The Internet is a big place with endless information sharing and consumption.
Every 60 second, over 146 million emails are sent, three million searches are done on Google, 4.1 million posts are liked on Facebook, 630, 780 tweets are sent out, all accounting for a per minute Internet traffic of 1.9 million gigabytes.
Given the ever-inquisitive nature of man, there is always the need to ask questions and seek clarification on diverse issues, hence, the turn to the World Wide Web through search engines to provide information ranging from news, events, products, people to places and other things.
A web search engine is a software system designed to search information on the World Wide Web. Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, WikiHow, are about the most popular search engines on the Internet.
Here are 10 tricks to better searches online:
Use specific keywords: It is amazing the tons of information search engines can return at the hit of the enter button. Google can return over 450,000 results within 50 seconds. So, using unique, specific keywords for searches will reduce the bulk of returned results, leaving you with almost accurate ones and less time to sift. For instance, search the keyword “Social Media” and “Social Media Africa”, then compare the results.
Use quotes to search for an exact phrase: This trick is commonplace. Searching a phrase in quotes will yield only pages with the same words in the same order, as what is in the quotes. It is one of the most vital search tips, especially useful if you are trying to find results containing a specific a phrase. For example, perform the following search and you will only get pages that contain the word “Social Media Africa”.
Eliminate results containing unwanted terms using the minus (-) sign: You may want to eliminate results with certain terms and narrow down your search result if a particular search query is giving you multiple results. Figure out what the terms are and use the minus (-) sign to eliminate such. Run this search, Social Media – Africa. This result will exclude the term Africa. Compare your result with that of number 2, above.
Drop the punctuations and letter cases:Interestingly, search engines are not interested in your extensive grammatical correctness; hence, they do not often recognise the use of punctuation marks and letter cases. Drop them for smarter and faster results.
Search websites for keywords: The site helps you to locate specific keywords and information on a particular website. For instance, you can see all published stories on social media by The Punch by typing: social media site: punchng.com
Specify Filetype: When running a search, you can determine the content format you would like to see. They can be images or videos, PDFs, and word documents. This function helps you to achieve that. If you want to see content PDF content on social media, the search keyword would then be social media filetype: pdf, and you will multiple PDF format search results.
Use Google images: This functionality helps in determining the source and credibility of an image. You can simply drag and drop an image into the Google search bar to find out more about it.
Maximise AutoComplete: Ordering search terms from general to specific in the search box will display helpful results in a drop-down list and is the most efficient way to use AutoComplete. Selecting the appropriate item as it appears will save time typing.
Set time range: You can be so deliberate about the timing of a search result you are interested in by specifying the time range. Google as well as other search engines allows you to specify the time range using some preset buttons. You can also specify the time range using this trick (..). For instance, if you want to see all the mentions of social media Africa within 2013 and 2015, you can type “social media to Africa 2013..2015”.
Use “DEFINE”: With this, you can get the meaning of any word at the hit of the enter button. Simply, input the query as this – define:social media.
In conclusion, a tool is only as useful as the mind and hand using it. The old maxim, GIGO – garbage in, garbage out – still applies now. Search engines will try to place the most relevant results at the top of the list, but if your search terms are too broad or ambiguous, the results will not be helpful. It is your responsibility to learn how to make your searches faster and fatter.
Never underestimate the power of a skilled search expert – Alan Norton
Copyright PUNCH.
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