A search engine is simply a Web site designed to help you find information on the Internet by searching a database of Web pages for "keywords" that describe what you�re looking for. Search engines are generally free to the web-surfing public, although you may have to endure some  advertising when you use them. 

Search engines are created by a combination of sophisticated software tools (often called "robots" or  "spiders") that do nothing but download and index pages from the Web, and real live human beings who help impose order on the resulting chaos.

There are many search engines available, but all search engines are not created equal. Each builds a index of Web pages in a different way, catalogs different pieces of information about each page, and provides a different user interface to allow you to search its database. To maximize your chances of finding the information you need quickly and efficiently, it�s important to pick the right search engine for the job. Following are the search engines we recommend for specific kinds of searches conducted routinely by the health care reform community (and Web surfers everywhere):

Google: our first-choice search engine

USHCR recommends that every basic Web search begin at Google.   Google is a relative newcomer to the search engine world, but has quickly catapulted to the top of the heap, riding on its sometimes-spooky ability to identify relevant sites to most common queries and its clean, quick, uncluttered (and banner ad-free) interface.

Google determines how "important" pages are by trying to gauge how many other "important" pages link to it. If that sounds circular, it is, but what matters is that it works. Google uses very simple searching syntax, and while this can limit its ability to perform very complex searches, it also makes it extremely easy to use for quick, basic searches.

Five tips for using Google

1. Google always searches for all the words you type in. You don't need to use a + sign or "AND" in your queries.

2. Google supports searching for phrases in quotation marks. For example, to find Washington Wilderness Coalition, you'd search for

"Washington Wilderness Coalition"
rather than
Washington Wilderness Coalition

This would find every page that had the phrase "Washington Wilderness Coalition" rather than the individual words "Washington"  "Wilderness" and "Coalition."

3. Google supports the Boolean "OR" operator. For example, to find sites that relate to Denis Hayes OR Earth Day 2000, enter

"Denis Hayes" OR "Earth Day 2000"

4. Google allows you to EXCLUDE terms from your Web searches by preceding them with a minus sign ("-"). This can be extremely helpful as you attempt to focus your searches. For example, to find pages that discuss Senator Slade Gorton but not Gorton's Fish Sticks, try searching for

Gorton -fish

5.  Google's database stores cached copies of many pages, allowing you view them even if the original site is down. This is extremely useful for finding older information. If Google is able to show you a cached page, it will show you a "Cached" link in the results.

For more tips on using Google, check out Google's online help pages .

Where Google falls a bit short

Because Google gives a lot of weight to pages that are linked to by others, it is not so good at finding very new sites which are not yet widely linked to. And because it doesn't support the widest set of Boolean search operators, it can be difficult to frame extremely precise searches. If you're a real power Web searcher, you may be better served by using Raging Search or FAST Search for complex queries.

Raging Search: good for very specific phrases

If you�re looking for every Web site that contains a specific phrase or name such as "National Forest Management Act" then your best bet is to use a search engine that attempts to index every individual page on the Web. The best search engine of this type is Raging Search , based on the AltaVista directory (but minus all of the portal clutter), which indexes every word on every Web page it finds.   Raging Search�s size is also its biggest disadvantage; if your search isn�t VERY specific, you could be overwhelmed with pages matching one or more of your search terms. However, even if your search comes back with 1,000 hits, you really need only look at the first 20 or so for truly relevant information.

Six tips for using Raging Search

1. Raging Search supports using the + sign to require words in a search.  To require that a word be in all of the hits, put a + before it.   For example

 +umpqua watersheds  

will find hits with "umpqua," some of which will have "watersheds"

2. Raging Search supports searching for phrases in quotation marks. 

"three little pigs"
rather than
three little pigs

3. Raging Search allows you to EXCLUDE terms from your Web searches by preceding them with a minus sign ("-"). 

Polish -shoe  

will find pages with "polish," but not with "shoe"

Raging Search also has a "Power" search mode that has a special box for excluding words from your search.  You can switch to Power Search mode by clicking on the "Customize" link on the main page.

