Find Results Faster with Advanced Search Engine Features
It is easy to assume that when search the internet, at times at can
be difficult to find exactly what you are looking for. For myself, I
often rely on the advanced search features to help find what I am
looking for. Not too often are your search process going to be a
linear one, that being, you search using phrase, you find the
product/service that is to your satisfaction and end of story. Often
you will find that you will have to refine your search as you go on,
and this is where the advanced search features will come to help you
immensely. " + " Searches
Using the + sign directly in front of your search word is good if
it happens to be a word that is commonly left ot of the search
query. You may often search words that were not initially included
in your search. If the word is one that want to have included, then
using the + sign will have it be included. " - " Searches
Using the - sign is a great way to further narrow down the
results as you search. This is a feature that I often use as I will
spot sites or domains that I do not want in the results. This is
great to help narrow down the results and find what you are looking
for. " ~" Searches
The ~ sign is used for synonyms. For example, if you search
Google using ~food, you will notice that Google bolds words such as
recipes, cooking, and nutrition throughout the
results. In this example, those synonyms are taken into
consideration with the search query. Phrase Searches using Double
Quotes
Using double quotes with a search phrase such as "hurricane
forecast" will search for this exact phrase in websites. Using the
double quotes with hurricane forecast brings back just below 6000
web pages that has that exact phrase in Google. Using the search
with out double quotes brings us back just under 2 million results
in Google. I tend to use a combination of double quotes and the -
(minus) sign. This really narrows down the search results and
hopefully find exactly what I'm looking for. "OR" Searches
With this advanced search feature, you have to use OR in
uppercase, otherwise it will be considered as part of the search
phrase. Domain Restrict
If you happen to know what site has the information you are
looking for, or just want to further search a certain website, then
you can use the Domain Restrict search feature. For example, widgets
site:www.some-website.com. This will search www.some-website.com for
the word widgets. If you happen to have the Google Toolbar
installed, you can use the search site feature. This feature works
the same way and can be selected under the Options button, then
under the more tab. define:
With Google, one advanced search feature that I like using is
define: you can use this to find the definition regarding a certain
word. Advanced Search Help Pages from a few search engines that
you might want to check out.
http://www.google.com/help/operators.html
http://search.yahoo.com/search/options?fr=fp-top&p=
http://www.alltheweb.com/advanced?advanced=1&&q= Other good
ways to help improve your search is to see what other people are
looking for. You can get the search numbers From some various tools
such as Overture. This is a great way to find new phrases that you
might not of thought of before.
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
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Gerard Manning
Search Engine Placement Specialist
Search Engine Marketing Agency :: Manning
Search Marketing
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