Web Searching Tips

When you are new to the web, it may happen that you need some information - and quickly. Some of your friends may tell you to use a search engine and even point you to some very famous URLs like Google.com | or Yahoo.com |.

You type some words that come to your head into the search engine, click on the "Search" button - and a huge listing of results is presented to you. You may get lost in them. If you don't find what you really need on the first four or three pages, you are quite likely to close the browser window and go away frustrated. Not a proper way to handle the situation.

Instead, try and refine your search. Maybe you are just using the wrong words. Use another query that better describes what you need.

Use quotation marks and plus/minus signs. How? Let us explain.

When you type your query without quotation marks, the search engine will search for all pages that contain those words (or, in some cases, variations of them) or that are linked to using those words. When the phrase is in quotation marks, the search engine will only bring the pages that contain the phrase exactly as you've typed it. So, if you are trying to find the lyrics of your favourite song, for instance, and use the phrase you remember exactly, put it in quotation marks - and you are sure to find it at once.

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When you want to make sure all the words in your query are presented on the page - in exactly the same grammatical forms you want - use "+" and put it before every word you want an exact match for.

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When you want to filter some words out - use the "-" sign. Put it before every word you want to exclude from the results. Of course, do not place a minus before every word - the search engine needs something to search for.

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When you want to restrict your search to only one domain, use the following syntax: site:www.domain.com keyword1 keyword2 keyword3.

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We hope these simple tips will help you to make your search more successful. Trust spiders: they will help you find your way through the web.