hood and learn a wide range of advanced web search techniques through practical examples. This is an ideal resource for students, librarians, journalists, researchers, businesspeople, lawyers, investigators, and anyone interested in conducting an in-depth search. Google and Other Search Engines: Visual QuickStart Guide Did you know that if rather than using Google (great as it is) to find, say, the current wholesale price of a given used car, you used a specialized search engine instead, you could end up with a few relevant results rather than hundreds of potentially useful ones? Or that simply by choosing the correct keyword, you could improve your search results exponentially? If you're like most people, you probably know you could be searching more effectively; this volume actually shows you how! After providing a thorough grounding in search basics¿keyword usage, wildcards, and more--authors Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner move on to the biggies, Goggle and Yahoo, showing you how to make the most out of their differing approaches. You'll also learn about Boolean stars Alta Vista and Hot Bot before the authors launch into an extensive discussion of specialized search engines. Step-by-step instructions and loads of visual aids make learning a snap with this essential guide. Yahoo! To the Max: An Extreme Searcher Guide Yahoo! has a wide range of ways to find information, communicate, invest, shop, and sell, and this book provides an overview of the popular Web portal. Details on Web searching, finding and customizing news, and using and creating discussion groups are included, as well as information on using Yahoo! for communicating with e-mail and instant messaging, buying and selling goods and services, managing personal finances and investments, and personalizing with My Yahoo!. Presented to both novice and savvy users, this resource aids in utilizing additional Yahoo! content and features for quick and easy use such as travel, health, music, weather, maps, movies, photos, and games.

SEARCHING FOR A BETTER WAY Tips for Getting the Most Out of Internet Search Engines by Chuck Bendar   11/8/05 The search engine is one of the most often used and most vital resources on the Internet today. Just about everyone is familiar with the basic concept behind these online research aids. You put the Web address or URL of a particular search site in the address bar in your browser window, and once the site loads, you put a word or phrase in a text box and search for the topic or topics of your choice. With luck, you find what you're looking for. As a freelance write, I've been using the Web as my primary source of research for more than 10 years. In that time I've found some little things that I can do to help the search process along and streamline my chances of finding the exact content I've been seeking. Of course, it should be noted that, while all search engines are similar in design, there are slight but noticeable differences in both structure and content. In fact, that is one of first things search engine users should know -- certain search engines may work better that others for certain searches. For an example, say I decided to run searches on the New York Yankees on five of the Internet's most popular search engines. One search engine produced only 90 matches while another found 9.5 million pages dedicated to the baseball club. Four listed the team's official homepage as their top, non-sponsored result (more on this later) while the fifth led with a fan-created Website. In addition, none of the search engines had the same second entry. Results ranged from New York newspaper pages devoted to the Yankees to the team's page on the Website of a national sports cable television network to an online broker offering tickets to their games. Clearly, results can vary from search engine to search engine. While it's okay to have a favorite, and you undoubtedly will after some time, it is also important to be flexible. Never limit yourself to just one when looking up an important topic, because -- just like with prescription drugs -- results may vary. One thing that has always worked well for me is the tried and true method of narrowing search results by using quotation marks. Placing quotes around a group of words forces the search engine to find only exact matches of that particular phrase. Again, if I put the name Dave Letterman (without quotation marks) in a search engine box, it will find matches that include the words Dave and Letterman, but not necessarily in reference to an individual with the name of Dave Letterman. By using quotes, however, I ensure that I will find matches that only contain the exact name, Dave Letterman. However, this does not guarantee that the Dave Letterman websites that I find are talking about the famous CBS talk show host. So now what am I to do? Well, that's where the advanced search feature found at many of the popular search engines comes in handy. Imagine that, while I'm searching for pages on Dave Letterman the talk show host, I find a plethora of pages devoted to Dave Letterman the oceanic photographer. But I couldn't care less about pictures of fish -- I want to read some Top Ten Lists! By using advanced search functions, I can tell the search engine to match all of the words in the text box, to look for an exact phrase, to look for at least one of the words written in the text box, to exclude certain words or phrases and to set language, file-type, and appropriate content limits on the results. Using this feature allows me to command the search engine to limit results to Websites that contain the phrases "talk show host" or "Top Ten List". I could also filter out all results that contain the words "oceanic photography" or "fish" (although by doing so I may potentially be missing out on some good underwater humor!). In summary, advance search is an excellent tool for filtering results. Even with all of these handy tools, however, it may be possible to miss vital results. Why? Because the search engine can only find what you tell it to find. What if the one of the best Letterman sites on the Internet always refers to him as David instead of Dave? Or what if there's a really good page that is loaded with hilarious content, but the creator of the Web page unfortunately thinks that "Letterman" is spelled with one "T" instead of two? Occurrences like these are rare but they do exist, especially on lesser-known topics than this sample one. Another good trick to finding search results is to attempt alternate words, phrases, and spellings -- even, at times, misspellings -- to see how they impact the results. Odd as it may sound, playing around with spelling and grammar can sometimes lead to worthwhile discoveries. It has for me! Something to watch out for when using certain search engines is the use of sponsored links. Sponsored links and similar results are advertisements, paid for by companies or webmasters who want to have their sites listed at or near the top of a particular category. Usually, finding a website at the top of a results category means that it is a quality site and worthy of one's attention, but this isn't necessarily the case with sponsored links. While in many cases, these sites are perfectly fine, the simple fact is that anyone with enough money can buy their way to the top of a sponsored link category. Additionally, these sites are often commercial in nature, meaning that their intent is not to provide information free of charge, but to earn money from the data, goods and/or services they provide. Trust me, I've been tricked by these many a time, and let me tell you from experience -- it is definitely best to skip past the sponsored links, scroll down a ways, and start where the true search results appear. The great virtual repository of content known as the Information Superhighway can be hard to navigate at times. Even after a decade of using it, I still get tripped up from time to time. But I've found that a good search engine is like a road map. As long as you know how to use it, it will show you how to get to where you want to be; it will show you the way to worthwhile content. Through the use of quotation marks, advanced search filters, alternate wordings and spellings, and by being careful in discerning which search results are the most valid, anyone can become a master at finding his or her way around the Internet. Despite all of the fluff and garbage present on the Internet, there's also a wealth of quality information available on the World Wide Web. I've found it. Now you know how to find it as well.

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