Break Your Search Engines Habits To Get Better Information
Bill Platt
With the ever-expanding enormity of the Internet, desirable
search engine results are more important than ever before. Search
engines are generally an efficient way to narrow down the
millions of pages of information available, to a few relevant
results.
Advanced Search Features
The relevancy of results can depend on several factors. For one,
the search terms used make a difference. Boolean search rules are
probably the best-known and most widely used. These consist of
separating specific terms with AND, OR, or NOT, to include or
exclude results. To get an overview of the Advanced Search
Features available in a number of search engines, check out this
chart:
http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/ressubj/subject/intrnt/srcheng.htm
One rule to remember is that the more specific your search terms
are, the better your results will be. For example, instead of
searching for "dogs", try searching for "terriers".
Another rule is that less is more. Be concise with the search
terms you pick - putting too many search words into the engine
can result in confusing or too few results. In fact, most search
engines limit the number of words that can be used in a search
request to ten words.
Finally, you can also add filters to whatever you are searching.
For example, if you are searching full text files, you can enter
title:oxygen to find only files with the word "oxygen" in the
title. The same can be done for URLs. If you know "oxygen" is
part of the URL you're looking for, you would enter
inurl:oxygen. I use this tool all of the time to find information
provided on a government website by adding inurl:gov to my search
criteria.
Organic and Paid Search Results
If you've ever used more than one search engine, you'll quickly
realize that not every search engine returns the same results or
links. There will be similarities and differences across most
search engines, especially the "Big Three": Google, Yahoo, and
MSN.
The Big Three search engines tend to include sponsored results
(basically, results that somehow fit the search term as defined
by the advertiser, and which appear above the real search
results). Usually the sponsored results will note that they are
"sponsored" results somewhere, so as not to be confused with
the "real" results. Except, the search engine companies
actually hope - that you'll click on the paid results instead of
the real results, so the search companies can get paid for you
visiting their clients' websites.
The results from the different search engines can actually
overlap. If you want to have a wide variety of relevant links,
you may spend time typing the same words into different engines,
only to come up with mostly the same search results.
There is a tool that makes the similarities between the search
engines abundantly clear; although this search tool is not good
for much other than to show you how similar search results can be
between Yahoo and Google:
http://www.langreiter.com/exec/yahoo-vs-google.html
A variation on this theme can be seen here:
http://ranking.thumbshots.com/
Meta Search Engines Combine Results From Many Search Engines
Instead of relying on the Big Three search engines alone, don't
be afraid to try some different search engines. Meta search
engines are a good way to be more efficient with your searches,
and they will help you to get a much more diverse set of relevant
search results. Meta search engines, such as
http://www.Clusty.com and http://www.Widow.com are both good at
returning a wide variety of results.
For demonstration purposes, let's take a look at some different
search terms in each of five different search engines - Google,
Yahoo, MSN, Clusty and Widow. The three search terms used for
this unscientific experiment are: unemployment, weather, and
Myanmar.
Test Search: Unemployment
For "unemployment", Google, Yahoo and Clusty first returned
sponsored links. MSN and Widow both returned online encyclopedia
results - MSN using Encarta's encyclopedia; Widow returning
Wikipedia.org results. Wikipedia also showed up in the other
three search engines, as well, but further down in the results
lists.
A similarity between all of the search engine results was they
each turned up specific states' unemployment links in the first
page - primarily California, New York, and Ohio. Google and Yahoo
also brought up current news items related to unemployment.
Widow.com (the meta search engine) provides additional tools in
the left sidebar for related-keywords and clustered search
options. For the search term "unemployment", the clustered
results offered: insurance, compensation, unemployed, rate,
workforce development, benefits eligible workers, information
employers, data, individuals, and welcome Ohio. All of these
additional search terms are just a click away.
Test Search: Weather
The next term is "weather." In this search, only Google and
Clusty returned a sponsored result at the top. The top result for
the other three engines was weather.com. The secondary results in
each of the engines included, in varying order, Yahoo weather,
and NOAA's National Weather Service website.
Differences for the term of "weather" included MSN showing MSN
weather in their results, as well as a UK weather website on
Widow.com. Again, I was impressed by the optional clustered
search engine results on Widow.com. These included options for
city searches, Doppler, and the latest weather news.
Test Search: Myanmar
The final search word for the five search engines was Myanmar, to
test the relevance of findings for a region that's received a
lot of media attention in the last few months since the Myanmar
Cyclone. The results on Google started with several colorful maps
of the area, a feature that really stood out for me.
As for similarities, each of the five search engines contained
one or more Wikipedia results. The search engines also included
current news links and some tourism links. Once again, many of
the clustered search results on Widow.com caught my eye: travel,
Burma (Myanmar's previous name), culture, cyclone, statistics,
politics, government, and tours.
Search Lessons Learned
What are we to learn from this little search engine experiment?
