Ultimate Tips for Web
Searching in Less Time
reprinted with permission from the HP Small Business
Center
Most of us use search engines every day, but few know
how to make the most of those searches. Given the enormous amount of
information on the Internet, almost any search you do will yield
thousands, or even millions of results. But if they aren't the right
results, they don't do you any good. And who has time to spend trawling
through loads of "sort of useful" information?
Fortunately, there are a few
tricks to help you better focus your searches so you get the information
you need in less time. Here are five search engine best practices to try
next time you need to search.
1. Use quotes to find a
specific phrase
In order to find an entire phrase in a search,
enter quotation marks (" ") around the terms. For example, the search
query butter apples orange will yield results containing any mention of
those words, whereas "butter apples orange" returns only results where
those words appear together and in that order in either the title, the URL
of the website or the keywords in the document.
2. Use + or - for more
targeted word searches
Adding the plus sign (+) or the word AND
before a word will require that it be found in all of the search results.
Conversely, the minus sign (-) before a word, or the word NOT, requires
that it not be found in the search results.
3. Describe what you need
with as few terms as possible
Generally, the more words you use in
a search query, the more results you'll get. But that doesn't mean you'll
necessarily get more useful results. So starting with fewer words helps
you keep your searches focused. And even if you don't find what you need,
the results will likely give you a good idea of what additional words are
needed to refine your results on the next search.
4. Use search engine
advanced search options
Many search engines give you the option to
do an Advanced Search. You can filter results by date, language or other
criteria. Advanced searching also makes the process of searching for
specific words (as described above) fast and easy. You can even do
site-specific searches.
5. Skip searching and sign
up for alerts
If you find yourself frequently searching the same
terms to find new information, you can save time by signing up for alerts.
For example, if you frequently search for news of your favorite sports
team, Google Alerts will send you daily, weekly, or "as it happens" e-mail
updates. Another option: Microsoft's new search engine Bing offers RSS
feeds for its web search results that you can subscribe to inside any feed
reader. Just add "&format=rss" (without the quotes) to any Bing search
URL to convert it into a feed.
In addition to these tips, it's
a good idea to explore the features and functionality of different search
engines to see which one is right for your needs and fits your
preferences. Apart from the well-known Google, there's Bing, Ask, and
Dogpile, just to name a few. Happy searching!
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