In reality, there is no single online search tool which has an index to the entire contents of the Internet. Each search engine uses different search techniques and various software tools (called spiders) to build indexes of the Internet. When doing searches through them, they also yield different "views" of the Web and the Internet as a whole.

So first and foremost, after connecting to each search tool for the first time, always read the tool's description, search options, and rules and restrictions before trying to perform a search.

Some search tools contain indexes to nearly everything online -- so it pays to make precise queries. Often, though, you can be too precise, so finding what you want may take a couple of queries. Here are some suggestions to help you cut through the clutter!

Finding Information

Finding information in a timely manner requires that you think about your task beforehand and that you understand how you should make your query.

Adopt a strategy based on what you know about what you're looking for:

• Do you know what general topic the information is related to?
  You can use one of the list-based tools (like Yahoo) and follow the topic links on each page to the place you feel the information reference should be, then scan the entries and canned search results for that page.
• Do you know a specific name or title?
  Use one of the spiders-based tools (like Alta Vista) that uses keyword or title keys.
• Do you know one or more qualities or characteristics?
  This strategy often requires several cycles of searching, browsing, and evaluation. Associated information such as author, geographical location, related organizations, history, etc, can be used to find a specific reference.

 

Use differentiating search keywords

Commonly-used words make poor search keywords. Extremely common words such as articles and prepositions are so worthless that they are ignored completely. Strive for words which highlight the differences between information sources. Common words, when combined with boolean qualifiers, can be effective -- such as soviet and union or union and NEA not soviet. Remember that the most distinctive a word, the more useful it will be for sharpening your search.

 

Understand the search results

The kind of data an index contains can have dramatic effects on the search process. A particular keyword phrase may work wonderfully on one index, and poorly on another. Try to understand how the keywords you specify relate to the results. This helps you form an intuition about the process and the data.

 

Use more than one search engine

As mentioned above, because of its nature, various search engines use different search techniques, they also yield different "views" of the Web. So to make sure that you've got the best results, try your search query with more that one engine.

 

Review of the search tools available on the net: their ease of use, their power, and the accuracy of their results.

 

What to do when :

Your search produces no results

• Make sure you read the tool's description, options, rules and restrictions. Not all search tools are created equal.
• Make sure your spelling is right. If you're not sure, use substrings (if allowed).
• If you use logical operators (Boolean operators), check your syntax.
• Try to be less specific in your query. DO not overspecify a search. You might miss relevant documents.
• Try synonyms and variations on words.
• Try with another search engine.

Your search produces too many results

• Try to be more specific.
• Identify common words that are important to your search.
• Try to think of words that uniquely identify what you're looking for. Some words are of little value, because they identify lots of documents. The most distinctive a word, the more useful it will be for sharpening your search.
• Try to use as many relevant keywords as possible; it will help to uniquely identify what you're looking for.

 

You're having problems with the Server

The server might return an error message (or simply not allow any connection) if it's too busy or temporarily down, or if it might chokes on your query for unknown reasons.

No answer, Timed out, Too busy

These are the most common type of problems you will get. The server you are trying to access may be too busy or temporarily down. If this happens to you:

• Try again after a couple of minutes.
• Wait until a less busier time of the day. Avoid prime time hours.
• Try on a mirror site (if any). Knowledge of world geography and time zones comes in handy when jumping to other sites elsewhere in the world.
• Check the server's location. If the server is far away from your location, the response time may be slow compared to more "local" servers. Be patient.
• Check the server's time zone. Some servers are not available during certain period of the day.

 

Error 404, Page/File not found

There's many reasons for this to happen. It may be that the link no longer exists, the URL has been changed or is simply not valid. Check the following and try again :

• Double check your URL, make sure it's entered correctly.
• Check the lower/upper case of each character. URL are partially case-sensitive. The first part (ie. protocol://host.domain) is NOT case sensitive, but everything that follow IS (i.e. /path.../filename).
• Check for any non-alphanumeric symbols, make sure they are ok.
• If your URL has more than one directory level, try to move up in the tree (i.e. remove the last level and try again). Do so until you are at the top level.

If you still get no response, there's a good chance the URL is not valid or does not exist anymore.

Page has moved

Sometimes authors leave a "we have moved" message and indicate a new link location; sometimes they don't.

Permission denied

It may be that the site is denying public access or is configured so that only restricted access is allowed.

• Try again later. Sometimes the restricted access is only for certain period of the day.
• Try to contact the site authors.

In most cases, there's not much you can do about it.

We hope that this page has helped you understand search engines and how they work, and, more importantly, how to make your searching the web easier and more productive.