Internet Search Station

Search Help

For further help on general Internet use, Web page design, etc. click HERE.

Hints for getting better Search Results

Watch your spelling! If you type computr instead of computer, the search will not find many matches.
Use plurals, or other word endings as some search engines do-not not take care of plurals. For example if you are looking for information on a disease, search for disease and diseases.
If your search is for an acronym, try searching for it twice. For example, search for BMW or bavarian motor works.
Remember to search for both British and American spellings. For example, you could search for labour or labor.

Frequently Asked Questions about Search Engines

What is a Search Engine?
The term 'Search Engine' is really a bit of technical jargon, it is simply the name coined to a piece of software designed to interrogate a database of internet pages and locations - of which there are many - to find specific information, words or phrases on the internet. You type a word, or a group of words, or a phrase of any length, into a search form. The search engine then searches for occurrences of your query, and shows you a list of pages that include them. It also lets you link to those pages.
Why do I need a search engine?
Because the World Wide Web is a big, messy, disorganized place. There are millions of pages of information on the World Wide Web - nobody knows how many - and it's growing every day. You need a search engine to help you find the information in this vast and ever-changing sea of information that's relevant to you.
Do I need any special software to be able to use Search Engines?
All you need is a Web browser. There are many different ones available, but the two most popular are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Almost all search engines run on a public World Wide Web page, and you don't need any special software to be able to use them.
How much does it cost to use Search Engines?
It's a free and unlimited service. If you have access to the World Wide Web you can use the search pages at any time, and as often as you like. Most search engines don't limit where you can search, or how many matching documents you can see, or the sophistication of your searches, or anything else.
Are the search result pages objective?
Yes, they are. Results are usually shown based on the number of times that the term searched for occurs on the page as well as where it appears. For example, if the term appears once in the URL, the page is ranked higher than one that has the term appearing once only in the body of the document.
What types of searches can I do?
In most of the search engines you can:
- search for a single word or a group of words
- search for a phrase of any length
- search for combinations of words and phrases
- link your search terms with the boolean operators: and, or, but not, near, followed by
- search for URLs (web addresses) only
- search only titles and headings of pages
- refine your search

How often do the Search Engine Databases get updated?
Most search engine databases are updated continuously with some adding and updating over 50,000 Web pages per day. Since the information on the Web changes every day, every hour even, programs updating the search engine databases are out there 24 hours a day, crawling the Web for new and changed information.
What if I don't want my Web page added to Search Engine Databases?
Search Engine Databases should respect keep off signs on web pages, like all responsible Internet users. Most crawlers (the programs that search the net for new or updated pages to add to the database) honour the Robot Exclusion Protocol.
I searched for xxxx page and world wide web. I got a message that said there were too many occurrences of the word xxxx page. But I wanted xxxx page and world wide web, not xxxx page alone. What's the problem?
The problem is that before search engine database can tell you how many documents contain both the word xxxx page and the phrase world wide web it must first calculate how many documents contain the word xxxx page by itself. Then it combines the results. If xxxx page is a common word the search engine returns too many hits. Searching for a common word is possible but it strains resources too much. Instead, try to be more specific. Try searching for xxxx yyyy home page or xxxx yyyy web page instead.
I searched for frog within title. But my first result doesn't have the word frog in it. Why not?
Because the person who created that Web page made a mistake in his or her HTML coding. The search engine database only knows what a Web page title is by what the person writing the page defines as a title. Sometimes a stray code defining a title might have escaped the creator's notice, and gotten lost farther down the page. That might be where the search engine found it.
Help! My searched produced over 5,000 resulting pages. How can I narrow the results of my search?
If you started your search by entering, say, computer you can refine it by searching for the word computer in the title of Web pages and the word software in the subject. Or try searching for computer and bill gates but not microsoft. The more specific you can be in your search, the more specific the results that the search engine can give you.
Can I do fuzzy searching with the Search Engines?
Fuzzy searching is a way of expanding the results of a search. This isn't usually necessary. You're more likely to find too much information than not enough. Focus instead on refining your search (see above).

Page created January 1997, kevin.osborn@zetnet.co.uk
Web space from Zetnet Internet Services