Contents of this page: types of search tools -- features of major search tools -- other search tips -- web resources

 

Three keys to Web searching success:

• 1. Learn one search tool well.
  Find one search tool you like and learn its capabilities in some detail using the table of search tool features below, by exploring the search service's standard search page, its advanced search page and its help menus or by exploring the additional Web resources below.
• 2. Refine your searches.
  If your first search doesn't work, use your knowledge of these features to revise your query to increase or decrease the number of items retrieved. Or refine your query using interactive tools provided by the search services. Excite suggests additional words to add to your search. For example, you can search on the words "invasive species California" in Excite. It will give you a suggestion of other words to add. If you add the word "exotic," you will get some additional sites on the topic.
• 3. Try another search service.
  It's useful to keep in mind one service in each of three majors groups: directories, search indexes and meta indexes. If one type of search tool doesn't work, try a different type. Here is an explanation of the different types of search tools:

   

  • Three Major Types of Search Tools
    • Directories
      These rely on human beings to assign Web pages into categories. For example, Open Directory, LookSmart and Yahoo! This is good for quickly finding the best resources in a broadly-defined area. Directories filter out obscure Web sites, which make it into search indexes.
      
    • Search indexes
      These use computers to index some or all of the words on Web pages. For example, AltaVista, Excite, HotBot, Lycos, Northern Light and WebCrawler. This is best for very precise searches on clearly defined subjects or persons.
      
    • Meta indexes
      These search several different search tools simultaneously. For example, AskJeeves, MetaCrawler and Profusion. If you're having trouble finding anything on you're subject, try a metaindex to cast a wider net.

   

  • Specialized Search Tools
    • People Locators
      These allow you to find people's phone number, address and/or e-mail. For example, Yahoo People, Switchboard and WhoWhere? For academics, it is usually easier to go directly to the site for their institution and search its directory.
    • Usenet indexes
      These allow you to search for messages posted to newsgroups. AltaVista, HotBot and Yahoo! include usenet searching on their search sites. Google Groups (formerly DejaNews) is devoted exclusively to newsgroups.

 

Features of five major search tools with examples: It's not necessary to learn all the details of the following table. However, try to learn as much as you can about the search tool that works best for you. Try the examples below using your favorite search service.

