The Four NETS for Better Web Searching

The perfect web page is out there somewhere waiting for you to catch it. It's the website that has just the information you're looking for.  But it is like finding a fish in the middle of a very LARGE sea!

 

 We need a big net to catch our fish!

Most people use a search engine by typing a few words into the query box and then looking at whatever comes up. Sometimes we choose words that make our search too

narrow, and we cannot find any "fish". Sometimes our search is too wide, and there are too many fish to look at! You can do better than that, and that's what this page is about.

The best search engine out there right now is probably Google, so we will use Google as our engine for this exercise. The first step in becoming a good fisherman of web pages is to master Google's Advanced Search.

If you learn to use the four steps you see below, you'll be a much better fisherman than 90% of all web-users. It's just four things, and each will give you a better net for information catching.

 

 

Net 1: Start Narrow

The biggest problem people have with search engines (maybe) is that they're so good! You can type in a word and in less than one second you'll have 20,000,000 pages to look at. Most of those pages will not be exactly what you want, and you have to spend a very VERY VERY long time looking at the 1,999,993 that aren't what you need.

If you know what you want, why not start with some precise information?

Think of all the words that would always appear on the perfect page. Put those in the WITH ALL THE WORDS field. (that's  the same as query box on the Google homepage)

Think of all the distracting pages that might also show up because one or more of your search words has more than one meaning. What words can you think of that might help you eliminate those pages? Put those in the WITHOUT field.

Try each of the searches now, and record how many sites you find.

 

  

 

 

Query
# Matches
Imagine that you want to find information on fine china. (No, not the country! china is also the name for a kind of porcelain) Try this search...

WITH ALL: china fine porcelain
WITHOUT: Asia country chinese

Write the number of hits you get below.
Here's how to search for it badly:

WITH ALL: china

  
Imagine you want to find out if there is anyone in the world who really has the name Harry Potter.

WITH ALL:
WITH EXACT PHRASE: Mr. Harry Potter
WITHOUT: fiction movie book books reviews Rowling magic adventure character		  
Here's how to search for  badly:

WITH ALL: Harry Potter
 
 

 
 

 

Net 2: Find Exact Phrases

If you type a few words into the EXACT PHRASE field in Google, you'll be able to locate pages in which those words appear together in that order. This is very useful if you want to find things with a proper name consisting of several words (e.g., places, book names, movies,  people).

It's also useful when you can remember exact words in something you've read or heard, but now need to locate it. For example, you know a famous line in English that begins with "To be or not to be..." but you don't know where it comes from. Or maybe you want to know the words for a Britney Spears song, but you don't know the name of the song. (But  you know that in the song there are the words: "I'm not that innocent" )

STUDENTS BEWARE !

Copying from the internet and saying it is your work is not a smart idea Your teacher just has to type a few words in the EXACT PHRASE field to check if you are  plagiarizing...

  

 

 

Query
# Matches
 

EXACT PHRASE: To be or not to be

Write the number of hits you get below.
Here's how to search for it badly:

WITH ALL: To be or not to be

  
Here are some more searches to try:

EXACT PHRASE: I'm not that innocent
 
EXACT PHRASE:  
EXACT PHRASE:
 
EXACT PHRASE:  
 

 

 
   

 

 

Net 3: Trim Back the URL

The next net is not only for Google, but you will use it when you get better at "Googling".

Often you'll find a great page deep down inside a folder inside a folder inside a folder. You think that there may be other pages you want to see at this website. How do you find them? Trim the URL step by step.

Sometimes you'll get a notice saying FORBIDDEN! Sometimes you'll get a list of files and directories. Sometimes you'll get an web page with more links. Each step back tells you more about where the page came from.

 

 
You found an interesting vocabulary game and you want to see if there are others on the same website:

Start here:

http://www.manythings.org/lulu/v5.html

Now trim away the last part:

http://www.manythings.org/lulu/

What do you see? Trim it again:

http://www.manythings.org

 
 
 

 

 

Net 4: Look for Similar Pages

Once you've found something you like on Google, it's very easy (and useful) to find similar pages. How? Below the advanced search that you've been using up until now are another two fields. These allow you to find pages that Google "thinks" to be similar to or linked to any URL you type in.

How does Google know that two pages are similar? It's a secret! All that matters is that it works very well, especially when you're not sure what key words to look for.

Use this tool to find more of a good thing. Use it to find pages that are linked to a page that you find useful. Chances are, those pages might be useful to you, too.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Query
# Matches

You found a website (www.imdb.com/) that has information on movies and actors. You want to find other websites which might have more information about movies.

SIMILAR TO: www.imdb.com/

 

Write the number of hits you get below.
 

 
 

 

So, to recap... remembering the word NETS will help you to remember the four techniques you just experimented with:

Start
 Narrow
Use
 Exact Phrases
 
 Trim the URL
Seek
 Similar Pages

 

If you can keep these four phrases in mind, you'll be a much better searcher than you were a few minutes ago!

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