Tips for Better Searching
The Internet has a wealth of information on just about any subject you can imagine. This expanse of data would be impossible to navigate without the help of an Internet tool called a search engine. There are many search engines available today, but for this article I will focus on Google, today's most popular search tool. Although most search engines work in a similar manner, check the advanced options or help file for details on how other search tools work.
Choose Your Words Carefully
When you access the home page for Google you see a search box where you enter the term or phrase on which you're searching for information. Entering the proper words here is the best way to target the results that will meet your expectations. So, choose your search words carefully. Be as specific and descriptive as possible and be aware that there are often several words with similar meanings. If you're searching for information about garbage, realize that others might call it refuse, waste, or trash. To find all the information about garbage you will want to search for these other terms as well.
Use search words that exactly indicate your objective. Searching for information on diabetes and using only the word diabetes will produce a large variety of results. To produce more specific results, use additional words that focus your search. By adding the word treatment you will be presented with information about various treatments for diabetes. Typing in the words diabetes and hospitals will produce information about hospitals that include diabetes centers.
Narrow the Search
Adding terms can also narrow your search. For instance, my search on the word computer yielded almost three billion results. When I searched on computer and history there were only 504 million results. Searching on computer, history and apple resulted in only 40 million results, and adding the word emac to the list shrank the results to 278,000. Although those numbers sound huge, remember that the information you want is usually found on the first few pages of results.
Use Double Quotation Marks
Using double quotation marks is how you search for exact words and phrases. Words enclosed in double quotes are treated as a single term. Google will return only Web pages where the words inside the quotes are used together in the same order that you typed them. A search for diabetes and hospitals versus "diabetes hospitals" will produce different results.
Minus Sign
Using a minus sign before a word will exclude results containing that word. Searchin for yellow submarine produces millions of results about the Beatles song by that name. A search for yellow submarine -beatles will eliminate all of the song-related information and give you information about real yellow submarines.
Advanced Options
All search engines have more capabilities than most people use. Information on these additional capabilities is usually listed under Advanced Search or Help, and investigating these areas will give you a better understanding of how to construct your searches to more quickly find exactly what you need.
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About the Author
Sandy Berger is a nationally-known author and has written several books on computers.
