10 Do’s and Don’ts while searching for using search engines
Do’s
1.Use apt keywords: The use of apt keywords makes the results more specific and abundant with relevant information. For example, when searching for a food festival in a particular region, use keywords like, food festival, Coimbatore, November etc.
2.Use ‘+’ sign while searching for multiple keywords: When searching for data involving multiple keywords, separate the keywords with a “+” sign instead of “and”, so that equal emphasis is given to each keyword.
3.Use quotes to search for exact phrases on the net: The search engines usually search for pages which contain the keywords, regardless of the order of appearance in the page. For a specific search, enclose the phrase in quotes. For instance, “dreams of a millionaire”.
4.Use specific portals for better results. Specific portals cater better results. When searching for “Ford Mustang”, scholar portals will deliver articles, image portals will display images and wallpapers, business portals will show commercial pages.
5.Practice cross-referencing. To be sure of authenticity of results, check the reviews for the same. For example, when using the results for a particular book, consumer product etc., look up for blogs and reviews for the product.
Don’ts
1. Don’t rely much on sponsored links Sponsored links are not usually accurate. They are given prominence only because they have paid money to the engine, so that their page would be shown prominently.
2. Don’t use form words Avoid using form words such as “has, and, of, are” etc. Try using more of content words for obtaining better search results.
3. Check for authenticity of source A good and reputed portal, such as Britannica, Merriam-Webster etc. is bound to be genuine. Portals like Wikipedia provides user generated results, which cannot be reliable at all times.
4. Don’t stop at the first page of results The search engines provide only the most frequently visited and updated pages on the first page of results. There might be other pages which contain quality material.
5. Don’t use just one search engine. There are others as well! Don’t depend on just one search engine, Google for instance. Other search engines might show pages that haven’t been covered in your previous engine. Use Ask Jeeves, Altavista, MSN search etc. as well.
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