ERIC SPELLMANN

Internet research made easy

Never before have we had so many ways of searching the Net. Depending on what you are looking for, a myriad of tools exist to assist you ... if you only know where to look. In the next few columns, you will learn how to become an "internet search guru!"

Keyword searching

If you’ve ever gone to Google and typed something into their search blank, you’ve performed keyword searching. However, as you’ve no doubt discovered, the amount of information returned can be torrential. How do you find your needle in that haystack?

To search these sites more efficiently, you need to understand how they work. Picture an incredibly powerful computer with a high speed connection to the internet. This computer uses special pieces of software called 'spiderbots' (short for spider robots). These spiderbots are used to scour the Web and create a huge searchable database.

The process: A spiderbot starts at one web page. It indexes (or makes a list of) every word on that page. It then follows EVERY link on that page. Each link takes it to a new page or site, where it indexes every word and follows every link, and so on, and so on …

When you perform a keyword search, in a sense, you are searching through EVERY word on EVERY web page on EVERY website. Of course, in reality, this is not exactly true, as the spiderbots cannot keep up with all of the new pages being added daily. However, they come awfully close to that goal.

In my opinion, Google is, by far, the best site for this type of search. In tests, their database has proven to be the largest and most up-to-date of any other site. However, my primary reason for using Google lies in their relevancy algorithm.

Let me put that another way: when you type a word or words into Google and hit "search", chances are, it will return a few thousand (or million) hits. How are those pages ranked? Out of those thousands, how does Google decide who gets listed first? Well, they use a relevancy formula.

Years ago, this formula was very simplistic. Pages that had more instances of your search keywords were listed first. However, website owners figured this equation out and started abusing it by loading their pages with numerous, repetitive keywords, unfairly increasing their listing rank. So, the nerds at Google put their heads together and came up with a different strategy …

Relevancy would now be based primarily on "referring links". In other words, the more people that have links TO a particular site, the higher that site will appear in the listing. "Sites that people like" will appear higher in the list on a Google search. Therefore, Google’s results tend to be more relevant than other search sites.

Tips

To increase the relevance of your searches, type as many keywords as possible into the search blank. For instance, if you are tasked with writing a report on our solar system, typing "planet Pluto atmosphere" will result in a much better hit-list than just typing "Pluto". The latter will require you to sift through numerous Disney canine pages to find your target information.

Speaking of Pluto, don’t get distracted by sites off the beaten track. Many newbie internet researchers have been lured off the path of their initial search by "interesting" sites they discovered during the search. Focus on the task at hand, or you’ll suddenly look up at the clock and realize you’ve lost a couple of hours!

One more thing: have you noticed the "I’m Feeling Lucky" button? If you type in a search phrase and hit that button, Google will transport you DIRECTLY to the first site that would have come up in the hit-list. Nine times out of ten, it works for me. Give it a try!

Most people use Google’s basic search window for all of their queries. However, if you TRULY want to speed up your searches, you must delve into Google’s advanced options. We’ll explore that treasure trove next time.  Until then ...

I’ll see you in Cyberspace!
 
www.EricSpellmann.com

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