Internet Searching: Variety is the spice of life. Since I spent so much time focusing on Google searching,
I thought I would share some more of the things I discovered about
internet searching.
Simple search interface
The
first thing I discovered is that I like a nice clean simple search
interface. I have to admit that Google spoils me that way, but you can
find this with other search engines. If blinking text sends you to a
padded room and advertizing is not your thing why not try these
alternative interfaces.
Main pages
Alternatives
Advanced searching
The
simplest way to start improving your searching is to begin using the
advanced search instead of the basic search. You don't have to do a lot
of reading to use most of the features. I like that both Google and
Yahoo have very similar advanced search pages. It makes it easy for
people to transition from one search engine to another. MSN's Search
Builder is not a separate page but a little window which helps you to
build your search. It's a little different and while I am comfortable
with the concept and using the tool it may be too different for novice
internet searchers. I guess it all depends on what you learn first!
Google Advanced
Yahoo Advanced
MSN Search Builder
Similarities
I also discovered that Google, Yahoo and MSN all allow for the use of similar searching strategies. All support the use of
boolean operators and
nested searching. All use
+ symbol to make sure a word is included in the search results. All use
" " for phrase searching. All use
- to remove certain words from search results. All use
site:
to do search a particular domain name. I guess I always knew that there
had to be some commonalities in searching between these search engines
but this makes life much easier.
Help Sheets
While
the advanced search engines are a nice quick way to begin improving
your search, a little reading will go a long way to making the basic
search window work for you. Search engines want to encourage people to
use their tool and so supply help sheets. I discovered that while most
search engines do provide help sheets, in some cases it is surprisingly
difficult to locate the really good stuff.
Yahoo Help - Search Tips
Yahoo Help - What is Advanced?
Yahoo Short Cuts - I love this page but in some instances I can't help but wish there was a Yahoo Canada equivalent!
Yahoo Search Services and Tools
MSN Web Search Help
MSN Keyword and Symbol Reference - A nice one pager but tough to find!
Through
my preparation for my presentation I came across the following web
sites. These are not related to any particular search engine but help
people to identify which search engine might be appropriate or supply a
quick cheat sheet with tips for many search engines. These seem to have
been around for a while and so may not come as a surprise to many of
you.
Finding information: search engines by Phil Bradley
Infopeople's Search Engine Chart
I've known about
Search Engine Watch
for quite some time but really haven't paid to much attention to it. I
hear a bunch of gasps coming from cyberspace. I know this is quite
probably sacreligous but I just haven't had a lot of time to devote to
professional development. I now make the time for professional
development and Search Engine Watch is one of the things I .... watch.
:) If you've never come across it before, the site is worth a look. It
keeps track of the latest trends and details of the search engine world.
I love that someone is doing this for me, all I have to do is read the
nice concise notes or indepth reviews (depending on time) and I can keep
current and look like I know what I'm doing. I believe in learning just
enough information to be dangerous. I'll leave developing the expertise
up to the experts.
But enough of my philosophy of professional
development. I'm hoping others will share any really nifty sites they've
come across for internet searching tips and tricks.
Variety is the spice
I
am an admitted Google-holic. It's my first choice as a search engine,
not necessarily because it's the best but because it's familiar. Since
my refresher preparing for my seminar I'm finding myself searching Yahoo
because I like the video search and the image search over Google. I go
to MSN for the terribly cool Results Ranking sliders in the Search
Builder. I'm experimenting more with
Clusty and
Gigablast
for the clustering which I like for more complex searches. I think my
final discovery is that I like the variety using multiple internet
search engines provides.