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
