F. Y. I.
from CanvasToClay.com

Seek and Find

Here are some general guidelines for scouring the Internet for information using a search engine. Keep in mind that each search engine functions differently and may have a separate set of rules.

With one query, Dogpile (http://www.dogpile.com) will provide you with the most popular matches on many search engines including Lycos, Yahoo!, Google, Overture, AltaVista, LookSmart, FindWhat, Sprinks, Ah-Ha, Brain Fox, Kanoodle, DirectHit, RealNames, Dogpile Web Catalog, Bay9, Open Directory and Valley Alley. In addition to searching the Web, Dogpile will also check images, audio, auctions and discussion lists.

If you are looking to match an exact phrase, put it in quotes. "CanvasToClay" will search on the entire sequence of words and should provide accurate matches.

A minus sign (-) will eliminate a word or a term from the search. For example, "running shoes" - Nike will bring up all the matches for running shoes that don't contain that one particular brand. NOT (in upper case) will often accomplish the same result as a minus sign. "Running shoes" NOT Nike.

A plus sign (+) will ask the search engine to bring up documents that contain both terms. New York + Yankees will result in any pages bearing both, which could mean thousands of matches. However, New York + Yankees + baseball will narrow down the relevancy. AND (also in upper case) should bring the same results as a plus sign. New York AND Yankees.

OR (upper case again) will result in matches for either word. This expands the search quite a bit and might not bring back entirely relevant results. Brooklyn OR Bridge will provide more information than you ever wanted on anything that bears the name of the famous borough, as well as a spanning structure, card game, piece of the nose and false teeth.

If you are having trouble identifying what keywords or terms you need to match, try a natural language search engine. With Ask.com (http://www.ask.com/) you can pose a question and Jeeves, your Internet butler, will attempt to answer it.

These guidelines may not be effective for every search engine and directory, but in most cases they will reduce the amount of time spent looking for information. Practice will breed proficiency and you will be amazed at how much knowledge you will gain by implementing a few of these techniques.

Excerpts from "Seek and Find," EC Tips, by Robyn Greenspan