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Most of the time you can use web search to find what you’re looking for but there are ways to make your searches more accurate and less time consuming. The terms that you use to search the web are not case sensitive and you don’t need to worry about punctuation.

There are more advanced ways to use web search using syntax to refine search queries but this article focuses on the basics. It’s helpful to start with an understanding of how search engine results pages are displayed so let’s look at the two most popular web search providers.

Yahoo Web Search Results Page

Yahoo comes a strong second in the race to become the most popular provider of search results. Here’s a snapshot of their search results page.

Photo: Stefan

Google Web Search Results Page

This is a snapshot from Google’s search results page, they continue to dominate as the most popular search engine and offer a wide range of advanced search options.

The search box is where you type the search phrase that you’re using and the menu above it can be used to choose a category that will narrow your search.

The sponsored results are advertisements that people have paid for and are separated from the main results that appear on the page.

The left navigation area offers additional tools, filters and search terms related to the one you’re using.

The search results that appear in the middle of the page represent relevant web pages and show the title, description and web address which is highlighted in a different colour.

Basic Web Search Tips

There are lots of ways to search the web and search engines are constantly working to provide more accurate results. Here are a few simple tips to help you get more accurate results.

1. Choose the most appropriate search term you can think of and as few words as possible. Use descriptive or unique words that help define what you’re looking for. Terms like ‘Corgi registered gas fitter’ or ‘vegetarian cat food’ state exactly what you’re after.

2. If you are using web search for something a bit more obscure use “quotation marks” around your phrase. This tells the search engine to return results of pages that use your phrase exactly the way you’ve written it.

3. Although Google and Yahoo currently dominate web search there are hundreds of other search engines that specialise on specific subjects. You can use web search to find these various search tools.

4. Look out for words that have more than one meaning. Combine them with descriptive words to get more accurate results. Words like brushes or wheels can have several meanings so be specific. For example ‘Acrylic paint brushes’ or ‘Alloy car wheels’

5. During the last couple of years search engines have been providing improved local web search features that make it easier to find local businesses. If your search is area specific add the town, city or village to your search term.

6. The use of Brand names and Company names will also help you to narrow your search and find results that are likely to be what you’re looking for.


We’ve come a long way since the days when the local phone book, Yellow Pages or the nearest library were the main resources for finding things. Web search has become a multi billion pound industry with the common theme of trying to make it easier for users to accomplish their tasks and get things done.

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