There are several things that you can take away from this. For
starters, the Big Three search engines tend to have pretty
similar results. Occasionally there are differences, but not
anything spectacularly different.
Another conclusion that can be drawn is that you are more likely
to get sponsored results when you use more general terms
(unemployment, weather), as many advertisers can link their
products to a wide variety of general terms.
The most pleasant feature is the availability of diverse range of
clustered and related terms, available with a single click of the
mouse, on Widow.com.
The potential for Meta search engines to cut down on multiple
searches is there, if users are willing to break out of their
typical searching habits, to uncover jewels of information within
the existing data.
The Widow.com Meta search engine goes above and beyond what I
have experienced with other Meta search engines. The Clusty.com
Meta search engine also offers clustered search terms, but for
some search terms, some of its offerings are simply nonsensical.
How I Discovered Meta Search Engines
In the course of my own work, I spend a lot of time searching on
the web for information on a variety of topics. As a ghostwriter,
I frequently write on topics that I know little about ahead of
time, so I do loads of research to help me cover the topics I
write about in a much more logical and educated manner.
I used to use Google almost exclusively. But, one day I was
researching an article topic that I had written about previously.
Imagine my aggravation when the only material that Google would
show me on the topic was material I had written myself!
While I had written about that topic previously, I was not an
expert on the subject. I did not want to simply rehash what I had
written before; I wanted to write on the topic in a new and
different way.
I tried Yahoo and MSN and met the same disappointment with the
search results. Then I went to http://www.DogPile.com. I thought
their results were awful, but I liked the concept of the Meta
Search Engine.
I tried many Meta Search Engines, and then I came across the
Widow Search Engine. I liked it so much that I made it one of the
default search engines in the article search tools on my website.
The thing I like about Widow best is the Clustered Search
Listings. With Clustered Search, Widow brainstorms the keyword
variations for me, so that I don't have to figure out the
related search terms on my own. As they say in the MasterCard
commercials - this is priceless!
In the end, this article is not about which search engine will
send the most traffic to a website you own. Instead, this article
is about which search engine will give you the best information
to help you find the answers you want and need.
Good luck and happy searching.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Platt is the owner of http://www.thephantomwriters.com
article ghost writing and article distribution services. He
has been helping small business owners promote their online
businesses, using reprint articles, since 2001. In 2007,
Bill wrote an ebook titled, "Article Marketing For Traffic,
Sales And Profit". You can get your copy of his ebook at:
http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html
Bill Platt
With the ever-expanding enormity of the Internet, desirable
search engine results are more important than ever before. Search
engines are generally an efficient way to narrow down the
millions of pages of information available, to a few relevant
results.
Advanced Search Features
The relevancy of results can depend on several factors. For one,
the search terms used make a difference. Boolean search rules are
probably the best-known and most widely used. These consist of
separating specific terms with AND, OR, or NOT, to include or
exclude results. To get an overview of the Advanced Search
Features available in a number of search engines, check out this
chart:
http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/ressubj/subject/intrnt/srcheng.htm
One rule to remember is that the more specific your search terms
are, the better your results will be. For example, instead of
searching for "dogs", try searching for "terriers".
Another rule is that less is more. Be concise with the search
terms you pick - putting too many search words into the engine
can result in confusing or too few results. In fact, most search
engines limit the number of words that can be used in a search
request to ten words.
Finally, you can also add filters to whatever you are searching.
For example, if you are searching full text files, you can enter
title:oxygen to find only files with the word "oxygen" in the
title. The same can be done for URLs. If you know "oxygen" is
part of the URL you're looking for, you would enter
inurl:oxygen. I use this tool all of the time to find information
provided on a government website by adding inurl:gov to my search
criteria.
Organic and Paid Search Results
If you've ever used more than one search engine, you'll quickly
realize that not every search engine returns the same results or
links. There will be similarities and differences across most
search engines, especially the "Big Three": Google, Yahoo, and
MSN.
The Big Three search engines tend to include sponsored results
(basically, results that somehow fit the search term as defined
by the advertiser, and which appear above the real search
results). Usually the sponsored results will note that they are
"sponsored" results somewhere, so as not to be confused with
the "real" results. Except, the search engine companies
actually hope - that you'll click on the paid results instead of
the real results, so the search companies can get paid for you
visiting their clients' websites.
The results from the different search engines can actually
overlap. If you want to have a wide variety of relevant links,
you may spend time typing the same words into different engines,
only to come up with mostly the same search results.
There is a tool that makes the similarities between the search
engines abundantly clear; although this search tool is not good
for much other than to show you how similar search results can be
between Yahoo and Google:
http://www.langreiter.com/exec/yahoo-vs-google.html
A variation on this theme can be seen here:
http://ranking.thumbshots.com/
Meta Search Engines Combine Results From Many Search Engines
Instead of relying on the Big Three search engines alone, don't
be afraid to try some different search engines. Meta search
engines are a good way to be more efficient with your searches,
and they will help you to get a much more diverse set of relevant
search results. Meta search engines, such as
http://www.Clusty.com and http://www.Widow.com are both good at
returning a wide variety of results.
