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Searching the web – road map or black hole?
For a business, the world wide web can be a God-send. From staying up on the latest business news, to researching what your competition is up to, to seeking out advice, your web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) can be one of your most powerful tools.
Unfortunately, it can also be a source of great frustration or a waste of time. Let's talk about a couple of simple things you can do to make the most of this resource.
Finding your way
First of all, just how do you find your way around the web? There are two methods: type a specific web address in the web browser's "Address line," or ask a Search Engine website to perform a search.
Too often, however, users unknowingly do the wrong thing. They type a search phrase in the Address line, or, conversely, type a web address into a Search Engine site. Granted, you'll still get results either way, just not the best results.
The direct route - the address
Suppose you already know the address of a website you need. Perhaps you saw a newspaper ad for a website that caught your interest, or you need to look at a website listed on somebody's business card.
This is the scenario where you want to use the web browser's Address line. It's near the top of your web browser, and as you surf the web, you'll notice that the address changes as you go from page to page. For example, you'll see addresses like "http://www.sba.gov " or "http:// www.sba.gov/managing" automatically displayed in the Address line.
Using the Address line takes you directly to a website page. No searching, no detours or "wrong turns" (assuming the web address is correct or hasn't changed).
Tip: You don't have to type the "http://" part of the address. Most web browsers will automatically add it for you.
Searching for addresses
Conversely, other users are in the habit of typing exact web addresses into a Search Engine website instead of using the Address Line. This works somewhat too, not because the Search Engine knew to go directly to the web address, but because the search it performs on its database will (usually) find that the web address has been listed there.
However, you can get confusing results by doing this, because if other websites link to the site you're looking for, you'll often find pages that just refer to the page you're after, instead of the page itself.
Search Engines - a special kind of website
So what if you DON'T already know the exact web address? That's where Search Engine sites enter the picture. It's also where you might feel that you're looking for a needle in a haystack.
First of all, realize that "Search engines," like Yahoo.com and Google.com, are really just specialized websites that maintain a huge database of other websites. It's easy to think of them as part of your web browser, but they aren't. They're just websites.
A Search Engine site's database lists the addresses of millions of other websites that they've analyzed and categorized. When you go to the Search Engine site and type a search phrase in that site's Search line (remember, we're talking about the Search Engine site's Search line, NOT the web browser's Address line), it searches for that phrase in its database. Then, it returns the list of websites it thinks best matches your search.
Getting the most from a Search Engine
How do you avoid that "needle in a haystack" feeling when using a Search Engine site? For one thing, use a good Search Engine.
Right now, the top Search Engines are Google.com, MSN.com, and Yahoo.com. Of these three, Google is the "800 lb. gorilla." MSN and Yahoo have a lot of non-search-related information on their sites that you'll have to ignore when you're interested in searching that Google doesn't. Also, Google consistently gets the best reviews for how well it analyzes websites and matches them with your search requests.
Once you've picked a Search Engine to use, get familiar with it. They all have a "Tips" or "Help" section on how to best use them. Take a quick look at this, and maybe even print it out so that the next time you're frustrated with a search, it'll be at your fingertips to help.
Also, they all have an "Advanced" search section. Don't let the name "advanced" scare you off. Even though the advanced section offers more choices (which, as we all know, is NOT always a good thing), those sections are organized to make it easier to search. So what can you do with Advanced search? Here are a couple of examples (using Google's Advanced Search).
Who's linking to my site?
Suppose I wanted to know who's linking to my site. I could use this "advanced" search:
This will return the list of all sites that Google knows about that link to my site.
Who's talking about me?
What if I want to know about any sites that even mention my company's name, regardless of whether they actually link to my site or not. I could just perform a regular search for my company's name, but the overwhelming number of search results will come from my site. That means that I'd have to wade through the list of all of my site's pages, looking for other sites' pages.
Or, to remove my website from
this search, I could just do this:
ZolMedia -site:www.ZolMedia.com.
Now I'll only see OTHER sites that mention my company.
Keeping it straight
So remember, if you have a specific web address to go to, type that address directly in the web browser's Address Line.
If you don't have an exact address, and need to search on a phrase, use a Search Engine website. And then if you still don't find what you're looking for, check out the Search Engine's Help and Advanced Search pages. You'll get much better and more helpful results!