Search Tips

Knowing how to quickly find the inforamtion you are after will you get more out of your time on the Net and avoid inappropriate material. Here are some tips for getting the most out of you queries:

Read the instruction: Most search engines explain how to get the best results using their engine, so read before you start your search.

Be specific but concise: include sufficient search terms to get the links you want at the top of your list. Too many terms can result in the page you want being at or near the bottom of your list. Start with a few terms and add, remove or replace them one at a time to get better results.

Go Boolean: Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT let you include or exclude pages based on their content.Not all search engines recognise the NOT operstor.
Example: "Sopworth AND Camel AND Snoopy" will list only pages about the Peanuts character's escapades as a World War 1 flying ace while using "Sopworth AND Camel NOT Snoopy" will not include most Peanuts related pages.

Add quotation marks: To find pages that mention W.C. Fields but not water closets or farmland, put quotation marks around your search terms and the search engine will treat it as a single term.
Example: "W.C.Fields"

Use field specifiers: some search engines allow field specifiers - keywords that tell the search engine to perform specific types of searches. Check the search engine's advance search instruction to see if they support this kind of searching.
Examples: typing "site:servicesinthebay.com.au" will restrict the results to pages on the services in the bay website. Using "link:microsoft.com" will provide pages that link to Microsoft's site. While typing "url:services" will result in only sites that contain the word "services" in the web address.