Searching the Internet

SEARCHING TIPS

All most people need to know is a little basic "search engine math" in
order to improve their results. Within this page I have tried to list
some tips to add, subtract and multiply your way into better searches
at your favourite search engine. The information provided should
work for nearly all of the major search engines. Examples are shown
in the Quick Reference Guide for Searching the Internet.

BE SPECIFIC

The more specific your search is, the more likely you will find what you want. Don't be afraid to tell a search engine exactly what you are looking for.

For example, if you want information about the location of your Outlook Address book, search for "Outlook Address Book," not "Outlook." Or even better, search for exactly what the problem is: I can't find my Outlook Address book. You'll be surprised at how often this works.

Using The + Symbol to Add

Sometimes, you want to make sure that a search engine finds pages that have all the words you enter, not just some of them. The + symbol lets you do this.

For example, imagine you want to find pages that have references to both Prime Minister Howard and Hawke on the same page. You could search this way:

+howard +hawke

Only pages that contain both words would appear in your results. Here are some other examples:

+candles +beeswax +natural

That would find pages that have all three of the words on them, helpful if you wanted to narrow down a search to natural beeswax candles, rather than on candles in general.

The + symbol is especially helpful when you do a search and then find yourself overwhelmed with information. Imagine that you wanted to book a couple of nights away in a romantic bed and breakfast. You might start out simply searching like this:

bed and breakfast

If so, chances are, you'll probably get too many results, and you will need to wade your way through to identify the ones in the area you wish to stay. Instead, try searching for all the words you know must appear on the type of page you're looking for:

+bed and breakfast +tungkillo

Using The - Symbol to Subtract

Sometimes, you want a search engine to find pages that have one word on them but not another word. The - symbol lets you do this.

For example, imagine you want information about President Clinton but don't want to be overwhelmed by pages relating to the Monica Lewinsky scandal. You could search this way:

clinton -lewinsky

That tells the search engine to find pages that mention " clinton " and then to remove any of them that also mention "lewinsky."

Perhaps you are a fan of the original Star Trek series but instead keep finding pages about Voyager, Deep Space Nine or Star Trek: The Next Generation. Try a search like this:

star trek -voyager -deep -space -nine -next -generation

So, by subtracting terms you know are not of interest, and you should get better results.

Using Quotation Marks To Multiply

Remember above when we wanted pages about booking a bed and breakfast? We entered all the terms like this:

+bed and breakfast +tungkillo

That brings back pages that have all those words on them, but there's no guarantee that the words may necessarily be near each other. As another example, let's say we want to make a reservation to camp in the Grampians. We could enter

+grampians +reservations

You could get a page that mentions the Grampians in the opening paragraph but then later talks about getting camping reservations in the town of Stawell nearby. All the words you added together would appear on this page, but it still might not be what you are looking for.

Doing a phrase search avoids this problem. This is where you tell a search engine to give you pages where the terms appear in exactly the order you specify. You do this by putting quotation marks around the phrase, like this:

"grampians camping reservations"

Now, only pages that have all the words and in the exact order shown above will be listed. The answers should be much more on target than with simple addition.

Likewise, remember this addition example?

+candles +beeswax +natural

As you can imagine, multiplying the terms together within a phrase search would work better, because that exact phrase probably appears on good pages dealing with natural beeswax candles. So try this:

"natural beeswax candles"

Combining Symbols

Once you've mastered the above methods, try combining the techniques to provide you a more refined search.

For example, you may want only pages about Star Trek's original series? We could search :

star trek -voyager -deep -space -nine -next -generation

A better search might use subtraction and multiplication:

"star trek" -voyager -"deep space nine" -"next generation

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