10 Tips For Better And Faster Search Results

The problem with search engines isn't that they don't
find the info you want but that they find too much info.

How do search engines work?
Search engines put together a database of sites by sending "spiders" or "robots" to crawl through the Web, going from link to link. When spiders get to a website, they index most of the words on the available pages. When you use a search engine, the engine scans its database of sites to match your keywords to those same words in page locations of the database.

Search Tip #1:

Be specific. The more narrowed down you can get your searches from the beginning, the more successful your search usually will be. For example, if you were searching for coffee, you'd get way more results back than you could use. However, if you narrowed that down to roasted Arabica coffee in Detroit Michigan, you'd be more successful.

Search Tip #2:

One thing that can save you search time is very simple - put your search phrase in quotes.

When you use quotation marks around a phrase, you are telling the search engine to only bring back pages that include these search terms exactly how you typed them in order, proximity, etc. This tip works in almost every search engine and is very successful in bringing back focused results. If you're looking for an exact phrase, put it in quotes. Otherwise, you'll come back with a huge jumble of results.

Here's an example: "long haired cats". Your search will come back with these three words in proximity to each other and in the order you intended them to be.

Search Tip #3:

Another simple trick is using addition and subtraction to make your search results more relevant.

For example, if you're searching for Tom Ford, but you get lots of results for Ford Motors, just combine a couple of web search basics to get better results: "tom ford" -motors. Now your results will come back without all those pesky car results.

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