Most information is found on the Internet by utilizing search engines. A search engine is a web service that uses web robots to query millions of pages on the Internet and creates an index of those web pages.
Internet users can then use these services to find information on the
Internet. When searching for information on the Internet, keep the below
things in mind.
Surround searches in quotes
If you are searching for multiple common words, such as computer and help, it is a good idea to place quotes around the full search to get better results. For example, type "computer help" as your search criteria. This trick can also be used in parts of your search query. For example, Microsoft "computer help"
would search for anything containing 'Microsoft' and that also has
"computer help" together. Finally, you can also do multiple words
surrounded in quotes. For example, "Microsoft Windows" and "computer
help" would refine your results even more.
Be aware of stop words
Many search engines will strip out common words they refer to as stop words for each search that is performed. For example, instead of searching for why does my computer not boot, the search engine would search for computer and boot. To help prevent these stop words from being stripped out, surround the search with quotes.
Tip: If stop words are not important, don't enter them into your search.
Familiarize yourself with Booleans
Many search engines allow Booleans,
which can help filter out bad results. Although common Booleans include
"and", "or", and "not", most search engines have replaced these
keywords with symbols. For example, to find computer help without
results containing Linux, you would type computer help -linux. The "-linux" tells the search engine to exclude any results containing the word Linux.
Know what features are available
Many search engines allow for additional syntax to help
limit your search strings. For example, Google enables users to search
for links to a particular page by typing "link:" and other keywords at
the beginning of the search query. For example, to see who is linked to
Computer Ethic, you'd type: .
- See the Google tips section for further tips and features.
Try alternative search engines
Finally, if you continue to not find what you are looking
for, try a different search engine. A listing of search engines can be
found on our Internet search engine page.