| We discussed lots of
tips and tricks in last 11 articles in this series. It's time to
look at traps or common mistakes in searching. These are mistakes,
blunders and gaffes that happen very often.
Barking Up The Wrong Tree
Perhaps the biggest mistake that we often commit unwittingly
is to search in wrong places. Yahoo! Google et al are great search
tools and usually capable of answering 80% search queries. However,
there are about 20% odd queries that can not be answered satisfactorily
using general purpose search engines. You need a special tool -
specialized search engine. We have already discussed enough on specialized
search engines including resources in the Net in past issues - so
no more discussion is required. However, we need to be aware about
them and be prompt to find and use them in 20% odd queries that
need special attention.
Beating Around The Bush
Perhaps the next most common mistake is selection of
right keyword. More often, our search keywords are very broad -
almost vague. If you always get lots of unwanted junk in your search
result with very few relevant pages - its time to look very closely
at your search keywords and of course how you search.
The need of the hour is to be specific - very very
specific. If you are not satisfied with search result and feel you
are missing relevant pages - then and only then gradually broaden
the search.
A Rose is a rose is a ROSE...
Unfortunately, for some search engines - a ROSE is
not a rose, neither Rose. Some of us have the habit of using all
capital letters - some people do not like them in e-mails and some
search engines treat them specially.
You should be aware of the fact that some engines are
case sensitive while others are not. The former differentiates between
rose and ROSE and Rose. So, if you search for 'BUYER' in such a
search engine - only pages with word 'BUYER' be retrieved leaving
pages with words 'buyer' or 'Buyer'
As a rule of thumb, it's a good idea to always use
lower case letters when you search. This typically returns results
that contain both upper and lower case letters. This is usually
a good thing for proper nouns like names or places, which use initial
upper case letters anyway. But it might cause you to miss other
documents where case-sensitivity is less important.
Closer Look at Origin
Search engines by default search for word(s) in whole
page unless instructed otherwise. Using a facility called 'Field
Searching', you can ask it to look for the word(s) only at specific
sections of a HTML page. Field searching usually results in cutting
down junk.
For example, you can ask search engines to search for
words only in Title section. Title searching is a valuable tool
in the searcher's arsenal for getting closer to a subject search
on the Web. It can be a great way to narrow results and can often
give a search more of a subject focus.
Most search engines support field searching. Usually
the facility is available via command line and form.
These are some of the more common mistakes. Watch out
for more around you and share with us your experience/views.
Related Links:
Source: FAIDA
- Newsletter on Business Opportunties from India and Abroad
Vol: 3, Issue 19
August 29' 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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