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Stop Searching and Start FINDING – Crispen’s Guide to Finding and Evaluating Resources on the Net a presentation by Patrick Douglas Crispen NetSquirrel.com

Pencils down! Instead of scribbling down everything I say, just visit when you get home.Instead of scribbling down everything I say, just visit when you get home. This is my personal Web site and it contains:This is my personal Web site and it contains: –A copy of this PowerPoint presentation and others that you are welcome to “creatively acquire.” –Information about TOURBUS, the ADV-HTML list, and some other neat stuff. –A really good chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Our goals today... Discover the biggest mistakes made by most Internet users:Discover the biggest mistakes made by most Internet users: –Typing search terms in the wrong box. –Using the wrong tool at the wrong time. Talk about the differences between directories and search engines (and when to use each.)Talk about the differences between directories and search engines (and when to use each.) Learn some advanced searching techniques.Learn some advanced searching techniques. DO ALL OF THIS IN ENGLISH!DO ALL OF THIS IN ENGLISH!

The Biggest Mistake Typing search terms in the wrong box

Top 15 search terms of Sex 2.Hotmail / hotmail.com / 3.Yahoo / yahoo.com / 4.Porn / porno / pornography 5.Chat / chatrooms 6.MP3 7.Horoscopes / horoscope 8.Ebay / ebay.com / 9.AOL / aol.com / 10.Games 11.Map / maps 12.Pokemon 13.Nude / nudes 14.Music 15.XXX -- Courtesy Alexa Research

What most parents notice 1.Sex 2.Hotmail / hotmail.com / 3.Yahoo / yahoo.com / 4.Porn / porno / pornography 5.Chat / chatrooms 6.MP3 7.Horoscopes / horoscope 8.Ebay / ebay.com / 9.AOL / aol.com / 10.Games 11.Map / maps 12.Pokemon 13.Nude / nudes 14.Music 15.XXX -- Courtesy Alexa Research

What *I* notice 1.Sex 2.Hotmail / hotmail.com / 3.Yahoo / yahoo.com / 4.Porn / porno / pornography 5.Chat / chatrooms 6.MP3 7.Horoscopes / horoscope 8.Ebay / ebay.com / 9.AOL / aol.com / 10.Games 11.Map / maps 12.Pokemon 13.Nude / nudes 14.Music 15.XXX -- Courtesy Alexa Research

The Second Biggest Mistake Using the wrong tool at the wrong time

Three questions Where would you find the telephone number or address of the Bama Six theatre?Where would you find the telephone number or address of the Bama Six theatre? –A telephone book Where you would find the definition of the word “pestilence?”Where you would find the definition of the word “pestilence?” –A dictionary (or an Auburn University sorority photo album) Where would you find the name of the war that the Treaty of Westphalia ended?Where would you find the name of the war that the Treaty of Westphalia ended? –An encyclopedia

What would happen if you tried to look up the definition of the word “pestilence” in the telephone book?

YAHOO ISN’T A SEARCH ENGINE!... it is a directory.

Directories Directories are usually human- compiled guides to the web, where sites are organized by category.Directories are usually human- compiled guides to the web, where sites are organized by category. Major directories:Major directories: –Yahoo –Open Directory (DMOZ) –About.com –Snap/NBCi

What directories are good for... “What is the Web page address for some company, organization, or entity?” (or “who makes product X?”)“What is the Web page address for some company, organization, or entity?” (or “who makes product X?”) “Where can I find a list of Web pages that focus on a particular, ‘universal’ topic?”“Where can I find a list of Web pages that focus on a particular, ‘universal’ topic?” In other words, directories are GREAT for “telephone book” searches.In other words, directories are GREAT for “telephone book” searches.

What directories AREN’T good for... Directories are horrible for “encyclopedia” or “dictionary” searches.Directories are horrible for “encyclopedia” or “dictionary” searches. The only exception is if the topic is so universal that the directories have no choice but to link to a page or two that discuss that topic (and even then the selection will be slim).The only exception is if the topic is so universal that the directories have no choice but to link to a page or two that discuss that topic (and even then the selection will be slim).

Search Engines have three parts: 1.A spider (also called a "crawler" or a "bot") that goes to every page or representative pages on every Web site that wants to be searchable and reads it, using hypertext links on each page to discover and read a site's other pages.

Search Engines have three parts: 2.A program that creates a huge index (sometimes called a "catalog") from the pages that have been read.

Search Engines have three parts: 3.A program that receives your search request, compares it to the entries in the index, and returns results to you. -- Courtesy searchenginewatch.com

Directories v Search Engines Directories are human-compiled and have a small number of pages in their databases (usually in the low millions)Directories are human-compiled and have a small number of pages in their databases (usually in the low millions) Search engines are machine-compiled and have a HUGE number of pages in their databases (usually in the hundreds of millions or even the billions)Search engines are machine-compiled and have a HUGE number of pages in their databases (usually in the hundreds of millions or even the billions)

The Second Biggest Mistake -- Restated Using a directory as if it was a search engine... and then not understanding why you can’t find anything!

