Search site Tips

2006-11-22T08:18:00.000-08:00

Choosing the Right Search site

If You Are...

Looking for Web pages, and you're easily Intimidated try Google (http://www.google.com)
Looking for Web pages, and you're easily Intimidated try Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com)
Looking for Web pages, and you're a sophisticated user try AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com)
Looking for addresses and phone numbers try Switchboard (http://www.switchboard.com)
Looking for files to Download try Download.com (http://www.download.com)
Looking for e-mail addresses try WhoWhere (http://www.whowhere.com)
Looking for a specific type of Information,and you have no idea where to look try Search.com (http://www.search.com)

IF EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD eventually finds its way onto the Internet, how do you find any one thing? It's like finding a needle in a haystack. You know that what you want is there, but it's buried amidst millions of different Web pages, hidden in plain site yet virtually inaccessible that is, unless you have a tool to effectively and efficiently search for it.

There are two types of tools on the Web to help you search for information: search engines and directories. sometime you'll find these tools referred to collectively as "search sites."

A search engines does just what it says- searches the Web for particular information. Most search engines, such as Yahoo!, have cataloged millions of Web pages for your searching pleasure. But search engines don't record a lot of information about each page. So you'll get a big list of results, but very little information on any particular "hit".

A directory is a hand-picked list of Web sites. Most directories, such as Google, organize their lists of titles by topic and provide some sort of commentary about the sites Because directories either use their lists or rely on user submissions, your search results won't be exhaustive as what you get from the search engine. You will, however, know more about each of the "hits" that result from your search request.

There are dozens of search sites on the Web. some of these sites are devoted to specialized topics, such as financial or medical information. Other sites are more general, attempting to catalog as much as of the Internet as they possibly can. Which search site you should use depends on what you're looking for and how much you know. The following table give you some guide lines.

These sites all work similarly, but each has its own unique quirks. I'll try to give you some tips on how to get the most out of each of these popular search engines and directories, such as :

If yo know exactly what you're looking for, search for that exact phrase. For example, if you're looking for information on the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, enter monty python and the holy grail. (some search sites ask you to enclose exact phrases within quotation marks, as in "monty python and the holy grail")

If you don't know exactly what you're looking for, enter a more general phrase or part of a phrase. For example, if you're looking for general information about Monty Python movies-including, but not limited to, Monty Python and the Holy Grail - enter monty python movies. If you're interested in anything about monty Python, enter if you're not sure how to spell Python just enter monty.

Search sites Tips

Search site Tips