1. Play Favorites If you choose
two or three search sites to use most often, familiarize yourself with
their advanced search rules. The more you use them, the better your
results.
2. Specify What You Want When
you're researching a product, for example, use a query that helps the
search site know what you want. Try entering "Sony Mavica reviews" instead
of just "Sony Mavica." The words "compare" and "buy" help, too.
3. Quote Me Putting quotation
marks around a search phrase often works magic. For example, if you
include quotation marks when you search for the historian "Studs Terkel,"
you will avoid getting listings for cufflinks or building materials.
4. Be a Task Master You can
often locate what you want by entering a task into the search field. Try
typing in "update my social security" or "File my taxes," say.
5. Brush Up on Boolean Try the
Boolean command AND first, to see links with all search terms, as in
Intel AND memory.
6. Make a Date If you want
links that relate to a particular time, include the date or year in
quotation marks. Example: "Olympics and 2002."
7. Learn Your Lingo If you're
searching for specialized material, make a note of the specific phrases
that others use in the field. For example, a fundraiser who often
researches potential donors' biographies tells us that the quickest search
is often "John Smith" combined with "honorary degree."
8. Think Before You Click Avoid
wasting time on irrelevant sites and pages. Scan the search results blurb
for the context in which your terms were used, the URL, the identity of
the publisher, and the date (if available).
9. Ask the Expert Web Savvy
columnist Brad Grimes says that you can often save time by going to an
expert. Got a question about wine? Head to
Wine Spectator,
for example, instead of going to Google or Yahoo.
10. Quit It, Already It's
important to know when to stop Web searching, says pundit Danny Sullivan.
Depending on your query, sometimes it might be faster to pick up the phone.