Top search sites – February Yahoo 2.MSN 3.AOL 4.Lycos 5.Go/Infoseek 6.Netscape 7.NBCi 8.Excite 9.LookSmart 10.AltaVista -- Courtesy Media Metrix

Which ones are directories? 1.Yahoo 2.MSN 3.AOL 4.Lycos 5.Go/Infoseek 6.Netscape 7.NBCi 8.Excite 9.LookSmart 10.AltaVista -- Courtesy searchenginewatch.com

Secondary results Most directories use a search engine as a backup (Yahoo and Netscape use Google, almost everyone else uses Inktomi)Most directories use a search engine as a backup (Yahoo and Netscape use Google, almost everyone else uses Inktomi) Why add the extra step?Why add the extra step?

How the sites stack up 1.Yahoo (1.5 – 1.8 million pages) 2.MSN (LookSmart) (2 million pages) 3.AOL (Open Directory) (2.2 million pages) 4.Lycos (Open Directory) (2.2 million pages) 5.Go/Infoseek (430,000 pages) -- Courtesy searchenginewatch.com

By way of comparison Excite – 250 million pagesExcite – 250 million pages AltaVista – 350 million pagesAltaVista – 350 million pages Google – 1.3 billion pagesGoogle – 1.3 billion pages -- Courtesy searchenginewatch.com

Why do people predominantly use directories when search engines have more stuff? Because no one ever takes the time to teach us how to use a search engine!

The Third Biggest Mistake Not knowing how to use directories or search engines to actually FIND stuff

Search engine rule #1 Be specific... because if you aren’t specific, you’ll end up with a bunch of garbage!

Search engine rule #2 Use quotes to search for phrases. “Patrick Crispen” This works on every search engine and directory except LookSmart (and is semi-automatic at AltaVista and Google)

Search engine rule #3 Use the + sign to require. Crispen +Pepperdine This works on every search engine and directory except LookSmart (and the + is usually assumed for the first term)

Search engine rule #4 Use the - sign to exclude. Crispen -Roadmap This works on every search engine and directory except LookSmart

Search engine rule #5 Combine symbols as often as possible (see rule #1). +”Patrick Crispen” –Roadmap +Pepperdine

Advanced Searching Made Easy It’s easy as long as you remember a few, simple commands.

Title searches title:terms This works on AltaVista, GoTo, HotBot, Go, MSN Search, Northern Light, and Snap/NBCi. t:terms This only works on Yahoo!

Title searches allintitle:terms This works on Google (but it should be the first term) allintitle:”Moon Landing”

Site searches domain:domainname This works on GoTo, HotBot, MSN Search, and Snap. host:domainname This works on AltaVista.

Site searches site:domainname This works on Google +site:nasa.gov

URL searches url:url This works on AltaVista, Go, and Northern Light. u:url This works on Yahoo!

URL searches allinurl:url This works on Google (but it has to be the first term) allinurl:apollo

Wildcard searches Add a * in the term Crisp* This works on AOL Search, AltaVista, HotBot, MSN Search, Northern Light, Snap, and Yahoo.

“Or” searches Alabama OR Auburn This works on every search engine and directory except Google, Go, LookSmart, and Yahoo!

“Near” searches Patrick NEAR Crispen This works on AltaVista & MSN Search (10 words), Lycos (25 words), and WebCrawler (2 words)

A sample Google search +allinurl:apollo +Moon –”John Young” +site:nasa.gov Of course, this would all be on one line

searchenginewatch.com FREE search tutorials!FREE search tutorials! “Search Engine Math”“Search Engine Math” “Power Searching for Anyone”“Power Searching for Anyone”

Quittin’ time! Again, this and many other PowerPoint presentations are available at this and many other PowerPoint presentations are available at Look in the “Classroom Resources” sectionLook in the “Classroom Resources” section Two small differences between the online presentations and what you saw today:Two small differences between the online presentations and what you saw today: 1.No transitions 2.Different fonts

If You Liked This Presentation... You’ll LOVE the Internet TourbusYou’ll LOVE the Internet Tourbus Free, semi-weekly newsletter written by the same guy who created this presentation.Free, semi-weekly newsletter written by the same guy who created this presentation. Go to tourbus.com to subscribeGo to tourbus.com to subscribe Did I mention it is absolutely FREE?Did I mention it is absolutely FREE?

Our goals today... Discover the biggest mistakes made by most Internet users:Discover the biggest mistakes made by most Internet users: –Typing search terms in the wrong box. –Using the wrong tool at the wrong time. Talk about the differences between directories and search engines (and when to use each.)Talk about the differences between directories and search engines (and when to use each.) Learn some advanced searching techniques.Learn some advanced searching techniques. DO ALL OF THIS IN ENGLISH!DO ALL OF THIS IN ENGLISH!