Three Tips for Better

Search Results

Tutorial developed by Angela Kroeger

June 2012

So you need to write a paper.

What do you do first?

You

Don't lie.

Google has been the dominant search engine in the United States for a solid decade now. In June 2011, Google had 84.58% of the U.S. market share, and it is the search engine of choice across much of the rest of the world as well. (Zhao & Tse, 2012) Even librarians use Google Search sometimes. The Criss Library provides access to a lot of databases and other great research tools, and we'll be thrilled to help you learn to use them. But we also want to help you use familiar tools more effectively.

Have you ever felt frustrated when the first page of results from Google Search doesn't show what you're really looking for? For example, you search for bears, and half the hits are for the Chicago Bears, but you only want the animal.

In this brief tutorial, you'll learn three advanced Google Search techniques to help you zero in on the information you need. 1. How to expand your search to include related ideas. 2. How to exclude undesirable keywords. 3. How to limit your search to a single website or domain.

Already know how to do all of these things? Congratulations! You're a power searcher. You don't need this lesson. Everyone else . . .

Are you

?

With autocomplete, it almost seems like Google can read your mind. But it can't. Google has great algorithms, but they aren't telepathic. Sometimes, you have to refine your search to get what you need.

The task: Your professor has asked you to write a paper arguing your position on a current issue. For these examples, we're going to use renewable energy. (By the way, please be green and don't print this tutorial!)

On your initial search, you probably just throw those keywords into the Google Search box.

That's not bad, right? It looks like we've got some relevant hits.

renewable energy

Some authors might use the term renewable energy, while others might write sustainable energy. They're talking about the same thing, right? If you only search for one term, you might miss out on some good stuff, just because the author happened to use different words.

Let me introduce you to OR. Maybe you've heard of Boolean Operators. Many databases use Boolean Operators such as AND and NOT to tell the software how to parse a search. OR is a Boolean Operator that works in Google. (By the way, you don't need to use AND in Google Search, because Google automatically assumes AND for all keyword searches.)

This search:

Only gets you the overlap of all three terms:

renewable sustainable energy

While this search:

Brings back quite a bit more:

renewable OR sustainable energy

Using OR expands your search.

You'll notice the first page of search results has some different hits now, and the total number of hits has gone way up.

renewable OR sustainable energy

Take some time to think about different words that might be used for your topic. Try out different combinations of these terms and see what brings up the best results.

Pop Quiz!

Can you identify other synonyms or related terms that could be added with OR to enhance our search on renewable energy? a) factory b) green c) power d) Pikachu

Answers: a) factory X This term is too far away from the core idea of renewable energy to be helpful. b) green You bet! Green energy is a commonly used term. c) power Someone might use the term renewable power instead of renewable energy. d) Pikachu X However adorable he may be, he can't help you here.

Does this look like good search?

renewable OR energy

It's a terrible search.

It will get any pages that have either the word energy or the word renewable, but not necessarily both. You'll end up with a lot of irrelevant hits cluttering up your search results.

Subtract clutter. After learning about OR, you might think that you'd use the Boolean NOT to exclude undesirable pages from your search. However, that doesn't work in Google Search.

Instead, Google Search uses the minus sign to exclude search terms. Call it a hyphen if you want, but it helps to think of it as a minus sign because it subtracts any pages with the attached term from your search results.

The minus sign turns a keyword into an

anti-keyword.

Using the minus sign limits your search. Say your professor told you not to use Wikipedia.

Boom! Wikipedia is off the list, and other pages have risen to the top. Notice: There's no space between the minus sign and the word it's attached to.

renewable OR sustainable energy -wikipedia

Pop Quiz!

True or False? You can remove all blogs from your results by adding -blogs to your search.

Why?

The minus sign knocks out keywords, not types of websites. Some blogs never actually have the word blog on the page, and so they would not be excluded. A useful website might include a list of links to blogs by prominent people in that field. Even though the site itself isn't a blog, the presence of the word blogs would exclude it from your search results.

Focus your search on one site or domain. Why search all of the bazillion web pages Google has indexed when you know you need information from a particular source? Google Search's site: operator allows you to search a single website or domain.

Using site: focuses your search. Say you wanted to find some official documentation produced by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Notice: There's no space between site: and the URL it's attached to.

renewable OR sustainable energy site:epa.gov

Site: also works for domain-level searching. What's a domain? It's that .com, .org, or .whatever at the end of a website's main address.

So if you wanted to search only websites hosted by colleges and universities, you could include site:.edu in your search.

A search like this might show you research that various universities are doing in the field of renewable energy.

renewable OR sustainable energy site:.edu

One last thing: You can combine OR, minus, and site: all in the same search. Mix and match these techniques to get the most precision in your Google Search results.

Pop Quiz! (Last One!) You need to understand domains to use site: effectively. Which of these common domains are correctly identified? (It's okay if you don't know. Make an educated guess.)

.com Communication .edu Educational Institution .gov Government .org Non-Profit Organization

Answers:

.com Communication X Officially, it's Commercial. But anyone can register a .com address. .edu Educational Institution Accredited colleges and universities only. .gov Government United States government only. .org Non-Profit Organization X This one's tricky. Sites with .org aren't always non-profit. As with .com, anyone can register .org.

All of these are used primarily by United States institutions. Other countries have their own domains, like .ca for Canada or .jp for Japan.

Which of these are valid site: searches?

renewable energy site:.edu site:.gov

renewable energy site:.edu OR site:.gov

renewable energy -site:wikipedia.org

Answers:

X

Bet you've never seen Google Search bring back zero results before! A web page only has one URL. It can't have two domains.

This is the way to search multiple websites and domains.

The minus sign works with site: to search everything except the listed site or domain.

renewable energy site:.edu site:.gov

renewable energy site:.edu OR site:.gov

renewable energy -site:wikipedia.org

Summary

1. OR expands your search to related topics. 2. The minus sign limits your search by excluding undesirable topics. 3. The site: search focuses your search on a particular website or domain.

Together, these techniques give you the power to control your

Google Search results.

And if you're having trouble finding quality sources for your paper, the librarians at the

Criss Library are here to help.

Call us at: (402) 554-2661

or

Contact us via chat or email webform: http://library.unomaha.edu/askal/index.php

Bibliography Google. (n.d.a). Google [Default search page]. Retrieved

from: http://www.google.com Google. (n.d.b). Advanced search. Retrieved from:

http://www.google.com/advanced_search Google. (2012). Operators and more search help.

Retrieved from: http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?h

l=en&p=adv_operators&answer=136861 Register.com. (n.d.). Top level domain extensions.

Retrieved from: http://www.register.com/customersupport/glossary.rcmx

Zhao, W., & Tse, E. (2011, Fall). Competition in search engine market. Journal of Business Strategies, 28(2), 123-150.

All Google Search screen captures snapped and cropped by Angela Kroeger during June 2012. Venn diagrams and other images, excluding screen captures, created by Angela Kroeger using Inkscape.

Good luck and happy searching!