	AltaVista	Excite	HotBot	MetaCrawler	Yahoo!
Description	Search index. Also provides subject "zones" on selected topics.	Primarily a search index, with some human-created categories. Uses concept-based searching to find not only pages with the terms you enter, but pages with related terms.	Primarily a search index, with some Wired categories and reviews.	Metaindex, which searches several other search sites simultaneously. The syntax of your search may be interpreted differently by the different search engines. MetaCrawler just returns the first 10 results from each search engine.	Directory. If no hits are found in its directory, it automatically pulls up hits from a search engine.
	AltaVista	Excite	HotBot	MetaCrawler	Yahoo!
Default search/relevance ranking	OR results are displayed in order of relevance, but no number is assigned.	fuzzy AND (if you enter sun spots, it will list first all pages containing both terms, then the pages containing only one of the terms)	AND (for OR, use pulldown menu to change all the words to any of the words) results are ranked with a percentage	AND (for OR, select radio button marked any) results are ranked on scale of 1000	fuzzy AND first Yahoo! categories are displayed, then sites indexed by Yahoo!, then Web sites found by a search engine
If you simply type in a list of keywords, each search tool will use slightly different rules to interpret those words and rank results in order of relevance. Each search tools has proprietary formulas to determine which pages to display first.
	AltaVista	Excite	HotBot	MetaCrawler	Yahoo!
Boolean searching	AND, OR, AND NOT, NEAR and (). Use Boolean window in advanced searching page.	AND, OR, AND NOT, and () (must be ALL CAPS). Using Boolean operators turns off the concept-based searching.	AND, OR, AND NOT and (). To do a Boolean search, use pulldown menu to select Boolean search	No	No
It's important to note that not all search engines allow Boolean searching. Example: hydrothermal AND plumes NOT NOAA If you try this in HotBot's default box, it will not apply Boolean logic. You must specify a Boolean phrase using the drop down menu. If you try this in Yahoo!, it will also not apply Boolean logic.
	AltaVista	Excite	HotBot	MetaCrawler	Yahoo!
+/- operator	Yes	Yes	Yes (except when Boolean search selected)	Yes	Yes
This feature operates in the same manner in all five search tools. The + specifies items which must be in the retrieved page. - specifies items, which must not appear in the page. +hydrothermal +plumes -NOAA This search should be interpreted correctly by all five search tools. Try it in Yahoo! and HotBot, for example. Try changing the - before NOAA to a +, and notice the different results.
	AltaVista	Excite	HotBot	MetaCrawler	Yahoo!
truncator	*	None	None	*	*
Some search tools allow you to truncate words to search on all forms of the word. Others do not. tid* prediction* The above could be used in AltaVista, MetaCrawler or Yahoo! and should roughly equate to the Boolean phrase "(tide OR tides OR tidal) AND (prediction OR predictions)" Excite and HotBot would not interpret it correctly.
	AltaVista	Excite	HotBot	MetaCrawler	Yahoo!
phrase searching using " "	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
All five search tools allow phrase searching. Use double quotes around the phrase of interest to get pages that contain that phrase. This can be especially useful for personal names. For instance, try searching on "Faith Brown" with and without the quotes. Note the different results.
case sensitivity	for case insensitive search, use lower case. If upper case is used, the engine will search only for words that are upper case.	searches are case insensitive	for case insensitive search, use lower case. If upper case is used, the engine will search only for words that are upper case.	case insensitive	case insensitive
Generally you can use lower case and the search tool will search for upper or lower case. In some tools, if you specify upper case, it will search only for upper case. This can be useful in searching for people. Brown AND "invasive species" This phrase would work in HotBot to find "Brown" in upper case. This could be used to identify a scientist named Brown who is interested in invasive species. In Excite, however, this phrase would also give results where "brown" was lower case.
	AltaVista	Excite	HotBot	MetaCrawler	Yahoo!
field searching	search specific fields such as text, title, URL, anchor, using the form title:keyword; see AltaVista Help for more options.	No	search specific fields using form title:keyword; see HotBot advanced help for more options	No	limit to title or URL with t: or u:
Some of the search engines (AltaVista, HotBot, Yahoo) allow you to specify which field you want to search on. tide prediction u:NOAA the phrase above will work in Yahoo! to search pages containing the words tide and prediction and with "NOAA" in the URL tide prediction domain:noaa.gov the preceding phrase does something similar in HotBot. These search features of HotBot can also be accessed through menu options on its advanced search pages. Refer to the help pages of your favorite search tool to learn about the details of searching specific fields.
	AltaVista	Excite	HotBot	MetaCrawler	Yahoo!
advanced search options	search by date, specify language; refine options allows you to see the words commonly associated with your search terms and to include or exclude them from your search	search wizard suggests related terms you might like to add to your search	search by date, domain, media contained on the page (audio, video, etc.)	search by geographical location; select which search engines to include	search by date
More help	AltaVista help	Excite help	HotBot help	MetaCrawler help	Yahoo help

 

Other techniques

• URL shortening
  Sometimes, you might need to cut one or more phrases off the end of a URL to get to the information you need. This technique is also useful if a search engine sends you to specific page of a site, but you want to get to the main page. It is also useful for dead links. Try clicking on this dead link about NCAR research facilities and shortening it until you get to a real site.
  
• Using your Web browser's find command within page to see why it was retrieved
  for instance, search the phrase "marine AND (invasive OR invasives)" as a Boolean phrase in HotBot. If you come across a page where it is unclear why the search engine retrieved it, use Edit-->Find (or ctrl + f) to locate the part of the page referring to the topic of interest. This is especially useful for very long pages.
  
• Shortcut to your favorite search engine
  you can get to most search tools, simply by typing the name of the search tool on the command line. This is because, if you just type one word on the command line, recent versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer will automatically interpret this as "http://www.yourword.com". For instance "yahoo" is interpreted as "http://www.yahoo.com"
  

 

Web Resources on Search Tools and Search Techniques

• Useful summaries of search engines:
  • Internet Scout Project
  • UC-Berkeley
  • Berkeley Sun Site
  • Search Engine Showdown
  • Search Engine Watch
    
• Pages on Web searching strategies:
  • Generic research tutorial
  • UC-Berkeley
  • University of Wisconsin
  • Rice University
  • New York Times