Search the Web More Efficiently: Tips, Techniques and Strategies (Part II)

So, let's start searching!

Most of the search tools can be searched using keywords. Web directories and the invisible web databases can also be searched by browsing categories and subcategories.

Start with a popular search engine such as Google™, for example.

Before typing the keywords, take your time and brainstorm relevant words. Create a list of search terms. Write them down. A few seconds of brainstorming could save you minutes or hours of retrieving irrelevant results.

Advice for Searching Better:

* Select the most descriptive words. Brainstorm thoroughly.

* Use at least two keywords.

* Place the most important words or phrases first.

* Whenever two or more words can appear in exact order, enclose the words with double quotation marks ("word 1 word 2".) Example: "United States." If you use a longer phrase, you will achieve more precise results. With a very long phrase, however, you may get zero results. Some search engines allow you to select the "phrase" option in the pull-down menu on their advanced search page or you can type it in special phrase search box, so you don't have to use quotes.

* When possible, use unique, rare or unusual keywords. The more uncommon / obscure or less frequent the keywords you use are, the fewer and more relevant results you will get.

* Use nouns and objects as keywords. Do not use the so-called"stop words" such as "what," "where," "the," "in,""and," etc. Many search tools ignore them. If you need a stop word to appear in the results, place the implied Boolean operator "+ " in front of that word. The standard Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT (or AND NOT), NEAR, BEFORE, AFTER and the Boolean logic "(parenthesis)", are used to construct complicated queries. The implied Boolean operators"+" and "-" can replace the AND and NOT respectively. An example of Boolean logic is (tips OR tricks) AND ("search engines" OR "web directories"). It will find tips or tricks for search engines or web directories. Check the search tool's tips to see if they accept Boolean operators. For example Google™ does not support full Boolean logic.

* Do not use common terms such as Internet, Web, etc. except for cases that it is necessary. (For example, the query is"searching the web" with quotes.)

* Avoid redundant terms and complicated query structures.

* Choosing the right words for your query is the most important part of web searching. The more specific the search term, the more relevant your results will be and the more likely it is that you will find what you seek. Remember, work smarter not harder.

* The secret to constructing a professional query is to type words you expect to find in the matches.

Note: Some search tools, such as Ask Jeeves allow you to use the so-called "natural language." This means that you can construct a query as a question in plain English, such as"What's the weather in LA?" When you have a specific question in mind, these tools can be helpful.

Checking the Results:

After typing your keywords into the search box press either the "enter" key on the keyboard or, click on the"search," "find" or "go" button on the search tool's homepage. You will receive a list of documents that - hopefully - match your query. If you do not, it may be because some unscrupulous webmasters use unethical methods to cheat the search engines and achieve undeserved, top rankings for their sites. To learn more about this topic, please read my article, "Search Engine Spamming Sucks!"

The results returned, also called "matches" or "hits" will be web pages related to the subject you're searching for, ranked in order of relevancy according to the search tool's algorithm or by date, URL, title, etc.

Each result will contain information such as the title of the page, a short description, the page's URL and the size of the page.

Now you have a tough job. You have to decide which of the search results will take you to the most informative site. Your best bet is to take a look at the title and description of the page. Are they relevant to your search? If yes, open the page. If not, check the next result, by scrolling down on the right side of the browser.

To view a page you have two options:

1) Click on the title of the page - even if says "No title" or "?????". Place the cursor on the page title and the cursor will change to the picture of a hand. Usually the links are in blue and underlined, but often they are not. You can find links in any color, including black, which makes it difficult to recognize a link in text of the same color.

2) The second method is to open the page in a new browser window. Right-click over the title of the result. This produces a pop-up menu. Select "open (link) in new window." After checking the result, close the new browser window. You will still have the first window browser with your search. Some search tools have an option that allows you to open the result in a new window. Don't get used to that, do the right thing: open a new browser window by using the mouse's right-click.

If you use the first method most likely you will not use the back button to go back to the results page, but instead you will simply close the window, losing the search page altogether.

Criteria for Evaluating a Web Resource:

First of all, don't believe everything you read on the Internet. Recently I found a page where it stated that Google™ has about one billion web pages indexed. Well, according to Google™, it indexes 3,307,998,701 web pages. Be careful what you believe. Governmental agencies, educational institutions, libraries and prestigious publications are the most reliable sources of information. Be circumspect with information found on personal sites stored in free hosts.

Six Tips For Evaluating A Site:

1) Is the web site published by an authoritative source? Is the author a recognized expert in the field or subject area?

2) Is the information relevant, credible and accurate? It doesn't hurt to cross check two to three additional, reliable sources.

3) Is the site current and recently updated?

4) Does the site have a professional "look and feel": structure, layout, color scheme, navigation menu(s), etc.?

5) Are there spelling, grammar or punctuation errors?

6) Does the site have contact information such as a postal address, phone or email?

Four Additional Tips:

1) Don't look only at the top ten listings. Excellent results can be found on the top 20, or even top 50 results. This is why customizing the result output at 100 results per page is handy. You don't have to open a next ten-results-per-page page. If you don't find relevant results in the first 20 to 50, reformulate your query or try another search tool - a meta search engine, for example.

2) Check only results that truly looks relevant.

3) Be aware that many search tools list "sponsored links" at the top of their results page. These are not results from the search tool's database. Instead these results are paid listings from corporations that have an interest in providing you with information about their products or services. Studies show that searchers find it hard to distinguish between regular and paid results, so be aware that these exist.

4) To quickly discover if a result is relevant, use the "Find (on This Page)" command of the browser (in the Edit menu) or simultaneously press CTRL and F keys then type one of your important words and press "Find next". You will find the location of that word, and you can see if the page is really relevant or not.

