Web Searching Tips

The Web is an extremely vast and deep ocean of information. Finding a specific item, or even a certain subject, can be a daunting task. Below are a few hints for making better use of the major search engines. Learning a few tricks can save lots of time sorting through search results unrelated to the original query.

 

Narrow it down

Use at least two or three terms whenever possible. Using more terms to narrow a search allows the engines to be much more selective in returning results likely to match what's needed. It's true that using more terms can return exceptionally large results, but engines rank the results wit the most likely listings displayed first. Don't use just one word, unless it's a very unique one. Searching for sites with just one word is like looking something up in the dictionary using just the first letter.

 

Get specific

Use words that are unique to the subject you're searching for. For example, "dry fly tying" will return a much more selective listing than "fly fishing."

 

Use narrowing features

Most search engines allow a query to be limited to specific parameters, such as language, date, etc. Perhaps the most valuable of these delimiters is what is to be searched, for example a choice of searching the Web, Usenet, etc.

 

Look for phrases

Some engines allow searching for specific strings of words as opposed to all the words in any order. With this feature, pages can be received listing a phrase instead of just the individual words.

 

Capitalization counts

Many search engines are case-sensitive, meaning that they pay attention to the capitalization used in a query. Consider typing queries uncapitalized, i.e. "norway" instead of Norway. Generally, a search for "norway" will return more hits including "norway," "Norway," and "NORWAY," but a search for "Norway" will return just that.

 

Include and exclude certain words

Certain search engines allow specific words to be included or excluded from the results. Many of these engines use the plus (+) and minus (-) keys to constrain the search. For example a search for "vegetables -broccoli" will first yield results without any references to broccoli.

 

Try advanced searches

Search engines often provide an "advanced" version, which allows greater customization of the search parameters. While these special functions can take a bit of learning to use effectively, they almost always pay off with closer matches and time saved wading through unrelated results.