Have you Googled Today? (Part I)
There are millions of sites on the Internet and more being added every day. You can't possibly keep up with all the latest information being posted on the web, so search engines help you find the information you need as quickly as possible.
Google is the world's most powerful search engine. With it, you can locate a wide array of information on the Internet including websites, news, maps, phone numbers and much more.
To use Google, connect to the Internet, open your browser, and type in the address http://www.google.com. The Google home page appears.
The Basic Google Web Search
Google has many different features. Let's look at Web Search, the most commonly used function.
In the middle of the Google home page, there is an empty text box and two buttons: Google Search and I'm Feeling Lucky. There are also links to other tools and information.
Let's search for information on the Israel Museum.
1. Click in the text box, and type Israel Museum
2. Now click the Google Search button.
A page with many listings appears. Google tries to give you the most relevant results at the beginning of the list. The first result for the Israel Museum search is printed below:
What does it mean?
Here's how to decipher a Google result:
* The first line is the title of the web page (example: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem). It is also a link – if you click it, you will be taken to the museum website.
* The next few lines provide a few sentences of text from the site. You will see your keywords highlighted. These sentences should give you some idea of the usefulness of the site to your search.
* The last few lines indicate how Google indexes this result—what category it belongs in, and when it was catalogued. It also provides the website address, and links to similar pages. (Example: Category: Reference > Museums > ... > Art Museums > Middle Eastern www.imj.org.il/ - 11k - Cached - Similar pages)
Did you find what you were looking for?
Sometimes, you will do a search and not find the result you are looking for the first time around. Focus your search by changing your keywords, or adding additional ones.
Here are some basic tips and examples to help you search effectively:
Select Good Keywords
Be as specific as you can. If you are searching for information about a Nikon Coolpix digital camera, enter the words Nikon Coolpix rather than camera or photo.
Keyword Search Rules
Keywords must be precise. Searching for the word music will not return results that have the words musical or musician.
Word order matters: Searching for the New York Mets will produce more results than searching for Mets New York.
AND and OR
If you type in several keywords, Google assumes you want to find web pages containing all those words; in other words, it assumes the word AND between the keywords.
So, if you enter United Nations, Google will search for web pages containing both the word United and the word Nations (but not necessarily together).
If you would prefer to be searching for one word or another, enter OR in capital letters. (that is, type United OR Nations). Google will search for web pages containing either the word United or the word Nations, but not both.
Searching for an Exact Phrase
Putting quotation marks around keywords will allow you to search for an exact phrase. If you enter ”United Nations” Google will only search for web pages containing the entire phrase United Nations. If you want to search for someone's name, always use quotation marks so Google will not look for the first and family names separately, but only as a phrase (example, “Golda Meir” not Golda Meir).
Plus and minus
Use the plus and minus signs to include or exclude words. If you search for information about a ‘piano' and do not want any references to the movie The Piano, write the following in the text box: piano –movie . Google will search for the word ‘piano' but not list any sites that contain the word ‘movie'. If, alternatively, you type piano +movie , the result will focus on websites that include both words, and you will probably be directed to reviews of the film.
This is just a taste of what you can do on Google. In future columns, we'll look a little deeper. Shana tova and happy Google-ing!