Introduction
Billion of people used search engine every day for a variety of reasons. Students used it for school activities, business people used it for research and analysis, and billion more used it for entertainment. The essence of search engine is just only one, to get information about anything we want.
Most people used search engines like Google or others almost every day, but many have likely only scratched the surface of the search engine's power. Following, are some recommended ways or approaches to use in order to get a better result from the search engines on the Web.
The ability to search for relevant information online is one of the most important digital literacy skills anyone could possess. It allows you to quickly find what you're looking for without having to sift through pages of irrelevant results.
A Search Engine is a web-based tool (referred to as robots, bots, spiders or web crawlers) that enables users to locate information on the World Wide Web. Examples of top search engines includes:
- Microsoft Bing
- Baidu
- Yahoo!
- YANDEX
Search Engine
You can check our article on Top (5) Search Engines and How it Works to explore more on web search engines!
Let’s go and explore the approaches!
The Approaches
1. Keep it Simple:
Search engines know how to search for almost every type of information. What this means is, you don’t need to be too specific. Make your searches brief by focusing on keywords, then keep the number of these keywords to a minimum. This way, you're more likely to get relevant results. Let’s say you needed help getting through a video game, so you type out the game name and the part that’s giving you trouble. If this search isn’t enough, add one or more keywords until you find what you need. You can use complete sentences, but they’re not necessary because search engines do fine with only keywords.
2 - Use Natural Language:
You don't have to use a complicated words or phrases to get results on a search query. Search engines can recognize the language you naturally used in your everyday life, so feel free to try whatever comes to your mind using the language you understand. For example, I can ask search engine the meaning of Computer machine using my natural language, Hausa, as “ma’anar kwamfuta”, and the detail meanings of Computer machine would be return and display on the screen in Hausa language.
Search Using Natural Language
3 - Gradually Add Search Terms:
Sometimes, search engines doesn’t bring out with the results you are expecting. In this instance, keeping it simple may not be the best option. You have to be gradually adding new terms to the search query up to the time you get the correct information you’re interested in.
As Google itself suggests, the best method is to start with something simple then gradually get more complicated. Example:
- First try: job interviews
- Second try: prepare for job interviews
- Third try: how to prepare for a job interview
This will gradually refine the search to bring you fewer, more targeted terms. The reason you don’t go straight from the first try to the third try is because you may miss what you’re looking for by skipping the second step.
Millions of websites phrase the same information in a number of different ways; using this technique lets you search as many of them as possible to find the best info.
4 - Spelling Doesn’t Necessarily Matter:
Search engines has gotten a lot smarter over the years. Of recent, search engines can understand the keywords you are trying to search even if the spellings are not correct, as long as it is similar to the keyword terms.
As long as it’s pretty close, search engines can easily figure out what it means. Here are some examples:
- If you search “Nver Gna Gve Yo Up” search engines will automatically assume you mean to search for “Never Gonna Give You Up”. If by chance your misspelling was intentional, Google gives you the option to search for the misspelled term instead.
Search Engine Spelling Autocorrect
This trick is great if you happen to forget how to spell something or are not altogether sure how something is spelled.
It can also be helpful when searching for obscure words. This applies to capitalization and grammar as well.
5 - Use Important Words Only:
The way search engines work is to take what you search for and match it with keywords of the contents on web. When you search for too many words, it may limit your results. That means it may actually take you longer to find what you’re looking for. Thus, it is appropriate to use only the significant words when searching for something. Let’s try an example:
- Don’t use: Where can I find a gas station? ❌
- Instead try: gas station near me ✔.
Using Important Words
Doing this can help search engine find what you need without all the clutter. So, remember to keep it simple and use important words only.
6 – Use Descriptive Words:
Pretty much everything can be described in multiple ways. Always try to use the words that best describes the things you are looking for.
If you have trouble finding what you’re searching for, keep in mind that people may search or define what you need in a different way than you do.
- You may search “How to install drivers in Ubunut”?
- When you really mean “Troubleshoot driver problems Ubuntu”.
There really isn’t a good specific example for this one. If you search for something and you can’t find an answer, try asking the same question using different words and see if that helps with the results.
7 - Word Order Matters:
Always, leave common terms in the correct order. Typing “blue sky” would yields very different results from “sky blue”.
Words Order Matters
8 - When Punctuation Counts:
Search engines does not recognize uppercase or lowercase letters and punctuation. But pay attention to special characters as “$”,” %” and “+”, which do make a big difference. More on this in our next article: Search Modifiers.
