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6 tips for better online
searches | |
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Having
trouble finding something online?
Take a
number. A 2004 study by the Online Publishers
Association found that we spend 6% of our time
online just looking for things. Now that may not
sound like much, but if you stop to think about it
for a second, it's really too much.
We should
be doing what we came to the Internet for —
interacting with great content (like this story),
engaging in commerce (see all the great offerings
on our product pages), or communicating (don't
forget to e-mail a copy of this article to a
friend).
Sadly, too often we do
not.
Instead, we spend — make that waste —
about four minutes out of every hour online
looking for something. Over an eight-hour workday,
that adds up to half an hour. Every week, you'll
spend more than 2.5 hours just
searching.
If you're running a small
business, the numbers can be even more dramatic.
With just five employees, you're talking 13 hours,
and if you're paying them, say, an hour, that's 0
a week or ,280 a year. That's enough to hire
someone part time, or throw a really great holiday
party. (Indeed, another study found that the
productivity loss of using general search engines
to conduct online research cost businesses billion
in 2004.) That's nothing against search engines,
by the way. But here are six ways to cut down on
the time you spend looking for something. |
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1. |
Be as precise
as possible in your search. By using an
exact search phrase, you're more likely to get
the answer you're looking for. "This helps you
find an exact phrase on a Web page and will
usually lead to the information you are looking
for very quickly," says Rich Kahn, chief
operating officer for BlowSearch, a New
York-based meta-search engine. For example, a
query for "word processor" will yield vastly
different results than "Microsoft
Word."
Also, use quotation marks, which is
common search-engine syntax for "look for that
exact phrase." Many search engines also have a
box for "Exact Phrase Match" that you can
check. |
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2. |
Get to know
what Boolean searching means, and does.
Boolean search terms allow you to get even more
precise with your queries. The three main search
terms — "AND," "NOT" and "OR" — enable you to
include or exclude certain terms in your
results. (Most search engines, but not all,
accept so-called "full" Boolean terms. Check the
fine print to find out if your favorite search
engine will do it.) Full Boolean search terms
(we'll get to the implied ones in a minute) can
really speed up your search. For example, say
you want to get the latest intelligence on
laptop battery life. As I am writing this, I did
a query for "laptop computer" on MSN Search and
it yields 7,561,382 results. But "laptop
computer AND battery life" pulls up only 212,544
results (getting closer). If I tack on "NOT
power supply," I get only 13,170 results, which
is far more manageable. Want to get rid of all
the Web sites hawking batteries? Just add "OR
for sale," and — presto! — I'm down to 4,062
results. Boolean searching, by the way, is named
after British-born Irish mathematician George
Boole, a 19th-century scholar who pioneered the
use of "and," "not" and "or" in mathematical
analysis. |
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3. |
Do it quicker
with implied Boolean. Implied Boolean,
the cousin to full Boolean search terms, is
accepted by virtually every search engine. Plus,
it's even faster to use. Stephen Scarr, chief
executive for Info.com, a Chicago meta-search
engine, says learning implied Boolean operators
can shave time off your searches. For example,
if you want to ensure that a particular word is
in the results, use a plus sign (+), such as
"Henry Ford" + benefactor. If you want your
results to exclude a certain term, use a minus
sign (-), such as "Henry Ford" -car. For best
results, use both. For example, if you wanted to
search for Henry Ford's role as a benefactor but
weren't interested in cars, the best search term
would be "Henry Ford" +benefactor --car. (Note
the quotes around Henry Ford will ensure that
only that word combination is present in your
results.) |
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4. |
Build a
"nest." Face it, you may not always know what
you're looking for. When that happens,
nesting can be a real help. Maybe you've seen
professional librarians use brackets in their
search terms, and you've wondered what they're
doing. They're building a nest. For instance,
let's say I'm looking for recent articles I've
written. But my name is constantly misspelled,
even by eagle-eyed editors. Sometimes my byline
is "Chris," other times it's "Christopher." And
"Elliott" is often incorrectly spelled "Elliot."
Nesting to the rescue! If I want to pull up all
of my technology articles, I type "Technology"
AND (Christopher OR Chris AND Elliott OR Elliot)
and I won't miss any of my insightful articles
about technology. |
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5. |
Give your
search engine a workout. Many (but not
all) search engines allow you to use advanced
terms to hone in on the information you're
looking for. Take wildcard terms, for example. A
"#" or "*" symbol can sometimes be used within a
word to search for all possible variants — so,
for example "wom#n" would search for both
"woman" and "women." And a search for "exhaust*"
would pull up results for "exhausted" and
"exhaustion" and even "exhaust pipe." (Some
search engines also use "?" instead of "*," but
the result is the same.) Finally, if you want to
search for a term that is near another, there's
something for that, too. Try using "NEAR" or
"ADJ" (each search engine handles these terms
slightly differently) to find results in which
one word is near or adjacent to
another. |
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6. |
For
complicated searches, get more options.
Not all effective searching happens within the
"search" field. Invariably, there are more
options that could make your queries much
quicker. "Look for advanced parametric
searching," advises Scott Virkler, vice
president for GlobalSpec, a Troy, N.Y., search
engineering company. "These specialized engines
allow users to enter multiple — and detailed —
specifications for the products or services they
are looking for." Clicking on "more options" can
turn a 90-minute quest into a one-minute quickie
search, Virkler says. For example, on MSN
Search, check "Search Builder" for more
options. It lets you specify which sites to
search, page rankings and
language. | |
| These
tips can help you get a good start on conducting
more effective Web searches. But better results
also come from practice, says Matt Rodbard,
editorial assistant for Sync magazine, a
publication that focuses on technology usability.
"People often expect instant success," he says.
"But searching, like most tasks, takes a bit of
effort for optimal results." |
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