Search Engine Tips from Search Engine Watch*

To improve your search engine results, learn a little "search engine math." Search Engine Watch provides some simple tips to target exactly what you are looking for.

1) Be Specific. The more specific your search is, the greater the chances of finding what you want. If you want information on Macintosh x bugs, search for Macintosh x bugs. Or, use an exact phrase, such as I can’t install a USB device for Macintosh imac x.

2) Use the "+" sign to let the search engine know to find pages that have all the words you enter, not just some of them. For example, imagine you want to find pages that have references to both President Clinton and Kenneth Starr on the same page. You could search this way: +clinton +starr. Only pages that contain both words would appear in your results. The + symbol is especially helpful when you do a search and then find yourself overwhelmed with information.

3) Use the "-" sign to subtract. Sometimes, you want a search engine to find pages that have one word on them but not another word. The minus sign lets you do this. For example, if you want information about President Clinton but do not want to be overwhelmed by pages relating to the Monica Lewinsky scandal, you could search this way: clinton -lewinsky. That instructs the search engine to find pages that mention "clinton" and then to remove any of them that also mention "lewinsky."

4) Use quotation marks to multiply terms. As in normal math, multiplying terms through a "phrase search" can be a much better way to get the answers you are looking for. This tells a search engine to give you pages where the terms appear in exactly the order you specify. For example, "Yellowstone Camping Reservations". Now, only pages that have all the words and in the exact order shown above will be listed. The answers should be much more on target than with simple addition.

Once you have mastered the adding, subtracting and multiplying, you can combine symbols to create targeted searches. To learn more about this, visit Search Engine Watch .

*Submitted by Henry Barbey, Business Coach

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