Web Search Internet Search tools techniques www sbu

Web Search Internet Search tools & techniques www. sbu. ac. uk/~farinhdf/project

Web Search The Web • 320 Million pages? (April 1998) • Size doubles every 4 months? • No indexing control standard • e. g. ISBN • 40% (? ) is not indexed at all! • Needle in a hay stack sounds easy now. . .

Web Search The Tools • Search Engines • Alta. Vista • Excite • Hot. Bot • Directories • Yahoo • Look. Smart • Magellan • Meta-Search Engines • Meta. Crawler • Dog. Pile • Inference Find • Client-Side Applications • Autonomy’s Agent. Ware • Blue Squirrel’s Web. Seeker • Neuron’s i. Seeker : -)

Web Search What People Search For search. UK: Meta. Crawler: http: //www. searchuk. com/spy/ http: //www. metaspy. com/

Web Search Strategies • Guess the URL • www. nasa. org • www. cnn. com • www. bbc. co. uk • Choose the right tool • Broad Topic: • Common Search: • Exhaustive Search: • Local Search: Yahoo Ask Jeeves! Meta. Crawler search. UK • ‘Use’ the right tool • Boolean Logic • Field Searching • Other tool-specific features • Other Sources • Ask a friend • Pay someone to do it

Web Search Boolean Logic OR AND A OR B A AND B A OR B OR C A AND B AND C NOT A NOT B

Web Search Field Searching • Title title: ”Joe’s Home Page” • URL • Domain • Host • URL domain: uk host: microsoft. com url: www. sbu. ac. uk/~farinhdf/ • Anchor anchor: download • Applet applet: class • Image image: myphoto • Link link: www. sbu. ac. uk

Web Search Expert Tips • DOs • Use + and - symbols (boolean) • Browse directories • Start specific, not general (choice of tool) • Use more than one tool • DON’Ts • Search too broadly • ‘Default’ to single tool. Think & choose

Web Search Dan’s Tips • Imagine the ‘perfect’ hit • Try ‘completing the sentence’ • e. g. +”Karl Marx was born in” • Use the ‘magic’ word: links • e. g. +dolphins +links • Ignore other ‘communities’ • e. g. +dolphins +links -miami • Interpret results and refine your search • use synonyms/related words found in good hits