For demonstration purposes, let's take a look at some different
search terms in each of five different search engines - Google,
Yahoo, MSN, Clusty and Widow. The three search terms used for
this unscientific experiment are: unemployment, weather, and
Myanmar.
Test Search: Unemployment
For "unemployment", Google, Yahoo and Clusty first returned
sponsored links. MSN and Widow both returned online encyclopedia
results - MSN using Encarta's encyclopedia; Widow returning
Wikipedia.org results. Wikipedia also showed up in the other
three search engines, as well, but further down in the results
lists.
A similarity between all of the search engine results was they
each turned up specific states' unemployment links in the first
page - primarily California, New York, and Ohio. Google and Yahoo
also brought up current news items related to unemployment.
Widow.com (the meta search engine) provides additional tools in
the left sidebar for related-keywords and clustered search
options. For the search term "unemployment", the clustered
results offered: insurance, compensation, unemployed, rate,
workforce development, benefits eligible workers, information
employers, data, individuals, and welcome Ohio. All of these
additional search terms are just a click away.
Test Search: Weather
The next term is "weather." In this search, only Google and
Clusty returned a sponsored result at the top. The top result for
the other three engines was weather.com. The secondary results in
each of the engines included, in varying order, Yahoo weather,
and NOAA's National Weather Service website.
Differences for the term of "weather" included MSN showing MSN
weather in their results, as well as a UK weather website on
Widow.com. Again, I was impressed by the optional clustered
search engine results on Widow.com. These included options for
city searches, Doppler, and the latest weather news.
Test Search: Myanmar
The final search word for the five search engines was Myanmar, to
test the relevance of findings for a region that's received a
lot of media attention in the last few months since the Myanmar
Cyclone. The results on Google started with several colorful maps
of the area, a feature that really stood out for me.
As for similarities, each of the five search engines contained
one or more Wikipedia results. The search engines also included
current news links and some tourism links. Once again, many of
the clustered search results on Widow.com caught my eye: travel,
Burma (Myanmar's previous name), culture, cyclone, statistics,
politics, government, and tours.
Search Lessons Learned
What are we to learn from this little search engine experiment?
There are several things that you can take away from this. For
starters, the Big Three search engines tend to have pretty
similar results. Occasionally there are differences, but not
anything spectacularly different.
Another conclusion that can be drawn is that you are more likely
to get sponsored results when you use more general terms
(unemployment, weather), as many advertisers can link their
products to a wide variety of general terms.
The most pleasant feature is the availability of diverse range of
clustered and related terms, available with a single click of the
mouse, on Widow.com.
The potential for Meta search engines to cut down on multiple
searches is there, if users are willing to break out of their
typical searching habits, to uncover jewels of information within
the existing data.
The Widow.com Meta search engine goes above and beyond what I
have experienced with other Meta search engines. The Clusty.com
Meta search engine also offers clustered search terms, but for
some search terms, some of its offerings are simply nonsensical.
How I Discovered Meta Search Engines
In the course of my own work, I spend a lot of time searching on
the web for information on a variety of topics. As a ghostwriter,
I frequently write on topics that I know little about ahead of
time, so I do loads of research to help me cover the topics I
write about in a much more logical and educated manner.
I used to use Google almost exclusively. But, one day I was
researching an article topic that I had written about previously.
Imagine my aggravation when the only material that Google would
show me on the topic was material I had written myself!
While I had written about that topic previously, I was not an
expert on the subject. I did not want to simply rehash what I had
written before; I wanted to write on the topic in a new and
different way.
I tried Yahoo and MSN and met the same disappointment with the
search results. Then I went to http://www.DogPile.com. I thought
their results were awful, but I liked the concept of the Meta
Search Engine.
I tried many Meta Search Engines, and then I came across the
Widow Search Engine. I liked it so much that I made it one of the
default search engines in the article search tools on my website.
The thing I like about Widow best is the Clustered Search
Listings. With Clustered Search, Widow brainstorms the keyword
variations for me, so that I don't have to figure out the
related search terms on my own. As they say in the MasterCard
commercials - this is priceless!
In the end, this article is not about which search engine will
send the most traffic to a website you own. Instead, this article
is about which search engine will give you the best information
to help you find the answers you want and need.
Good luck and happy searching.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Platt is the owner of http://www.thephantomwriters.com
article ghost writing and article distribution services. He
has been helping small business owners promote their online
businesses, using reprint articles, since 2001. In 2007,
Bill wrote an ebook titled, "Article Marketing For Traffic,
Sales And Profit". You can get your copy of his ebook at:
http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html
