Helpful Internet Links

About How to Search With Search Engines

Information and comments on just about any subject and all kinds of merchandise can be found on the Internet. The content of the Internet can be compared to that of an enormous library. But how do you get to what you want? That's what the search engines we talked about last month are for. With around 100 million pages on the World Wide Web (with all the hyperlinks, into the billions), it is no wonder that search engines have evolved into the most popular destinations on the Internet, and that the best ones continue to introduce new technologies at breakneck speeds.

Do not let the term "search engine" scare you; you don't even have to be mechanically inclined or a computer genius to use those engines. A search engine is the software (theirs, not yours) that searches an index and returns a list of links to Web sites; it searches a huge database to find matches to the keywords or the phrase you entered. This is where some forethought will pay off. What words (including synonyms) are most closely associated with the information you seek? What phrase would narrow the scope of your search? How could you refine your search to reduce the number of returns and increase their relevancy?

For example, if you own a small shopping center in Ohio and you want to find a company to maintain the grounds, such as planting in the spring, lawn mowing in the summer, snow plowing in the winter. You enter "landscaping" in the search box and you will get an enormous list that may include a kid in Georgia that wants to mow lawns and weed during his summer vacation along with several professional services aimed at the homeowner. So you try "commercial landscaping" as a phrase; and, now you get several hits, most of them geared to commercial services; but, will you be using "Keep It Green" from Tennessee to maintain your place in Ohio? So now you narrow your search by entering your phrase "commercial landscaping" AND Ohio. That should produce a smaller list of relevant returns.

Notice that the above "commercial landscaping" is in parentheses; this is to have the expression recognized as a phrase when the query box doesn't offer the choice. Instead of the search engine looking for documents with "commercial" and documents with "landscaping," it will search more narrowly for "commercial landscaping."

Here are more tips for your queries to produce more relevant returns from search engines:

• use lower case letters instead of capital letters and they will look at both;
• use the singular form of a word instead of plural, and you will find instances of both, the singular form being included into the plural (plum is in plums);
• list the more important keywords first and remember synonyms;
• try again with adding, subtracting or changing a word for added or better results;
• do the same query with 2 or 3 search engines for more results (or use a metasearch site).

The relatively new trend in searching methods is the "natural language" queries. Approximately half of the top search engines now use "natural language" (but not exclusively) or what you would call normal speaking, in the form of a phrase or a question, for example "tourist attractions in New Jersey" or "Where do tourists go in New Jersey?" So far, this method does not yield results as useful as using keywords.

The Boolean search basics are still helpful, and if you like to use them, you can still make use of those searching tools with most search engines. Boolean searches use a basic syntax made up of operators and search terms. But, you don't have to study science or mathematics to use the Boolean operators; they are quite simple and user-friendly.

Most Boolean searches allow or exclude documents containing certain words through the use of such operators as AND, NOT, and OR. Always use them in all capital letters. Every search engine uses a slightly different syntax, but most techniques work on most major sites. Often, the "+" or "-" sign is used (with no spaces between it and the word it is modifying) instead of AND or NOT.

Remember the advanced option that lets you narrow your search. And, occasionally review the tips of your engines of choice, ask other Internet users about their favorites, and surf on!

NOTE: Use the "BACK" function of your browser to return to your point of origin. If you spot a dead link, alert the author by e-mail marked as such in the Subject.