Search the Web More Efficiently, Part 3
By Daniel Bazac, October 2003 (updated May 2006).

How to Become a Better Web Searcher

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.

Ten Advice for Searching Better:

1. Select the most descriptive words. Brainstorm thoroughly.
2. Use at least two keywords.
3. Place the most important words or phrases first.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Use nouns and objects as keywords. Do not use the so-called "stop words" such as "what," "where," "the," "in," "and," etc. [Alternatively, see this list of Google stop words. The Editor.] 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.
7. 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.)
8. Avoid redundant terms and complicated query structures.
9. 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.
10. 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 [Now called Ask.com] 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 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 To Evaluating A Site:

1. Is the web site published by an authoritative source?
2. Is the author a recognized expert in the field or subject area?
3. Is the information relevant, credible and accurate? It doesn't hurt to cross check two to three additional, reliable sources.
4. Is the site current and recently updated?
5. Does the site have a professional "look and feel": structure, layout, color scheme, navigation menu(s), etc.? 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.

Go to part 4: Getting the right number of search results>>>

Copyright © Daniel Bazac 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Daniel Bazac is Search Engine Marketer for Web Design in New York, a site design, Search Engine Optimization and Promotion Company. He also maintains Bazac Weblog a blog about the Search Engines and Search Engine Marketing News and Articles. He can be reached at danielbazac@hotmail.com.