juuce-ga,
Although the techniques for internet searches vary depending on what
type of information or data you're searching for, I will provide a
brief summary here of some general methods you can use to improve your
search technique.
First of all, by using Google as your primary search engine you're
making an important first step, since it is the most effective search
engine due to the ranking of pages according to how many other pages
link back to a particular page, rather than relying exclusively on
keywords. Although there are some "tips & tricks" you can use, which
I'll cover here a bit later, I think most important element of a
search are the keywords you use. The answers to most questions listed
on Google Answers are available somewhere on the Internet or WWW, but
most people only have in-depth knowledge of a few subjects, therefore
they don't know what keywords to search with.
For example, suppose you're searching for very specific, detailed
scientific information about starfish (the star-shaped marine
animals). As you begin your search, you might think entering keywords
like "starfish facts" would help (and it might, to some extent).
However, in reading through some of the pages found among your results
for "starfish facts" you discover a passage which states that starfish
are known as "sea-stars" to most scientists since they're not fish,
you now know a very important piece of information that a marine
biologist would have already known (and therefore been able to find
the information faster than you). For an internet researcher, this
realization that starfish are called "sea-stars" by scientists should
immediately trigger the thought "Wow, I need to go back and re-do all
my previous searches substituting the word, "sea-star" for "starfish."
The results will then be much closer to what you seek in that
particular instance. Extraploating this hypothetical search a bit
further, if you then turn up the scientific name of a particular
species of sea-star (i.e. Chorisaster granulatus), you can search
Google for that name, which of course you never would have thought to
search for right from the beginning. The specificity of the searches
should increase the further into any one topic you get. This is what
makes it difficult or impossible for a layperson in any one subject to
find very specific information on the first few "Google passes."
So the key, I think, is in coming up with as many different ways of
saying the same thing as you can, and then searching for all of them.
Also, realizing how a certain topic or idea is broadly categorized is
helpful, soemtimes even crucial. For example, if you're searching for
data on car sales, just searching for "car sales" may be limiting. You
may also want to search for "big ticket item purchases," for example,
to turn up more info on car sales. The trick then becomes how to keep
track of all the results, to be sure you're not missing anything, or
doing redundant searches. For very complex searches (and those where
you may be needing to refer back to them over a period of weeks or
months)it may be helpful to use a relational database (such as an MS
Access .mdb file) to track all the useful URLs and keywords used to
return them, perhaps with some kind of 1-5 ranking system to give you
an idea as to how useful each page was.
Now, for some mechanics. I'm not sure exactly what level of
information you're looking for on how to improve your searches, so
I'll start fairly basic and work up from there.
One of the more helpful features of Google for me has been the
"Similar pages" links. If you look at any Google search results page,
after each listed link there is another, gray colored link to the
right. Clicking on this "Similar pages" link will take you to a
refined search results page that includes pages that Google has
determined to be similar in content to the link that is next to it.
For example, the following link will take you to the Google search
results page for keywords, "killer whales.":
[ ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=killer+whales
]
Note that the #1 result returned is to a Sea World Education
Department resource page on killer whales:
[ http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/KillerWhale/home.html ].
This is also the page that would be returned if you had entered
keywords, "killer whales" and click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button,
which always takes you to the #1 result for any search.
Anyway, going back now to the search results page for keywords,
"killer whales" [ ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=killer+whales
], and clicking on the "Similar pages" link next to the #1 result for
"killer whales," takes us here:
[ ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=related:www.seaworld.org/infobooks/KillerWhale/home.html
].
The #1 result on any "similar pages" results page will always be the
result that was next to the "similar pages" link that you clicked to
get there. The remaining results, as you can see, are remarkably
similar in content to the original page you clicked the "similar
pages" link for. I've always found this Google feature to be helpful.
Sometimes you will find that there are no similar pages for a given
link, but this in itself is useful information, for it tells you that
that page represents the most specific information for that line of
keyword questioning. And so, you've either found what you're looking
for, or you'll need to pursue a different line of quesitoning, so to
speak.
Note that you can go directly to a "similar pages" results list
yourself by typing "related:" (without the quotes) followed by the URL
you want related pages for, as with,
[ related:www.seaworld.org/infobooks/KillerWhale/home.html ].
Another "related link" type of feature that is sometimes helpful is
the "Category" links. These links are not always there, depending on
the keywords searched for, but many times they are. For example, in
our "killer whales" keyword search results page
[://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=killer+whales
], note that there is a "Category" link above the #1 search result,
reading "Science > Biology > ... > Toothed Whales > Dolphins > Orca."
This can give you a general idea of how a particular search item is
typically categorized, and can be helpful in situations where you know
little or nothing about the underlying area or concepts which you're
searching for. Here's the link to the "Category" page for keywords,
"killer whales," in the Google Directory:
[http://directory.google.com/Top/Science/Biology/Flora_and_Fauna/Animalia/Chordata/Mammalia/Cetacea/Toothed_Whales/Dolphins/Orca/?tc=1
].
Here is another excellent resource, straight from the source:
[ ://www.google.com/help/ ]
It's the "Google Help Central" page, which contains search help.
"Basics of Search":
[ ://www.google.com/help/basics.html ].
"Advanced Search Tips":
[ ://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html ].
"Interpreting Results":
[ ://www.google.com/help/interpret.html ]. I've found this page to
be extremely helpful in explaining all the various elements that
comprise a Google search results page.
"Customize Results":
[ ://www.google.com/help/customize.html ].
Another resource which is sometimes overlooked is that of the
sponsored links. Sponsored links are the paid-for links displayed on
the side of the main search results (which are never bought).
Okay, that's my $5 Answer on Search tips.
Good luck in continuing your inquiries!
Sincerely,
omniscientbeing-ga |
