Searching the Internet

Straight Talk On – Searching the InternetAh, the wonderful Internet! What a glorious experience – surfing the waves of information and entertainment.No, you say? Not so glorious? Well then,let’s get back to reality and have a straight talk on searching the Internet.

The purpose of the Internet

The original purpose of the Internet was to offer research information for professionals around the world. Now it’s taken such a commercial turn that only 6% of Internet traffic is research-related. The result of this for the average person is that it’s so hard to find what they’re looking for. A simple search can turn into a complicated clicking catastrophe. We’ve all been there, haven’t we?

And that brings us to the purpose of this article. We want to help.We want to make your searches easier. We want you to be able to type in the right words that’ll get you the right results. After all, the purpose of any search, of any kind, is to get results, right? So here’s some straight talk on exactly how to get those results.

Specific keywords are the key

There are many search engines out there. You can use MSN, Yahoo, Alta Vista, Lycos, or a number of others.But probably the most popular search engine is Google. The reason why Google is so popular is it’s very comprehensive.It’s easy to follow and offers you many options to customize your search.

No matter which search engine you use, the principles are all the same – use specific keywords in your search and you’ll cut down on the pages of sites you have to wade through to find what you want. What we would define as keywords are: very descriptive and relevant words.It’s as simple as that. The more specific you are in your description of what you’re trying to find, the more you’ll narrow down the results.

Let’s look at doing a search on Google. It’s important to note that Google searches for all the words you type in your search.The more words you enter, the fewer pages you’ll get in your results and the sooner you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Let’s take an example.Say you’re looking for a new set ofgolf clubs.If you enter “golf” in your search, you’ll get about 59,600,000 web pages with the word “golf” in them. Yes, that’s 59 million!Do you think it might take you a little while to find exactly what you’re looking for?

Narrow your search for better results

Now, let’s narrow down your search to “golf clubs”. Now you’re down to 4,690,000 sites – that’s quite an improvement. It’s important to know that Google ranks each site by how relevant they are to your search.The most relevant sites – the ones with what you’re looking for – are listed first in your results.So back to your search for that new set of clubs. Perhaps you have a favorite brand of golf clubs, like Callaway, for example.So now your search will be for “callaway golf clubs”. (Remember, your search is not case sensitive, so don’t worry about capitalizing the brand names.) Now you get 356,000 pages in your results.

Now we’ll teach you a little technique that can be used in any search to specifically define exactly what you want. Use quotes (“”). (Hmm – that looks like my little brother with his brush cut!) Anyway, when you put your search in quotes, then Google searches for that exact phrase only, instead of each of the words individually. In our last search, Google found pages that had “callaway”, pages that had “golf”, and pages that had “clubs”. By putting your exact phrase in quotes, like this: “callaway golf clubs”, Google now looks only for pages that have that whole phrase. Now you only have to search through 55,400 pages.

That’s still a lot of pages, but you can see the pattern here – the more specific your search, the less pages you’ll get. And that means you’ll find what you want quicker.If you just wanted a new putter, you could type in “callaway golf putter”. Basically, what you’re doing is describing exactly what you want, in as much detail as you can.

Just to make sure you have the right idea, we’ll list a few more examples for you:

• Instead of diaper bags – search for baby diaper bags
• Instead of water fountains – search for tabletop water fountains.
• Instead of mailboxes – search for Victorian locking mailboxes.

Get the idea?It’s simple, isn’t it? Now we’ll give you a few more simple tips to help you ride the waves and stay on your board as you surf the Internet.

Google helps you search for anything

One way Google can make your search simpler is if you use their Directory. It lists specific categories, so you can narrow your search if you know which category your information will be in. The English language can be very complicated with so many words having more than one meaning.So if you search by category, then you’ll get results only for that particular meaning of the word.

Google also offers such features as Phone Book, to help you find U.S. addresses and phone numbers of people and businesses. Or if you watch the stock market, you can search their Stock Quotes section for the latest, up-to-date information. Their newest tool for helping you find what you want is their Search by Number.This search engine will help you track any packages you’re having delivered, helps you find U.S. patents, or search a number of other online databases. You can also find an address on a map with Street Maps, or you can get Travel Information with their travel search engine.They’ve pretty well covered all your search needs, don’t you think?

Searching can be simple

There’s no reason to make your Internet searching difficult.It can be very simple, if you just follow the guidelines we’ve set out for you here. Try a few, and see what happens. Remember, the more specific you are, the more specific your results will be.Happy searching – and happy surfing!