Search Engine: Getting the Best Search Results
There are millions of sites out there. Search engines are aimed at helping Internet users find information they want. The problem is that they find too much info. Keep on reading to find out how to narrow down your search and find exactly what you're searching for. So how do search engines work? Search engines make a data bank of websites by sending "spiders" or "robots" to go from link to link. When they get to a site, they index most words available. When you use a search engine, the engine scans its data bank of sites to match your keywords to those same keywords in pages in the database.
How to make the search more efficient? Search results can be easily improved. All you need to know are some basics. Some search engines have guides to do this but for others you have to enter proper commands. Below you'll find some basic commands suitable for most of the major search engines.
- Be specific The more specific you are, the more info you'll find. Tell the search engine exactly what you're searching for. Fir instance, if you're looking for science experiments, enter School Science Fair Projects alternatively of science projects. If you know it's a chemistry experiment, add the word 'chemistry' to your search.
- The + symbol The most significant terms in your search should be placed first. For the search engine to find pages containing all the words you're looking for, put the + symbol in front of each word. Fir instance, if you're looking for info on Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, then enter +Holmes +Cruise. Only pages which contain both words will be found.
- The - symbol When you're looking for something specific, use the - symbol. For example, if you're searching for information on Roger Federer but don't want to read about his charity work, enter Roger Federer -Charity Work.
- Quotation marks When search words are put in quotation marks, it's called a "phrase search." The engine will provide a list of pages that have the terms in the exact order as in quotation marks. For example, if you're looking specifically for a biography on Aishwarya Rai, enter "Aishwarya Rai Biography" and see what comes up.
- Combining Symbols Once you know how the above symbols work, try combining them for better search results. A better search, than using a bunch of subtractions, might be to do the following: "Beyonce Knowles" -Irreplaceable -"Album Review"
- Using booleans Boolean operators (pronounced boo lee ans) can be applied in most major search engines providing advanced searching. The most popular boolean operators are AND, OR and NOT. Boolean operators are like the + and - symbols. AND means "include all of the words," OR means "include any of the words" and NOT means "exclude." Fir instance, if you're looking for information on bags and shoes, enter bags AND shoes. Only pages that have both words will be on the list of search results.
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