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This week, we discuss more tips that can get you amazingly
better search result.
Remove Unwanted pages using - symbol
We discussed forced search using + symbol last week.
The + symbol preceding a search word forces search engine to look
for only those pages that have that search word. (e.g. +garments
+buyer)
You can use the - symbol to do the exact opposite -
filter out unwanted pages. A - symbol preceding a search word forces
the search engine TO REMOVE all pages having that particular search
word.
For example, if you are looking for buyers but not
agents, the search expression may be as follows:
+buyer -agent
The - symbol is very helpful in weeding out unwanted
pages from search result and focus on interest area only.
Some more examples of - symbol
SAARC -India (all countries in South Asia except India)
windows +98 -3.1 (looking for pages on Windows 98 only)
garments -fabrics (focussing on garments only)
Join Multiple Words using Quotation Marks
Well, after learning how to add and subtract terms,
the next logical step should be multiplication !
As in mathematics, multiplying terms through a "phrase
search" can be a much better way to get the answers you are looking
for.
When you are looking for a concept made up of more
than one word or a phrase - searching for the phrase provides much
more focussed result than sum total of individual words.
For example, if you are looking for Buying Agents,
you may search by any of the following ways:
1. +buying +agent
2. +'buying agent'
The search result will be vastly different for phrase
search. We actually searched two top Search engines and see the
difference in result below:
Search Expression: +buying +agent
AltaVista : 4,076,558 pages
Google : 8,06,000 pages
Search Expression: 'buying agent'
(exact phrase in advanced search)
AltaVista : 4613 pages
Google : 18000 pages
So if you know exactly what you want - use phrase search.
There is no better alternative.
Related Links:
Source: FAIDA
- Newsletter on Business Opportunties from India and Abroad
Vol: 3, Issue 15
August 1' 2002
Author :
Dr. Amit K. Chatterjee
(Amit worked in blue-chip Indian and MNCs for 15 years in various
capacities like Research and Information Analysis, Market Development,
MIS, R&D Information Systems etc. before starting his e-commerce
venture in 1997. The views expressed in this columns are of
his own. He may be reached at amit@infobanc.com
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