4. Raging Search allows you to look for alternate spellings and endings by using * (asterisk).  This is known as "stemming."  For example,

wom*n 

will find "woman" and "women," while

forest* 

will find "forestry," "forests," "forester" and "forested").

5.  Use capital letters sparingly.  Raging Search will try to match caps exactly, which may limit your results. 

6. Raging Search allows you to extensively customize is features and search modes, including its "Advanced Search" mode.   We recommend that you click on the "Customize" link, and take a few minutes to explore the options available to you.  In particular, the "Advanced Search" options are very powerful and useful.

When you're in "Advanced Search" mode, If you use more than one term in an advanced search, you must enter "Boolean" terms (operators like AND, OR and AND NOT). For example:

hiking AND "crater lake national park"

will return pages that contain both the word "hiking" and the phrase "crater lake national park."

vegetables AND NOT "Brussels sprouts"

will return pages with "vegetables," but not "Brussels sprouts."

After entering your selection criteria in the first window, you can enter sorting criteria in the box below. For example, if you entered �hiking AND "crater lake national park"� as your selection criteria, entering backcountry as a sorting criterion will return results with the word "backcountry" first.

Another good choice for identifying pages with very specific phrases is FAST Search .  It's quite similar to Raging Search in most ways.

Web directories: good for finding sites about general topics

If you�re searching for a more general topic, such as "environmental groups" or "Web design tips," a Web directory is good place to start after a basic Google search.  

A Web directory is slightly different from a search engine.   It does not index the full text of pages, or even create an abstract. Instead, the human editors of the directory review sites, create short one-sentence descriptions of each site, and group them into hierarchically organized subject categories. 

The nice thing about Web directories is that they have hand-selected, pre-collected references for a variety of topics, so if your search topic matches one of their categories, you�re in luck. However, because Web directories are built by humans, not by automated programs, they are not updated as frequently as search engines, meaning that new entries can take weeks or months to show up�if they show up at all. Web directories index a relatively small portion of the Web, so you�re not likely to find obscure sites there.

Yahoo is the original Web directory.  The Open Directory Project is an up-and-comer that is maintained entirely by volunteers and has recently surpassed Yahoo in size (2 million-plus sites indexed).

Three tips for using Web directories

1. Keep your search terms simple: two or three words at most.  

2. Web directories will generally let you search either the names of the categories, or the descriptions of individual Web sites.   This can be helpful in pinpointing specific sites, or in finding a sampling of sites related to a specific topic.

3.  Web directories are well-suited to browsing, so don't be afraid to explore a range of categories to zero in on the sites that interest you most.

Summary

When searching the Internet, it is very important to get where you want to go quickly.  To do that you really have to know what you want and know how to get it.  Generally, you'll be best served to take the time to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the different engines.  By doing this you will be able to be more efficient by picking the right tool for the job.  We suggest that you try them yourself, and see what kind of results you get. Our specific recommendations are as follows:

1. Start with Google.  If Google doesn't locate what you need, move on.
    
2. For very specific queries, we recommend you trying Raging Searchor FAST Search.
    
3. For browsing general subject categories, try Yahoo or Open Directory Project.

An interesting (and some would say scary) way to test the power of search engines and gauge the vastness of the Internet is to try a search on your own name, or the name of your organization. Chances are, it�s referenced somewhere on the Internet, and your trusty search engine can find it.

More information

Google Web search

http://www.google.com
 

Google online help pages

http://www.google.com/help.html
 

Raging Search

http://ragingsearch.altavista.com
 

Yahoo

http://www.yahoo.com
 

Open Directory Project

http://www.dmoz.org  
 

FAST Search

http://www.alltheweb.com
 

Search Engine Watch

http://www.searchenginewatch.com  
An excellent site with general information on search engines

 

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