Search and find

If a site has index categories, as Yahoo does, it's often better to search by category. Yahoo has human editors that categorize web pages by topics. Instead of typing search terms, try clicking down through the categories, which are often several levels deep, to find great sites related to your topic. This is a good technique to use if you're just browsing or are unsure what specific area you are interested in.

Natural language search engines can be particularly useful. Ask.com (formerly AskJeeves.com) is one of these. On the site, you type in your question, as you'd ask it to another human being. "Natural language" means that instead of using keywords, you type your query just as it might be spoken, as in: Where are Abba's lyrics located on the web? Ask.com will respond with results that include pages other search engines find as well as related sites rated by Ask.com staff. It will also suggest related search terms.

Finally, it's worth looking for links or buttons right on the search engines' websites that refer to advanced searches. These web pages often list advanced search techniques for that particular search engine, as well as tips on how to more specifically search the search engine site you are in.

Below are some web addresses of advanced search tip pages on popular search engines.

• Google.com
  http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en
• Excite.com
  http://www.excite.com/info/search_help/advanced_search_tips/
• Yahoo.com
  http://search.yahoo.com/search/syntax?
• Altavista.com
  http://www.altavista.com/web/adv
• Yahoo Canada
  http://ca.search.yahoo.com/web/advanced?ei=UTF-8
• AltaVista Canada
  http://www.altavistacanada.com/en/help/adv_help.html
• Canada.com
  http://www.canada.com/

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