9. Internet Search Techniques

Internet Search Techniques

Search techniques are the methods you use to search catalogs, article databases, and web search engines to find information. The use of the Boolean operators AND and OR between keywords to create a search statement is an example of a search technique.

Web Search Basics
At the end of 2001, the web contained over 2 billion pages and Google searched 500.000 pages. In Jan of 2005 Google searched more than 8 billion pages. Even more impressive is the fact that it can be relatively quick and easy to find information on those pages.

Note: many search engines may contain multiple methods e.g. Yahoo at one time used Google’s search engine for some of its searches.
Types of search engines

  • Keyword or robot based (builds a database)
  • Directory based (categories indexed by people rather than a computer)
  • Meta indexes (can combine searches or allow you to search a variety of engines individually)
  • Specialized search engines