Searching Strategies

Everyone has her own strategies for better searching, so it's always a good idea to ask others for their ideas. But here are a few hints that should help you with Google searches:

• Be specific The Web is an enormous place, containing literally billions of pages. Almost any search you do brings back far too much information. So make sure that your search is as specific as possible. If you're looking for a history of the making of the album Blonde on Blonde, by Bob Dylan, don't just search for "Blonde on Blonde". Try history "Blonde on Blonde" and you get better results.

• Be brief More is not always better when it comes to searching. Be as precise as possible with the terms you search for, and you get the best possible results. A short, precise search is much more effective than a rambling, imprecise one.

• Vary the order of search terms When you do a search, Google looks not only at the search terms themselves, but at the order in which you type them. It applies more weight to the first terms than to the later terms. So use more important terms first. It's also worth trying to do a search with the same search terms, but with the order varied; that often returns the results you want.