Making the Most of the Internet

6. Using Search Engines

Search engines are the main way people find information online.

The number of results for any query can be daunting. Luckily, there are some ways to home in and find the information you need.

6.1 There are some basic search operators which can produce a more specific set of results.

• Search operators tell the search engine to narrow or broaden the search.
• For instance, if you enter a search term in quotes (''), most search engines will only return pages which contain that exact term.
• Putting a plus sign (+) in front of a word usually tells the search engine that all results must contain that word. Similarly, a minus sign (-) means pages containing that term will be excluded.
• Each search engine will list its search operators in the help section.

6.2 Use the advanced search.

• Most search engines offer an 'advanced search' page. These will allow you to narrow your results further. For instance, you can search only a specific websites, or websites located in a particular country.