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All search engines can do much more than word searches. The exact syntax varies between the search engines so you might need to use one of the options. Here are few tips.
Word order can dramatically change the results. Searching ‘general montgomery’ brings of pages about military history while ‘montgomery general’ lists hospitals. (The use of wildcards such as * ? or % is not recommended and not well supported.)
If you know exactly what you are looking for then surround it in "double quotes". This is what teachers do to see if you have lifted chunks of your essay or paper from the web.
The + and – operators are powerful. (These are the AND and NOT Boolean operators, just quicker to type). The minus sign is powerful, as it allows the search to exclude a lot of clutter. The + is not assumed by search engines - They assume the OR operator. So the search will find results for each and every word but rank them so it looks like an AND search. But try AltaVista advanced option which sets all this out in plain English!
These are words that can prefix any search to focus the search. They keep changing but they are extremely useful for tracking down a half remembered URL or web name. eg Google
Type the "info:" operator before a URL in Google's search box will discover links to and from that page. Other search engines deliver similar results if you prefix the URL with 'info:'. AllTheWeb's URL Investigator is similar (Just type in the URL under the web tab). Use the main URL rather than a remote page on the site if you want any results. If a site has some links to organisations you respect, it has some credibility. This can provide a confidence check on the status of the information provided.
If you don’t like to remember all the rules you could use some of these advanced pages. The range of filters they offer is astonishing.
http://www.google.com/help/operators.html
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/30/OnSearchTOC One article is about finding Squirmy Words. :)
A few years ago the search was confined to one language but that barrier is being breached and improving daily. Once you think you find what you want, the problem of translation arises. Be amused but also be grateful that there are geeks out there attempting to make all world's information available across language barriers. Try Babelfish.
Google uses a synonym search but asks you "Do you mean"? It also has a 'related:' operator. (There used to be a 'NEAR' operator search for this word words nearby alphabetically but that has gone now.) © Chas Jones 2004 (revised 2006 & 2008) |
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