A video of a cat purring, a 2Pac song combined with the opening theme to Thomas & Friends, a list of unique college majors, or the number of letters in the longest word in Spanish-you can look up anything on the internet as long as you know how! This wikiHow teaches you how to search the web using the most popular search engines, as well as align entries or questions to get the most relevant search results.
Step
Part 1 of 2: Starting a Search on the Web
Step 1. Visit a search engine
A search engine is a website that collects and manages information on the internet, and makes it available to users looking for information. This site uses algorithms to show you the most relevant search results based on your trends, location and sometimes web activity. Most search engines have their own mobile apps that make it easy for you to search on your phone or tablet. Visit some of the most popular search engines below:
- Google is the most popular search engine in the world. Because of its popularity, the word "Googling" is often used instead of the phrase "search the internet". Google also has a photo and video search feature that makes it easy for you to search for various types of media.
- Bing is Microsoft's rival to Google, and is the second most popular search engine. Some Google functions such as photo and video search are also available on Bing.
- Yahoo was once the largest search engine in the world. Now, Yahoo is powered by Bing and offers similar search results.
- DuckDuckGo is a search engine that focuses on privacy and does not collect or store personal information. In fact, due to its focus on privacy, DuckDuckGo will not store or look up your location or IP address.
- Startpage.com is another search engine that focuses on privacy, but uses the Google search engine in the background, and not the program itself. The advantage of this site is that you can get quality search results from Google without having to sacrifice personal data.
- Swisscows is another search engine that focuses on privacy, but uses its own software that returns relevant results based on semantics.
- Yandex is one of the most popular search engines in Russia, but its English version has caught the attention of many users from other countries, including the United States.
Step 2. Type what you want to search for in the search box
You can see a search box at the top of the page of most search engines. Type in a single word, sentence, phrase, multiple numbers, or whatever entry you want.
- If you want to search for a phrase from several words, enclose the phrase in quotation marks so that search engines select results according to the combination of words you type. For example, "natural perfumers", "Carrefour baby soap".
- Sometimes, it's a good idea to phrase search entries as questions like What's Via Vallen's real name?, What's the last book of Dee Lestari?, or Are there any halal restaurants in Seoul? (for some search engines, you can type entries in Indonesian or English).
Step 3. Press Enter. key or Return to run the search.
The search results will be displayed in a list. If you are using a smartphone or tablet, you may need to touch the “ Search " or " Go " If you're using a KaiOS-based phone, press the center button to run a search.
Step 4. Click or touch a search result to review it
If you find a website that looks the way you want, click or tap the link to open it in your browser. To return to the search results, click or touch the back button (“Back”) in your browser.
- The search results displayed will vary depending on what you are looking for. For example, if you search for the word " weather " on Google or Bing, you can see a weather forecast chart with local weather conditions at the top of the search results. If you scroll through the screen, you may be able to see news articles about the weather, as well as links to popular weather websites. If you're looking for an address or location, you'll usually be able to see a map and/or information about the business or landmark you're looking for.
- If you scroll through the first page to the end of the page and don't find the option you want, click or tap the page number or link “ Next ” at the bottom of the page to see the next set of search results.
- The best results are usually shown on the first page, but sometimes you need to dig deep to find the right results.
Part 2 of 2: Aligning Search Results
Step 1. Change the search entry phrase to get better results
If you do not find the correct information, you may need to use a different word in the entry. In addition, there is a possibility that the entry you type is too specific or too broad.
For example, if you are typing the phrase most popular search engines and want to get information specifically for Canada, use the phrase most popular search engines in Canada or the most popular search engines in Canada 2020
Step 2. Filter results by date
Most search engines have some handy (but often overlooked) features at the top of the search results page. This feature includes the serving of search results from a certain time period. Click the menu " any time ” at the top of the search results page (or click the filter icon on Yandex) to specify a time range, such as “ Past 24 hours ” (within the last 24 hours) or “ past year " (on one last year).
- If you use Google and don't see the menu “ any time ", click the tab " Tools ” at the top of the page first.
- You can also include dates in search entries, such as the Billboard July 2010 chart.
Step 3. Refine search results by type
In general, a normal internet search will return a list of web links that match the entry you typed. But what if you only want to view photos, videos, or news articles? Fortunately, you can click on the menu “ Images ”, “ Videos ”, “ News ”, and sometimes several other categories at the top of each search engine's results page to filter the results.
- Google and Bing have several other options, including “ Maps " and " Shopping ”.
- Most search engines have a sophisticated photo search page where you can adjust aspects such as photo size and color. Use the menus at the top of the search results page for the best results.
Step 4. Use search engine-specific operators
Operators are special words and symbols that can be included in search entries so that the engine returns more relevant results. Some operators can be used on all search engines, but some options sometimes differ from the standard options that are universally used.
- If you're looking for a string of words (e.g. song lyrics or sentences that appear verbatim in news articles), place quotation marks (") on either side of the search entry. For example: "back and forth beautiful back and forth", "How about it, viewers? Easy isn't it?"
- If there are some words that spoil the search results (e.g. when you try to find information about the cardinal, but only get results related to the cardinal of St. Louis), insert a minus sign (“-“) in front of the word or phrase that needs to be ignored. For this example, you could type cardinals -"St. Louis".
- You can use the word " AND " (or the "&") symbol to ensure that two different words or phrases appear in the same result. For example, you could type "coronavirus" AND "bird flu". You can also use the word " NOT " so that the search results don't include certain words (eg "coronavirus" NOT "bird flu"). The two operators can even be used simultaneously, as well as multiple times per entry. Make sure the operators " AND " and " NOT " are typed in capital letters because most search engines will ignore these two words if typed in lower case.
Step 5. Use the advanced search form or “Advanced Search”
What if you still don't get the desired result? Hmm… you can still try another search engine. But what if you're already tied to Google, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo, and want to try a more powerful feature? Visit the advanced search form or “Advanced Search” on a search engine. With this form, you can type more specific search criteria. This feature is useful for searches that only require certain types of sources. Choose your favorite search engine from the list of links below to get started:
- Google Advanced Search
- Yahoo Advanced Web Search
- Advanced Search Startpage
Tips
- Android phones or tablets (including KaiOS-based devices) come pre-installed with Google apps. To open it, tap on the colorful “G” icon in the application list.
- Apart from Google, most other search engines have their own apps that you can download, including Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, and Startpage.
