How to Make Your Web Searches More Productive

How good are you at finding what you want on Google or other search engines? Are your web searches productive? If you want to know how to get the most out of your web searches then why not consider some of the ideas below.

1. Start Out as Specific as Possible

When starting your web search try to be as specific as possible. Use "quotes" to indicate phrases you want together, plus signs for information you want to include and use other qualifiers that you think may get you what you are looking for. If you don't find anything then you can take out some of your qualifiers until you do find some information but start out as specific as possible.

2. Make Use of the Advanced Search Features

Instead of just using the normal search page on Google, try using the advanced search feature to further define the results you are getting. Google has thousands of pages indexed so it is usually better to use the advanced search option to narrow down your results where possible.

3. Use Advanced Operators

Do you know all the operators for defining your search results? Have you used inurl:, related:, define:, etc. For a more comprehensive list of Google's advanced operators and what each one does you can visit http://www.google.com/help/operators.html. Learning to use these will help to get you exactly the information you are looking for.

4. Use Specialized Search Engines Where Appropriate

If you are looking for blog posts, journal articles, or RSS feeds then you would do best to use a specialized search engine. If you use Google then under the "More" option on the search page you will find a number of more specialized search engines that fall under Google such as the "Blog Search", "Images", "News Search", and "Scholar".

By learning how to use advanced operators and making your search as specific as possible with the advanced search option, you can find what you are looking for a lot quicker and so make your web searches more productive. If you are looking for a particular type of information then you may also get more success using a specialized search engine such as "Blog Search".