Searching the Web

Try Lots of Engines:  Most of us know of the "big" search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN.  These companies have spent millions of dollars creating the most efficient resources for searching the internet.  They are the most widely used and can be the best way to find information.  What most of us don't realize is that there are literally hundreds of Search Engines to choose from.  Most of the "smaller" engines are created by some computer genius sitting in his living room on a computer.  They can be extremely efficient and often use techniques that are much better than the more common engines.  If nothing else, the end results are "different" and thus tend to give you a unique outlook into what you are seeking.  Some of our favorites are:  Mamma, DogPile, and IxQuick.  Flagstaff Central has compiled a bunch of search engines for you to try on our site.  Click here to Search the Web.

Foreign Engines:  We in America tend to think our way is the best, but it's not always the case.  Don't be afraid to look at Foreign Search Engines to find information.  Often they have a very different way of displaying information and their rules for getting listed may be less restrictive (so even the small guys get better coverage).  We find that some of these engines also have "English Translations" so that you don't have to know how to read other languages.  Click here to view Search Engines from Around the World.

Define Your Search:  Most of us use our gut reaction to define what we are searching for.  We type in the first words we think of and hope that we find the information we are seeking.  What we don't realize is that the search engines are "literal" to the words we use.  Often it's a simple matter of redefining the terms to actually get the right information.  The more vague you are the more broad based the results will be.  While the more defined you are the better and more defined the results.  A good example is that if you put in "Flagstaff" you will get all sorts of general information about Flagstaff, perhaps even little sites that come up that have nothing to do with what you are seeking and simply had the word Flagstaff on their site somewhere.  On the other hand, if you put in "Flagstaff Pet Adoptions" you will get information about the places that adopt pets in Flagstaff.  The more clearly you request the information, the more chances you will find the right places on the net.

Tricks of the Trade:  Often when you do a search you will put in a whole string of words to see what comes out.  Often these words are all looked for individually and very often they just happen to end up on the same page of a website, but really have nothing to do with what you are searching for.  To combat this there are some "symbols" you can use to help define a search.  The first one we recommend is using "quotes" around a phrase that you wish to find.  Without the quotes the engines look for the words separately on the page, put with the quotes it will target the exact words as a unit.  Another trick is using the "+" symbol between words or phrases to have it look up one phrase plus another phrase, or writing in "OR" between phrases to say search this word "or" that one.  Each of these symbols will get you a different set of results and may define your search better.  All of the search engines use a different set of symbols for these things, so we recommend you actually look at the "help" screens to see what they use.

Advanced Search:  Most of the search engines have an "advanced search" button right under or near the main search box.  If you click on this you will see that they provide ways of breaking down your search.  They give you dropdown menus that ask you questions like choose a range of time or only search the titles of websites not the actual information on a page.  These can be very helpful to breaking down the information very cleanly.

Preferences:  Most of the big search engines allow you to set "preferences" on how you want your searches to be performed.  Once set, the engine "remembers you" and displays the results the way you want it.  So, if you want to have the top 50 listed on a page instead of only the top 10, you can tell it to do this.  This makes future searching easier and easier for you.