| Do you know how to search the internet? Of course you do, but you probably don't always get exactly what you were looking for. Each search engine designs different ways to narrow down your search, making your search much more efficient. | ||||
| The Search Engines | Basic Search Commands | |||
| There are three main search engines used by most people on the internet; Google, Yahoo and MSN. A search engine basically means a program which searches for information on the public Web. As of 2005 Google is by far the most used engine and commanding over 46% of the market. Yahoo is #2 with a little over 22%, followed by MSN with a little over 12%. Other search engines such as AOL, Ask and EarthLink make up the additional 19%. Although these stats are accurate at the time I'm writing this, things may be very different as you are reading this. Yahoo became a major player in 2004, while MSN got its own search engine in early 2005. Search engines are important to the web community because it acts as a portal into the entire internet. Anyone can search for anything based on the criteria they set. Usually the criteria is a word, or phrase. Without search engines you would simply wander around jumping from site to site not knowing where your going, or if you'll ever get to where you want to be. The big three companies mentioned above realize the importance of their search engines. Not only does it bring surfers back to their site on a daily basis, but they can make a ton of money through the use of advertisements. Each search engine can give you the results you want, you just have to know what your looking for and also how to properly use each engine. Remember I said that that you can find things based on certain criteria? Most people don't know what criteria to use when searching on these engines. That's why I'm here to let you know exactly how. You see, all the search engines don't readily advertise how to use their particular engine. Every time that you don't find exactly what you want they make money showing you advertisements. As you get frustrated because you can't find what you're looking for the advertising banners look more and more clickable. That's why they make millions and millions of dollars each year. Remember, advertising is just advertising, they usually are not the best site to what you're looking for. | Both Google and Yahoo searches returns only pages that include all of your search terms. The exception is very common words such as "it" and "how." These appear in so many places, they usually won't improve your results. Keep in mind that the order in which the terms are typed will affect the search results. It is usually better to include the most important words first rather than at the end of your searches. Including Words: Most search engines tend to ignore simple words like "in" and "how". To include words, just type a plus sign + in front of each one. For example: If you want to see pages about the latest "in thing," search for "+in thing." Excluding Words: To exclude words, type a minus sign - in front of them. No pages containing those words will show up in your results. For example, if you want to see pages about dogs with no mention of poodles, search for "dogs -poodles." Either/Or. If you're equally interested in two or more alternatives, use OR in capital letters. For example, search for "New Zealand kayaking OR biking." Word Order. To search for an exact phrase, just put quotation marks around two or more words. For example, search on "to be or not to be" (typing the quotation marks into the box). Once you figure out how to use these commands you'll find the internet to be a little easier to navigate. | |||
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