Researching via Google / Yahoo / Bing Searches.

Many Information requests we see here could have been answered via more carefully worded Google / Yahoo / Bing Searches.

The trick is to know how to word your search request accurately.

FYI: the first thing that search engines look for is topic tags that are inserted into "Page Properties" in their Web Authoring Program.
Only secondarily do Search Engines catalogue text on a page. (Understandable because there is so much of it.)

There are up to 4 text boxes in "Page Properties" in Web Authoring Programs. Each can hold circa a maximum of 10 words.

So website owners who really know what they are doing, are really tight about ensuring that each html page has deadly accurate descriptors in its "Page Properties."
And yes each html page throughout a website can be individually primed for search engines this way.
So a store could have pages for individual specialty items they carry, another for their Coffee Bar and Menu, another for "Contact Us" etc.

So start off a WW2 search with WW2
If your query is about aviation, search with WW2 RAF or USAAF (Example) then add the more specific words or terms you are specifically looking for.
Use the single term rather than plural. Corvette will bring up more responses than Corvettes.

Use your thinking cap. If your search results bring inadequate responses, change your search terms.
- Think about what the website author might have put into their "Page Properties" boxes.

So a good "Page Properties" focused search would be worded thus:
WW2 RAF 33 Squadron Larissa Greece Airfield Mackie Pattle Arnoldy
Then I would try: WW2 RAF 33 Sqdn Larissa Greece Airfield Mackie Pattle Arnoldy
Then I would try: WW2 RAF 33 Sqdn ... followed by other specific terms or relevant words

SECONDLY:
Microsoft (Bing) is not joking. Google is blowing it's monopoly by targeting search response lists to prioritize its paid advertizers.
And it is getting worse and worse every month.
Microsoft (Bing) and Yahoo stand a good chance of regaining domination of search Engines if Google keeps up this practice.

Example:
Just today I was searching for a Gov't of Canada legal document that mandates that Registered Associations update their Bylaws within the next year - or they are automatically dissolved.
- Google Search worded "Government of Canada Registered Association Bylaw legal requirements" had to be drastically tightened before anything remotely correct was displayed.

IMHO Bing and Yahoo are increasingly going to become the search engine of choice, and these tools should be on your radar screen.

These tips will help you with your information searches. Enjoy! :S!

 

Thanks , Fred, the bit about priority is useful. It seems common sense but my old brain forgets !

As for "Thinking caps" I will run a search to see where to get one !!

Gaines

 

Excellent advice, Fred. I would add that, even if you don't mind the way Google prioritizes its search results, one should try their searches using all three search engines. You will often times get slightly different results depending on which one you use.

I think this thread is worth pinning.

 

Thanks in particular here for members who insert caption comments with their pictures and who identify the locations and names of people in pictures and stories throughout the forum.

You will be amazed!
Years from now, family members searching for their ancestor's name will run across these posts and revive them from their long forgotten sleep.

Attention to detail in what you post here will help keep your threads here alive for generations to come.

 

Maybe a decade to fifteen years ago that was true, but not any longer. Read up on Search Engine Optimization (A current piece) as there are a lot of techniques pushed on webmasters for making their pages show up higher in the results.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=70897