michigan informatics

Search Engines

Now that you understand how search engines work generally, you need to know the specifics of how to use a few of them. What do they search? How do you search them? What are the advanced features? What do they offer that is unique?

We are going to look at Google, Yahoo! Search and MSN Search and explore some of the features of each. Not all search engines are the same. Google is probably the best all-purpose search engine you can use, but you will retrieve different results from different search engines. If you are searching for something which is difficult to find or you are trying to be reasonably comprehensive, you will need to use more than one search engine. You may also prefer the search features offered by search engines other than Google.

Whichever search engine you choose to use, you should spend some time reading the help screens and the search tips. You should also familiarize yourself with the options available in the advanced search feature and find out exactly what the search engine is searching. Some, like Yahoo, search a combination of search engine databases and pre-selected subject directories.