What To Do When You Get TOO MANY Results:

It's common to receive millions of results, often unrelated to the search. To receive more relevant results you'll have to refine or even rethink the search. Here are some ideas to help you refine your search:

* Add one or more descriptive words to your query.

* Use phrases. Enclose two or more words that can appear in exact order within double quotation marks.

* Exclude words you don't want in the results by using the implied Boolean operator "-". Example: the query "red apples" -"yellow apples" will find pages that contain"red apples" - in that order - and will not include pages that contain "yellow apples. " As you see, there is no space between the "-" sign and the word or phrase you want to exclude. There is, however, a space between the "-" sign and the previous word.

* Use the search tool's "advanced search" functions. Limit your search by language, date or by field searching: title, URL, link etc. See the search tool's "search tips" for details.

What To Do When You Get Too Few Or Irrelevant Results:

Sometimes you will get messages like "Your search did not match any documents" or "No pages were found containing your query" or "No results." Other times you may get few or irrelevant results.

What You Should Do:

* Check the spelling of the query. Some search engines automatically detect misspelled words and will show the correct spelling. Just click on the suggested word or words.

* Delete the least important word from the query.

* If you used a search phrases try eliminating the double quotes.

* Use more general terms, alternate spellings, plural forms or synonyms. Recently, "Google™ introduced a new advanced search feature that allows you to not only search for a particular keyword but also for its synonyms. Just place the"~" (tilde) diacritical mark directly in front of the keyword in your search query. For example, "browser ~help" not only searches for "browser help", but also for"browser support", "browser tips" and "browser tutorials."

* You can also check the spelling of the Web page's URL if you typed it directly into the address field of the browser.

* If all the above strategies fail, switch to another search tool, preferably a meta search engine such as ez2Find (formerly ez2www.)

Remember: if you're doing a serious research, consider asking a professional Web searcher to do the job. In a few hours, he may find information that would have taken you days to find.

If you receive the message "The page cannot be displayed" or "Not found" the page has been discontinued.

What you can do:

* If a page that doesn't display is not the site's home page you can use the following trick. Cut the Web address of the page starting on the right-hand side and stopping at every forward slash (/). Let's say that the URL of a dead link is www.domainname/archive/article_1.html. First delete"article_1.html" and click "enter." Hopefully you will see the "archive" page and the "article 1." If not, also delete "archive" and click "enter." Hopefully you will get the home page and there will still be an option"archive."

* When you cannot see a page, use the "cached" function of some search engines, such as Google™. Go back to the results list and click on the "cached" link near the result. You will get a snapshot of the page stored in Google™'s index. Keep in mind that Google™ does not cache all the Web pages in its index and cached pages are often not up-to-date. Wayback Machine can also show you previous versions of a Web page. Simply type the URL and than select a date in the results list. Keep in mind that there are a limited number of URLs indexed in the Wayback Machine's database.
Be aware that sometimes receiving few results means that ONLY a few results matched your query. Switch to a meta search engine and I guarantee you will receive better results.

Sometimes a search tool simply will not work. Why? Because it may be disabled or undergoing changes. Try again later. Other times you might receive messages like "503 Server is busy" or "Too many users. " Check back later. For U.S. residents, early morning and late night are the least busy times.

Qualities Of A Good Web Searcher:

* Patience. You can find what you're looking for in ten seconds, ten minutes or never. Keep in mind that searching the Web can be a very time consuming operation.

* Persistence. Don't be scared of millions of results. Don't give up too fast. Searching the Web is a process of trial and error.

* Good memory. When conducting extensive research, you'll have to remember all your previous search queries so you know what terms you have already tried. Write them down - it's easier.

* Good organizational skills. Plan your strategy ahead of time and stick with the plan.

* Creativity. Select the best words for your query.

* Decisiveness. Learn to quickly recognize relevant results in the search engine's result page. Don't waste your time with search tools or strategies that don't work.

* Learn and accept the Web's limitations. Sometimes you cannot find the information because there is no information available on the Web related to your search. But this happens very rarely. Most of the time, the problem is not a lack of information but rather being overwhelmed by relevant results. That is if you know where and how to search.

And yes, practice, practice, practice. The more you search, the more you'll know and soon you will be scoring the most relevant results in the timeliest manner.

A final piece of advice: use bookmarks or favorites.

When visiting a page that you think you might want to visit again, it's wise to save its web address (URL) in your"bookmarks" or "favorites" folder in your browser or - much better - in a Web-based bookmarks manager - such as MyBookmarks.com - which allows you to access your bookmarks from any computer at any location. (I have NO connection with MyBookmarks.com)

The next time you want to visit that page, you simply open the saved bookmark instead of searching again or typing the page's URL.

Be aware that in time you can collect thousands of bookmarks. Be smart and organize them in thoughtfully labeled categories and subcategories.

Last but not least, back-up your bookmarks just like all the other important information you back-up from your computer.

Rest assured that finding information on the Web is never a question of luck. Instead it is the result of a thorough understanding of how search tools work, combined with mastering the art of creating a targeted search query. Searching the Web is not difficult. Like any task, you simply must press the right buttons.

Good luck with your searches!

Note: Google™ is a trademark of Google Inc.

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This article is written by a guest writer. The views and opinions within this article are those of the author and are not those of Detechnify.com

You can get details of the writer at the end of the article.

Do you have searching tips not listed above? Please send them to mailto:danielbazac@hotmail.com . Thank you.

Daniel Bazac is the Search Engine Marketer for Web Design in New York [ http://www.web-design-in-new-york.com ], a site design, search engine optimization and promotion company. He also maintains Bazac Weblog [ http://www.bazac.blogspot.com/ ] a blog about the search engines and search engine marketing news and articles. He can be reached at mailto:danielbazac@hotmail.com .