Free Website Content - Performing Better Searches
Perform Better Searches
Performing and perfecting search engine results
can save web surfers lots of time and energy. Understanding
the nuances of searching allows researchers to immediately
drill down and locate the information they are seeking,
without having to wade through a myriad of irrelevant search
results in the process. The increasing complexity of search
engines has made understanding search engines a necessity
for those who spend any amount of time online. The following
search tips are standards that will work in most of the
major search engines.
How To Find What You Are Looking For?
As the popularity of the Internet grows, more
and more results are returned for even the most obscure
search phrases. In order to save time, web surfers need
to increase their search relevancy. It is advisable to use
multiple search terms to produce better search results.
Searchers should use specific words and phrases to find
what they're are looking for, while filtering out irrelevant
and unwanted results.
In searching, more usually means less. Using
more keywords in a search will help qualify the search and
make it more specific to what you are looking for. It is
all about striking a balance; more search terms will reduce
the number of search results, but those results will be
more accurate. Remember that you can always refine the search
further if there are too many results returned in the initial
search.
Capitalization Is Irrelevant
The major search engines ignore capitalization.
Upper case and lower case search phrases will deliver the
same results.
Order Matters
Keep in mind that the order in which the
terms are entered into the search box will affect the search
results. The most important terms should appear first in
the list of search words.
Word Stemming
Major search engines will provide results
that use word stemming. Word stemming includes variants
of the terms that were searched for. For example, searching
on the term fish in a major search engine will generate
organic search results that also contain the terms fishing,
fishes, and fisher.
Exact
Using quotations around a search phrase will
generate search results that contain only that specific
search phrase, exactly as it was entered. For example, searching
on the exact phrase "rocking horse" in a major search
engine will only generate search results that contain the
phrase rocking horse. The results will not include
any results that contain "horse rocking" -- even
though both terms appear, they do not appear in the proper
order for an exact match.
Do Not Include
Adding a (-) negative/minus sign before a
search term will filter the results so that they contain
the first term but not the negated word. For example, entering
the search phrase horses -rocking into a major search
engine will return search results about horses but
not about rocking horses.
Must Include
If you want search results that only include
a specific word, just type a (+) plus sign in front of a
search term. The results produced will always contain that
term. For example, conducting a search horse + carousel
will result in all search results that contain carousel,
and may include horse as well.
Similar Words
Adding a (~) tilde character in front of a
search word will generate search results that not only include
the specified search term, but will also include all words
considered to be related to the original search term. For
example, using the search term ~soda will result
in organic search engine results that not only include soda,
but also include pepsi, pop, cola, coke, bottle, and
soft drink.
Either Or
Adding an OR parameter between two search
terms will result in search listings that include either
the first or the second word in the search results. For
example, searching on the terms soda OR bottle will
generate search results that may contain both terms soda
bottle or it will produce results that contain either
soda or bottle but not both in the same search
listings.
Advanced Searches And Segmented Searches
Many search engines allow you to specify the
type of content you wish to search in. For example, you
can often search just news articles, just blogs, or just
images. If you are looking for a specific type of media,
segmenting your search can be helpful. Searches can be conducted
to locate webpages that contain a specific language, or
a specific file type (ie. pdf, rss, etc). Simply use the
search engine's advanced search option and select the content,
language, file type, etc to filter your search results.
Search Meta Words
Meta keyword searches give search engines
special instructions. When the meta search words are used,
a specific type of search is conducted. Here are some of
the most common meta search terms...
define:
When define: is used at the beginning of a search
word or phrase, the search engine results will be a definition
of the word or phrase.
site:
When site: is entered in the search box, followed
by a domain, the search engine locates all documents within
a specific domain and all of its subdomains. This is an
easy way to get a rough idea of the number of pages indexed
on a domain.
link:
When link: is used and followed by a URL, the search
results will include all the web pages that are indexed
by the search engine which contain links to the specified
URL.
inurl:
When inurl: is used, followed by a keyword or phrase,
the search results will include links to web pages that
contain the specific keyword or phrase in the urls themselves.
intitle:
When intitle: is searched on in conjunction with
a keyword or phrase, the search engine locates search results
that contain the specified keyword or phrase in the web
page title.
Web surfers can save large amounts of time
and energy by optimizing their search techniques with these
helpful tips.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and
podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll
http://www.recordforall.com
audio recording and editing software.
**********************************************************
This article may be used freely in opt-in
publications and websites, provided that the resource box
is included and the links are active. A courtesy copy of
the issue or a link to any online posting would be greatly
appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
.
Additional articles available for publication available
at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
**********************************************************
|
