In this section I will talk about Google, since it has the largest database on record.
Google does have limitations but knowing them can help you get the results you desire.
Google has a search limit of 10 query words.
This has now been upgraded to 32 word limit.
Google up to 520 Kb per page
(this size changes ongoing)
stop words
Keywords and phrases not included in quotes for example:
"search the term" will include the stop word the in your search.
If you typed the phrase search the term with out quotes the results will increase to the millions.
This stopwords list is how Google does such a good with searches by excluding stopwords, words that are ignored if you search for them in combination with another word.
Here is a short list:
I a about an are as at be by com de en for from how in is it la of on or that the this to was what when where who will with und www
(this list does change on a regular basis)
Google searches are NOT case sensitive. All letters, regardless of how you type them, will be understood as lower case. For example, searches for
george washington
George Washington
gEoRgE wAsHiNgToN
will all return the same results.
By default, Google only returns pages that include all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms.
To restrict a search further, just include more direct terms.
For example,
to learn tips about winxp, simply type:
learn winxp tips.
Just remember that in your website promotion that learn winxp tips, winxp learn tips, tips winxp learn will give different page results.
So you must guess what order the person will type the keywords.
Google now uses stemming technology. Thus, when appropriate, it will search not only for your search terms, but also for words that are similar to some or all of those terms. If you search for pet lemur dietary needs, Google will also search for pet lemur diet needs, and other related variations of your terms. Any variants of your terms that were searched for will be highlighted in the snippet of text accompanying each result.
Let us first look at google web search operators:
Find synonyms by preceding the term with a ~, which is known as the tilde or synonym operator.
The tilde (~)
operator takes the word immediately following it and searches both for that specific word and for the word's synonyms. It also searches for the term with alternative endings. The tilde operator works best when applied to general terms and terms with many synonyms. As with the + and - operators, put the ~ (tilde) next to the word, with no spaces between the ~ and its associated word, i.e.,
[ ~lightweight laptop ] not [ ~ lightweight laptop ].
Why did Google use tilde
In math, the "~" symbol means "is similar to". The tilde tells Google to search for pages that are synonyms or similar to the term that follows.
[ ~inexpensive ] matches "inexpensive," "cheap," "affordable," and "low cost"
[ ~run ] matches "run," "runner's," "running," as well as "marathon"
Using OR with Google
To find pages that include either of two search terms, add an uppercase OR between the terms.
For example, here's how to search for a vacation in either London or Paris:
vacation london OR paris
So here is a breakdown of what I have been talking about:
vacation hawaii: the words vacation and Hawaii .
Maui OR Hawaii: either the word Maui or the word Hawaii
"To each his own": the exact phrase to each his own
virus −computer the word virus but NOT the word computer
Star Wars Episode +I This movie title, including the roman numeral I
~auto loan loan info for both the word auto and its synonyms: truck, car, etc. define:computer definitions of the word computer from around the Web.
red * blue the words red and blue separated by one or more words.
Alternative Query Types
cache:
Display Google's cached version of a web page.
cache:www.irs.gov
(Show Google's cached version of the US Internal Revenue Service home page.)
info:
(or id:)
Find info about a page.
info:www.theonion.com
(Find information about The Onion website.)
related:
List web pages that are similar or related to the URL.
related:www.healthfinder.gov
(Find websites related to the Healthfinder website.)
Restrict Search to Sites where Query Words Appear
allinanchor:
All query words must appear in anchor text of links to the page.
allinanchor:useful parenting sites
(Search for pages that are called useful parenting sites by others.)
inanchor:
Terms must appear in anchor text of links to the page.
restaurants Portland inanchor:kid-friendly
(Search for pages on Portland restaurants for which links to the page say they are "kid friendly.")
allintext:
All query words must appear the in text of the page.
allintext:ingredients cilantro chicken lime
(Search for recipes with these three ingredients.)
intext:
The terms must appear in
the text of the page.
Dan Shugar intext:Powerlight
(Find pages mentioning Dan Shugar where his company, Powerlight, is included in the text of the page, i.e., less likely to be from the corporate website.)
allintitle:
All query words must appear in the title of the page.
allintitle: Google Advanced Operators
(Search for pages with titles containing "Google," "Advanced,", and "Operators".)
intitle:
The terms must appear in the title of the page.
movies comedy intitle:top ten
(Search for pages with the words movie and comedy that include top ten in the title of the page.)
allinurl:
All query words must appear in the URL.
allinurl:pez faq
(Search for pages containing the words pez & faq in the URL.)
inurl:
The terms must appear in the URL of the page.
pharmaceutical inurl:investor
(Search for pages in which the URL contains the word investor.)
Restrict Search to Google Groups
author:
Find Groups messages from the specified author.
flying author:Hamish author:Reid
(Search for Hamish Reid's articles on flying.)
group:
Find Groups messages from the specified newsgroup.
ivan doig group:rec.arts.books
(Search for postings about Ivan Doig in the group rec.arts.books.)
insubject:
Find Groups messages containing crazy quilts in the subject.
insubject:"crazy quilts"
(Find articles containing crazy quilts in the subject line.)
Restrict Search to Google News
location:
Find News articles from sources located in the specified location.
queen location:uk
(Find British news articles on the Queen.)
source:
Find News articles from specified sources.
peace source:ha_aretz
(Show articles on peace from the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.)
Alternate query types
cache:
If you include other words in the query, Google will highlight those words within the cached document. For instance, [cache:www.google.com web] will show the cached content with the word "web" highlighted.
This functionality is also accessible by clicking on the "Cached" link on Google's main results page.
The query [cache:] will show the version of the web page that Google has in its cache. For instance, [cache:www.google.com] will show Google's cache of the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the "cache:" and the web page url.
link:
The query [link:] will list webpages that have links to the specified webpage. For instance, [link:www.google.com] will list webpages that have links pointing to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the "link:" and the web page url.
This functionality is also accessible from the Advanced Search page, under Page Specific Search > Links.
related:
The query [related:] will list web pages that are "similar" to a specified web page. For instance, [related:www.google.com] will list web pages that are similar to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the "related:" and the web page url.
This functionality is also accessible by clicking on the "Similar Pages" link on Google's main results page, and from the Advanced Search page, under Page Specific Search Similar.
info:
The query [info:] will present some information that Google has about that web page. For instance, [info:www.google.com] will show information about the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the "info:" and the web page url.
This functionality is also accessible by typing the web page url directly into a Google search box.
Other tweaks you can try for keywords are by using the daterange:
daterange:
Search for documents indexed by Google in a particular date
range. You can use a date converter service to create the
"Julian date" numbers
(for example http://www.numerical-recipes.com/julian.html).
http://www.geocities.com/googlepubsupgenfaq/#searchoperators
For example find documents that contain the words Google FAQ and are indexed by Google on January 1, 2005 or June 16, 2005 or between those
dates:
Google FAQ daterange:2453385-2453551
To learn how these advanced search results can help you in your website promotion
Excerpts on this site taken from:
Nancy Blachman www.googleguide.com.
www.google.com/help/basics.html
www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html
