Michael's  
  
Internet  
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Search  
Strategy  

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1. Introduction
2. Annotated list of recommended search sites

3. Why you need a Search strategy
   situation: buying a printer
   Quizzing the search engines
    

Search strategy

As you think about searching the web, you subconsciously begin formulating your strategy. Let's look at the steps.

situation: Your home printer just died. You want to buy a new inkjet printer and you figure the Web is the place to go looking.

1. Decide on the kind of information you want. Do you want to look at a specific vendor's product line? Do you want to see a review of several printers in your price range? Do you want some first-hand experience from other recent purchasers? Do you want a comparison of inkjet vs. laser printers?

2. Pick your search engine. The type of information you want will decide where you go look and the keywords you use.

3. Learn the 'two-step'. Limit your search within a specific category rather than searching the entire Web.

4. Pick your search terms. Try to pick words that are likely to appear on your 'ideal' web page. If you want several categories of information, you may need to do several queries.
   • check your spelling before you hit the submit button.
   • put your most important term first
   • use singular terms rather than plurals
   • use lower case unless you specifically want an exact match
   • use nouns when possible
   • try to use 3-4 keywords per query
   • if possible combine keywords into phrases (enclosed in double quotation marks)

5. Determine the point at which you stop scrolling the 'hits' list and revise your query or change your search engine. The 'hits' that come back on your search may not find the page you are looking for, but they can alert you that you need to change your search terms or change search engines.

6. Revise your search by adding or subtracting keywords. (If you are not familiar with search 'math', I'll get to it on the next page.) Based on the number and type of hits you may wish to revise your search and either require that certain words be present or require that certain words not be contained in the document. Learn from your mistakes.

7. Use the HELP function to check your query. Search engines occasionally add new features that may help your search. It is also easy to confuse the syntax of one search engine with another.

"My plump starfish quickly lowered Lincoln's tie." Intrequed?? Find the meaning of this AltaVista specific search streatgy. http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/searching/sevensteps.html

Quiz a search engine

Nothing gets the point across like a quiz!.

1. Use Yahoo and AltaVista.

2. Perform the following searches, noting the total number of 'hits'.

3. Use the help facility to explain any outcomes which differ from what you might have expected.

4. Redo the queries on your favorite search engine. Compare the results.

Search queries

note: We'll cover in the next section why the '+' sign is included in these queries.

Don't be shy, even if all you say is "Hi!".