Search Engine Math
It’s no secret that search engines are powerful. In fact, it can be a little scary that search engine companies have nearly complete control over what pages appear near the top of search results, and thus, which resources are likely to be seen. You don’t have to let the search engines control your access to information, however; for greater control over your web searching, all you need is a little search engine math and a few other advanced searching tips.
Plus (+) and Minus (–)
If you’re wary of all things mathematical, don’t worry—using the "+" and "–" signs to improve your search results doesn’t actually involve computation. Using the signs before words in your search can help ensure that you purposely include or dis-include any terms that may affect your search. Throughout this article, search terms will be denoted by brackets [ ].
- Minus (-): For example, say you wanted to do a search, but useless pages kept coming up due to other popular associations with your search term. If I wanted to search for people with the last name Frankfurt, for example, simply plugging in [Frankfurt] in the search bar might turn up pages to useless links about the city of Frankfurt, Germany. If, instead, you did the search [Frankfurt –Germany], would make sure that pages containing the world “Germany” would not show up in your results (Purdue Online Writing Lab).
- Plus (+): When you type a query into Google, Bing, or Yahoo’s search bar, their algorithms don’t just return pages that list the exact words you typed. For example, if you searched for [ca governor], the search results would automatically turn up results for “California governor,” because the search engine is designed to look for synonyms and other potentially useful related terms. What if these synonyms and other pages aren’t what you wanted, however? This is when the + search modifier comes in handy. By placing + in front of a search term, you tell the search engine to search for that term just as you typed it.
Double Quotes (“”)
Beyond the mathematical realm of search modifiers, there are a number of other symbols you can use to alter your search results, including double quotes. Putting double quotes around a search query tells the search engine to look up those words, in that specific order.
For example, if you searched for [how to install solar panels], the search engine will return many pages that have combinations of those words, but not necessarily in the order you typed them; you might get results about general solar power, how solar panels work, etc. If you typed your search as [“how to install solar panels”], with double quotes, the search engine would return only pages with precisely that phrase (Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota).
Site Specific Searches
This search modification will return results only on specific websites, or type of websites. For example, typing in [solar energy incentives site:.gov] will return only pages with .gov URL endings. You can also search entire sites, such as [Japan earthquake site:nytimes.com]. Other popular site searches include site:.edu for college and educational sites, and site:.org, for organizations (MakeUsOf.com).
Asterisk (*)
Use the asterisk to denote any placeholder word. For example, the search [George *] would return search results for George Washington, George Bush, and every George in between. The asterisk can also be used to denote alternate spellings or endings of words. The search [dental hygienist college*] would return results for “dental hygienist college” and “dental hygienist colleges”, giving you a wider range of results (GoogleGuide).
More Information and Resources:
- Search Engine Tips: The Grinnel College Libraries provide a helpful guide to choosing effective search terms, as well as employing search modifiers.
- Tips for Effective Internet Searching: Here you can learn about combining search tools, using metasearch tools, and other advanced tips for getting the best search results.
- 5 Step Search Strategy: Learn about different search approaches that you can use for search engines and databases, from the University of California Berkeley.
- Web Search Tools: Washington State University compiled this useful list of search engine tutorials, search engine tips, and guides to evaluating web sites.
- User’s Guide to the Internet: This is a comprehensive guide to using the Internet in order to find reliable, useful resources. It was written by the National Archives.
Sources:
Google Search Basics
Purdue Online Writing Lab
learnwebskills.com
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
MakeUsOf.com
GoogleGuide