Top Search Engines
courtesy of cnet
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Pick your search site carefully If you're looking for a general topic, try a directory like Yahoo. Chances are you'll come across the most comprehensive and relevant sites. But if you're trying to find information about someone or something specific or obscure, like Benjamin Franklin, you're better off using a full-text search engine like Infoseek or Alta Vista.
Use a specialized search service
Besides the major directories and search engines, there are lots of smaller sites that offer targeted
searches in specific areas of interest. For example, if you're looking for information about Brad Pitt,
the Internet Movie Database will get you the goods a
lot more effectively than a general search engine like Alta Vista.
(CNET's SEARCH.COM is a good resource for
finding these specialized search engines; it indexes hundreds of search sites, organized
by category.)
Use quotes for phrases or proper names
If you're searching for a name or a phrase, like Benjamin Franklin, enclose it in quotation marks.
That way, most search engines will find only pages where the words appear next to each other in the
text--you won't be presented with pages that mention Benjamin Spock and Aretha Franklin.
To cap or not to cap?
If you enter a keyword in lowercase, most search engines will find both upper- and lowercase matches.
Use capital letters if you want an exact case match.
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Stay away from common words
If you use a word that is very common, such as shopping, chances are you'll get an
overwhelmingly long list of results. Try to pick less common words or use synonyms to narrow
your search.
Use more than one word
Another way to narrow your search is to use more than one word. For example, if you're looking
for information about traveling in Mexico, try entering the phrase travel AND Mexico. AND
is what's known as a Boolean
operator--it finds documents that contain both of the words you enter (although they don't have
to appear next to each other, as they do when you use quotation marks). Most search engines support
Boolean operators, though some use the plus symbol (+) instead of the AND command.
Exclude words you don't want
You can also use the NOT command (or the minus symbol) to exclude words from a search query.
Searching for "racing AND bike NOT car," is more likely to eliminate pages about car racing.
Search for variations
Some search engines support the asterisk (*) symbol (known as the wild card) to find variations
on a word. For example, if you enter cook*, you'll find pages about cooking, cooks, cookbooks,
and so on--and probably cookies, too.
Read the help section
Most sites provide tips on using their particular service--although almost all of these primers could
use a good editor and more details. Still, it's worth reading these sections for sites you use often.
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