In Search Of....Getting the Most From Web Searches

by Paula Eisenberg

(July 8, 2004) The Internet is gigantic. It's amazing. It can answer almost any question you might have, about just about any subject. But where do you start? How can you find what you need even here, within the Larchmont Gazette?

Let's start with the here and now, using a real-world example. A reader has heard about a new restaurant in Larchmont, Plates on the Park. She wants to know if there is a review of the eatery, its location and phone number. On our homepage (or almost any of our pages) in the upper right column, she finds our Google search. She types "Plates" into the empty white search field, then hits the search button.

Almost immediately, a page appears showing the Gazette pages on which the word "Plates" appears. The topmost articles are about the restaurant, leading to a review which has the location and phone number as well, the dining index page on which the restaurant's name appears, and another story about the chef's connection to a new play. As good as the search engine is, though, an article about stolen cars mentioning license plates also appears.

Because the search results show a couple of lines from the text, our reader can tell which articles seem the best fit for her search. She simply clicks on the underlined title, and she'll be taken to the article she wants.

Our Google search engine also lets you search beyond the Gazette, out into the whole World Wide Web. Simply type in your search word or words, and click on the "web" button instead of the "Gazette" button.

Of course, you don't need to be on the Gazette site to use Google. (We are focusing on Google because it's the best online search tool, hands-down.) Type google.com into your browser's address field, and you'll go to the Google website. Once there, you have many options.

Type a search word into the blank field, or click on one of the other search options. For instance, the Images link lets you search for graphics (picture) files all over the web. Froogle lets you search for merchandise, showing a mix of straight search results and sponsored links to online stores. You can even see what people have been looking for most recently on the Froogle site. Just now, it appears folks were looking for toasters, DSL modems, baby shoes and, oddly, Venetian masks. Click on the Venetian maks link, and you too can shop for one.

Click on More, and you'll see a wide range of ways to search. Try Local, and you'll be able to do a search based on a location. For instance, if you search for "kayaks" in Larchmont, NY, you find that nobody seems to be selling them in Larchmont itself, but many stores in the region show up. You can even narrow your search to within 1 mile, 5, 15 or 45 miles out from your location.

Feeling lazy? You can even let someone else do the searching for you, for a fee. The Google Answers page lets you pose a simple or complicated question, and a trained researcher will find out what you want to know. You can also see some recent questions and answers, gratis.

Google's search tips will help you refine your search terms to streamline the results you get. If you're a Windows user, you can download the free GoogleToolbar, which sits atop your browser and makes searching the Web really easy. It also blocks popup ads and can fill out webforms automatically. It's a very useful, very cool add-on. A Mac version is in the works.

This reporter's browser, showing Google toolbar

Gazette reader Bob Egan emailed us about another Google feature we hadn't seen before. Called the Google 100, it shows a short version of the top 100 results of any search term, without the explanations. This allows you to see roughly 10 pages of results on one page. Click here to try Google 100. Thanks, Bob!

So get out there and explore the wide, wide Web. Happy hunting!

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