Week 5: Using Search Engines

Lecture

A search engine is a web-based application that crawls the internet, creating indices of websites, usually from the textural information contrained on them. Sited are usually indexed according to keywords.

Types of search engines:

• Google - http://www.google.com/
• Yahoo - http://www.yahoo.com/
• AltaVista - http://www.altavista.com/
• AlltheWeb - http://www.alltheweb.com/

Problems with Search Engines:

• Too many results
• Limited relevance or quality filtering of results to a search query
• Misuse of the page scoring system
• Including of current "broken" links in a list of results

Some reliable search directories:

• DMOZ- dmoz.org
• Google Directory - directory.google.com
• Yahoo Directory - dir.yahoo.com
• Look Smart - http://www.looksmart.com/
• About - http://www.about.com/

U.S. Search Engine Ranking September 2007:

• Google - 57%
• Yahoo - 23.7%
• Microsoft - 10.3%
• Ask - 4.7%
• Time Warner including AOL - 4.5%

Task

Four strategies:

• Look for an appropriate search engine
• Think of proper keywords for better search results
• Use inverted Commas Around Your Search
• Use advanced search functions to narrow the info down

I used inverted commas to find the answers. The results that came up using this strategy was really good, as the information had the answer hidden in its contents.

Extra Reading

Robert Harris-Web Search Strategies: http://www.virtualsalt.com/howlook.htm

This site provides and overview of the enormous amount of information that Internet contains and it provides details on how and where to search for certain types of information. It also gives tips on searching for information without the use of a search engine.

The History of the Internet: (Chap 4- Search Engines): http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/ivh/chap4.htm

This site informs the readers of the history of the internet search engine. It then describes how search engines have developed over the years to become more useful in terms of ability to find information over the web. The site also provides brief tips on how to search topics with the use of various keywords.

Search Engine Optimization for Companies: http://www.websight.net.au/search-engine-optimisation.asp

This site contains information regarding the processes involved in determining whether a small business website is suitable for search engine optimisation.