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Search Tips & Search Tutorials: Felix
  
What You Should Know About Web Searches

The easiest way to get better search results is to use two or three words, every time, instead of just one.

Another great tip is to surround your search terms with quotation marks if you're looking for an exact name or phrase -- say a song title made up of common words.

Combining these techniques is even better.

You can also sharpen searches in Google by instructing the search engine to exclude certain topic areas that might clutter the results. This is done by following your search term with a space, then a minus sign followed by the topic you want to exclude.

Or, you can focus your Google search on a certain topic area by using the "+" sign.

Both Google and Yahoo also are packed with hidden search tricks that make getting information faster. They aren't foolproof, but they will frequently turn up an answer right on the results page, without requiring you to click on a link.

Here are some examples:

In both search engines, typing in a stock symbol gets you the company name, latest price and a price chart, right at the top of the results page.

Typing in a U.S. street address in Google gets you a link to a map of the location. Yahoo goes one step better -- it actually shows the map on the results page.

Entering a U.S. land-line phone number in Google or Yahoo gives you the name and address of the person to whom it belongs.

Current weather conditions for U.S. cities can be displayed in Yahoo by typing the city name followed by the word "weather." In Google, you type the word "weather" first, followed by the city name.

In Yahoo, if you type in the name of a sports team and the word "scores," you will get the current score of a game in which the team is involved.

In Google, you can type in certain fact-based questions, like "population of Boston" or "birthplace of Tom Brady" and you get the answer, not just a link to the answer.

If you type simple math problems, like 5x8.1999, into the search boxes of either search engine, the sites act like calculators, spitting back the result.

Both sites will also perform conversions of weights and measures, and currency conversions, right in the search box. In Google, you just type in questions like "37 centimeters in inches" or "7,000 yen in us dollars." In Yahoo, you begin such questions with the word "convert," as in "convert 7,000 yen to dollars."

Both sites will let you type in certain kinds of numbers, like package-tracking numbers, to get immediate information. A vehicle ID number will get you links to basic information about the car and an offer to buy more detailed reports on the vehicle.

If you want to dig further into these hidden features, Google has a guide at: www.google.com/features.html. Yahoo has a similar guide at: tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/.  (Source - Wall Street Journal 12/28/05) WSJ.com - The Mossberg Solution


Major Search Engines: (In Approximate Market Share Order)
                                 (comScore Media Metrix Ratings- June 2008)    (Nielsen/Net Ratings- June 2008)
Links to Measuring Traffic:

Search Engines& Directories
Google
Options
          At Search .html
          Major Search Resources:
          Archives:
          Meta & Multiple Searches:
          General Search Resources & Directories:

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