Internet search tools

What are Internet search tools?

Soon after the Worldwide Web (WWW) came online, several companies and individuals made it their mission to help Internet users locate information stored in this new portion of the Information Superhighway. These early indexes to the web were slow and hard to use, but they slowly evolved into today's dozens of web sites which make it easy for WWW users to find virtually anything they're looking for.

How do search tools operate?

Internet search tools all work virtually the same. Before you try one, think of a few words that describe what you are trying to find. These are keywords - terms used to track down related online information. These are the terms you type into the search box once you access a search tool. When you click the search button, you're actually sending your query to the search tool. The tool instantly receives it, searches its vast index for your keywords, then displays a list of results. These results contain links to web pages or other areas of the Internet which have information relevant to your query. The results near the top of the list most closely match - normally the first 10 to 15 results are the best.

What kinds of search tools are available, and how are they different?

There are three kinds of search tools:

1. Internet directories
2. Search engines
3. Meta-search engines

• Internet directories are one of the most popular and easy-to-use online search tools. They offer easy-to-navigate subject tree listings which contain links to the best sites the Internet has to offer. For instance, if you are looking for links to Spanish dictionaries, you would bring up the directory's home page, click on Reference, then Dictionaries, then Language, then Spanish. This final screen would contain links to online Spanish dictionaries. Yahoo is currently the online world's most popular directory.
• Search engines allow you to poll the contents of the Internet by formulating keyword queries. The process of running a search through an engine takes anywhere from two to fifteen seconds, after which the engine returns related links to you in an ordered list of results, with the best appearing first. Several of the most popular search engines are AltaVista, HotBot, and Google.
• Meta-search engines send your query to a dozen or more search engines and directories simultaneously. MetaCrawler, for instance, sends your keywords to ten different search tools, and then collects and displays the best responses from each.

There are so many Internet search tools to choose from. How do I get started?

One way to jump-start a search is to click the search button located on the Netscape or Microsoft Explorer toolbar. This will instantly link you to a search tool. If you are in a hurry to find online information, try Yahoo! first. Yahoo! is by far the best internet directory online. However, be sure to visit two search engines and try out some keywords; AltaVista and Google are clear standards. Finally, use MetaCrawler. Using at least three search tools will ensure that you've found the maximum number of good links to the resources you require. For additional help in choosing a search engine, a great source is Choose the best search engine.

How can I better focus my searches?

There are dozens of ways to better focus your Internet searches. One, of course, is the careful selection of keywords. Another way is to add one or more words or characters to your keywords when you enter them into the search engines. These additions help the engines better understand what you are looking for. The words and characters are and, or, not, two quotes (" "), a plus (+) or minus (-) sign, and an asterisk (*).

• and: Placing the word and between multiple keywords is a good first step in focusing your search. It will cause a search engine to look for information that contains all of your keywords even if they aren't next to each other.
• or: Placing the word or between multiple keywords causes a search engine to look for any one of the keywords mentioned. For example, here's a good search using or between keywords: William or Bill and Clinton and president and veto. An example of a bad search is: Soviet or Union. The first example will net dozens of links to information you are looking for; the second will produce thousands of random results which will link everything from the Unites States Auto Workers Union to Lenin.
• not: Placing not between some of your keywords will cause the search engine to limit the search. For example: if you want information on drugs but don't want any information on prescription drugs you would search drugs not prescription.
• " ": Putting quotes around a set of keywords will force the engine to match the phrase as it stands. For example, "Good Morning America" would find information on the three words together; plain Good Morning America would find thousands of sites mentioning the three words in any order and not necessarily together.
• +,-: When you add a plus sign before a word, the search engine is told that that specific word must appear in the document; the minus sign before a word requires that a particular word not appear. For example, if you type Barney, you will find a lot of material on everything from dinosaurs to investment firms. Barney +Smith -dinosaurs will narrow the search to the investment firm.
• *: an asterisk at the end of a word will match any form of the word. For instance, if you type school*, the search engine will pull up links to words such as schools, schoolwork, schooling, or schooled.
• capitalization: Capital letters in a search will force an exact match. All lower case letters tells the engine to look for any combination of upper and lower case letters.

Where can I find more information and/or updated information about all the Internet's search tools?

Keep in mind that new search engines come online virtually every month. What's hot this month may very well become passé in a few short weeks. To stay abreast of the latest tools, visit Search Engine Watch.