subject: Keywords and How They Help in Your Searches [print this page] Keywords and How They Help in Your Searches
When you do your online searches, would there be times when you would find yourself swamped with an alarming number of results? Did you want something specific, but just couldn't find it with the way you typed in your query? Many people are still not sure how to do searches with a search engine. Your next Internet search could be easy if you make use of different terms and operators. They will make the results that you want easier to find. Search engines for use number in the hundreds.
Widely used search engines include Lycos, Infoseek, and Google. Although Yahoo is a web directory, it is still widely used for searches. You can search by categories, news stories, etc. Among the commonly searched items are cars. Searches for cars may have been done by you too. But what if you wanted to narrow your search to cars in your area alone?
It is not necessary to go through each result that comes out. Instead, try out the other options that search engines provide for you. First of all, there are four basic keywords for searching. By using AND, you can narrow your results to include only those documents that contain all the words that you put in your search. Instead of using AND, you may use the plus symbol. If you are looking for documents that contain one of the words or phrases you entered in your search, use OR. To exclude those documents with specific words or phrases, you can use NOT.
To see an example of the use of exact phrases and plus commands, consider the query '+car +san antonio area +texas dallas +houston'. The search takes into account all cars and auto dealers in Texas, except those in Dallas or Houston. Instead of limiting your search to dog, look for a particular kind of dog. If you want to end up with a document that has an exact word or phrase, you can try putting your search in quotes. In this manner, only the exact words you typed in will be displayed in the results of your search.
While most searches are done using lowercase letters, there are also times that you would do case sensitive searches. What poses as a problem also in doing searches are special characters found in foreign languages. The search engines searches are not limited to text. The detection of links, host names, image names, and others are possible with some search engines.
A factor that makes search engines like yahoo popular is the search options that they have. Altavista allows you to do searches with language as a factor. It's possible to translate web pages that are written in different languages just by the click of a mouse using altavista. It helps you come up with ideas and it puts all of the links for a group or category together, which makes searching in yahoo super easy. In addition, Yahoo makes you search in other search engines and even leads you toward news stories.
Searches were often confined to simply finding a particular World Wide Web document. Now, online searches have extensively included addresses, phone numbers, and maps. You can get directions from Yahoo maps on how to get to a certain place from your house if you just provide your address.