9 - Use Context Search Terms:
You want to help the kids with homework but have forgotten all your high school math. You could search for “quadratic equation” and find lots of results. But if you add the context search term “tutorial” as in “quadratic equation tutorial” you may get more useful results faster.
There are numerous “context” terms that will help you better pinpoint a search, including words such as "lesson," "background," "summary," "define," or "history".
In general, search engine advice is to add or remove words in your query to see different results, starting out with a broad search and narrowing it down as you go.
You can also do cross searches across search engines: into books, videos, and as well as images and patents. Click to read how on Find a Specific File Type in the article.
Using Context Search Terms
10 - Use Words That Websites Would Used:
This is a very important one. When people used search engine service to hunt the web, they generally search for things using the same language that they would used for speaking.
Unfortunately, websites don’t say things the way people do; instead, they try to use language that sounds professional. Let’s look at some examples:
- “I have a flat tire” could be replaced by “repair a flat tire”.
- “My head hurts” could be replaced by “headache relief”.
The list goes on and on. When searching, try to use terminology you would find on a professional website. This will help you get more reliable results.
11 - Pay Attention to Little Words:
An article “a” or “the” can alter the meaning of what you are trying to find on the web. A search for “What is the Who” is going to summon results about the English rock band. Search instead for “What is a Who” and you see top results around the whimsical characters in Dr. Seuss’ “Horton Hears a Who”!
We should always try to use the correct little word(s) in your search terms for a better search result.
12. Think an Extra Second About What You Are Really Asking For:
Think about the precise thing you are looking for when entering the search queries, keeping in mind that you can always try again. Let’s take a search example from Russell, an expert from Google Inc, “What is the distance to the sun”?
It seems simple, right? But where are you measuring from? The center of the Earth to the sun? From another planet to the sun? It doesn't cost a thing to do a second search on a complex topic.
13. Don’t Include Your Answer in Search Term:
At times, people bake the expected answer in their search query terms. It is better to ask for the information on a topic without attaching any answer to it, so that the search result should not be bias to a specific area. It makes more sense to ask “What is the average length of an Squids” rather than “Is the average length of Squid 21 inches”? Why? You may, indeed, see search results "confirming" 21 inches? But is that really the correct answer? Maybe other sources got it wrong. “You’re leading the witness,” when you include the answer in a search query, Russell says, thus biasing the results.
14. Search by Voice For a Correct Word(s) Spelling:
Recent Search engines now have a voice command feature that you can use to enter search query via speaking the query terms orally. You can click or tap on the microphone symbol to enter the query term by voice. One of the essence of voice search command feature is to reveal the correct spelling of a word(s). for instance, if you don’t know how to spell the words “hors d'oeuvres” or “pneumonia”, you can pronounce them by using the voice search feature, and the search engine will reveal the correct spellings for the words to you.
Using a Voice Search
15. Use Image Tab When You're Remodeling or Updating Resume:
You want some inspiration as you think about remodeling your kitchen. After typing in “kitchen remodeling”, tap on Images tab just below the search bar to begin an image search. You’ll come across several pictures of kitchen designs. Likely too many.
If you’re preparing or updating a resume, and you want it to look really professional, on Image tab, type “resume” and add the type of job you’re looking for: “resume lawyer”, “resume teacher”, “resume accountant”, for example. You can compare your own resume to the samples shown. Moreover, above the resume images that show up, are oval tabs to help you refine your search, along the lines of “entry level,” “professional,” “Interns,” etc.
Using Image Tab
16. Use the Tools Function:
To refine your search results, try the image Tools function. Let’s say you’re searching for images of acoustic guitars, but you only want to see green guitars. After you click the Image Tools, select the green square to filter the results. In addition to sorting by size or publication date, you can click other tabs like News and Videos to sort these results in similar ways.
Using the Tools Function
17. Utilize Autocomplete Feature:
As you type in the search bar, search engines automatically used a feature called Autocomplete, which suggests the most popular results involving your search term. You can pick one of these new ideas with the mouse or arrow keys, or you can keep typing to get different suggestions. These suggestions by search engines can often give you plenty of new ideas.
Autocomplete Feature
Bonus!
Consider Suggestions:
As you enter your term, search engines will suggest the most popular results involving the term, so don't be afraid to select one, as they can often give you plenty of new ideas.
Apart from getting the more relevant result from search engines, mastering the usage of search engines could save you a lot of time and energy which you can channel to other productive activities.
Check our next article, 22 HIDDEN SEARCH ENGINE POWER to explore how to use the service to unlock some hidden features that you could use to dig-up more important information from the web.
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