GO HOME
Make Start Page
Tell A Friend
Tips For Kids
↓NAVIGATION BAR↓
GENERAL
Directory Search
General Search
Meta Search
News Groups
BUSINESS
Administration
Legal
Marketing
Money & Stocks
Shipping
COMPUTERS
AntiVirus
Downloads
Hardware
Internet
Software
Support
GEOGRAPHIC
Maps
Travel
Zip Codes
HOME & HEALTH
Art & Photos
Books
Children
Cooking
Health
Magazines
Music
Shopping
Video
REFERENCE
Acronyms
Dictionary
Encyclopedia
Translations
TELEPHONE
Area Codes
People Finder
Reverse Directory
White Pages
Yellow Pages
MEDIA
News
Sports
TV & Radio
Weather
| User Tips & Information
|
|
| With a few exceptions (many of which are featured on the “Little Engine” site), Internet search engines generally find web pages and rank them according to the following criteria:- Relevancy to your search terms. (how frequently words match)
- The general popularity of the page. (how many other pages link to it)
An assumption is made that if a page is popular, it is probably also authoritative. Why else would other pages link to it, right? Well, the first reason that comes to mind is competition for top rankings. There are a great many web site owners trying to “fool” the search engines, using every strategy imaginable, to get their pages into the Top 10 results of any search remotely related to them. An entire industry has emerged to help them improve their search engine rankings for various keywords.
Some web site owners will pay to be placed in a list above the actual results. Search engines call these “Sponsored”, “Featured”, or “Popular Matches”. What this means is that companies pay to be put on a list at the top of the page whenever a “related” query is made. Consequently, the actual relevance rating of these “matches” compared to your query is a little unclear. That's not to say they can't be useful, but you should be aware of the reasons for locating them ahead of top ranked results.
There are many other reasons why site popularity cannot be equated with information quality. In fact, the reasons are too numerous for the scope of this article (see Advanced Search Techniques), so for the moment, let's suffice to say it just isn't a very good formula for success. That's why it is so important for Internet users to learn to search smarter.
If experience is a guide, and your experience has been like that of most people, you've sifted through a lot of information you didn't want, to get to the odd bit you did. Going “Web Surfing” can be interesting and fun, but when you need fast, reliable information, sorting through all the unrelated data can be frustrating, and is extremely time consuming.
Until now, unless you became some sort of “Search Engine Wizard”
(see Advanced Search Techniques), you didn't have much alternative to the above scenario. The good news is that sorting through pages and pages of irrelevant information can now be a thing of the past for you, simply by using “The Little Engine That Could”.
Here are a few simple tips to help you get even better results when searching the Internet with the “Little Engine”. While nothing works exactly the same on all sites, these techniques work well on most.- First and foremost, be sure of your spelling. A search engine can only find EXACTLY what you enter into your query.
- Try all word forms. Remember, different word stems and endings will yield different search results. Also, match your keywords to the actual words you anticipate will be in the article you want.
Example: cat returns different results than cats
Example: Try “cardiac arrest” not “heart attack” - A really easy way to narrow your search is to enter several keywords, separated by spaces, to indicate you would prefer documents containing all of the words. Click the example below.
Example: chicago restaurants italian - You can also use quotation marks or a dash without spaces to indicate you are looking for the occurrence of an exact phrase.
Just remember to be specific. Click on the following two examples to see the difference in results.
Example: "Ulysses S Grant" or Ulysses-S-Grant
Example: "US Grant" or US-Grant
- Search engines commonly omit words like "a", "an", "the", "of" or "what." If you need these words to be included, using a little search “math” can come in handy. Use a "+" sign in front of any word that MUST occur in the documents found. Similarly, using a "-" sign indicates the word MUST NOT appear in any documents. Always, make sure there is a space before the "+" or "-" signs. Click on the following examples to compare results:
Example: apple Example: +apple -computer -retail -mac
There are many more ways to improve your search results, and much more to be learned about search engines. After you've mastered the above skills, you may want to consider looking into:
Advanced Search Techniques.
In the meantime... Enjoy! |
|
FOR NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR:
To Bookmark the “Little Engine”: To Make the “Little Engine” your Homepage:- In your browser menu, click on Edit → Preferences.
- The homepage setting is the second option.
Type or copy-and-paste the URL for the “Little Engine”: http://www.little-engine.com - Click on OK
FOR INTERNET EXPLORER:
To Bookmark the “Little Engine”: To Make the “Little Engine” your Homepage:- Click Make Start Page (top left) on any “Little Engine” page.
- Click on Yes
OR- In your browser menu, click on Tools → Internet Options.
- Your homepage setting will be the first option in the “General” tab. Type or copy-and-paste the URL for the “Little Engine”: http://www.little-engine.com
- Click on Apply
| “The Little Engine That Could” welcomes you aboard!
Enjoy The Ride! |
APS Home | Contact Us | eStore Demo | LETC Home
Copyright © 2002 - Allied Professional Services |
|
