Internet Searching Tips

Searching for information on the internet is not as easy as it seems. Google, the internet's most powerful search tool, crawls through billions of web-pages trying to match your query. More often than not, therefore, the results you get back are inappropriate. This page offers you some tips as to how you can improve the accuracy of your searches.

The most powerful of all search engines, and therefore also the one the returns the highest number of inappropriate results. The trick is to know HOW to use Google to the best of its ability.

Tip#1: Choose your keywords carefully. Choose descriptive, specific words.

*Search for: EU Association Agreement Syria rather than EU Syria

*Search for: Gender rural poverty middle east rather than Gender rural

Tip#2: Use quotes for an exact match

*When you search using quotation marks, you'll get results for the exact terms you entered, in the order you entered them.

*Search for: "Agricultural Policy Syria" rather than agricultural policy syria

Tip#3: Use advanced search options:

*At the side of the search bar there is link to 'advanced search'. Click this!

*Once inside you will be able to define the way you search for something much more accurately

- choose language of results (e.g. only Arabic)

- choose file format (e.g. .pdf (acrobat reader), .ppt (PowerPoint presentation), .doc (Microsoft word)

-date of the website (i.e. when it was first indexed by Google)

-pages that link to pages you already know

Tip#4: Limiting the file format:

*This option is particularly useful for the NAPC. This is because reference material of high quality tends not to be available in textform, but in either .pdf or .doc, it is possible to limit the search to JUST these file types. This can be done in 'advanced options' or manually entered into the search bar - using "filetype:??" function

*Search for agriculture Syria filetype:pdf rather than agriculture Syria

*Search for agriculture Syria filetype:doc rather than agriculture Syria

Tip#5: Finding pages that link to a page:

*If you know of a good website already, but want to find which sites have links to this website (and therefore also might be interesting you can use this function.

*This can be done in the 'advanced options' or manually entered using link:http://www.sitename.com

*Search for link:http://www.napcsyr.org

Tip#6: Excluding terms from search:

*Using the minus (-) sign you can make sure that results do not include the word following the sign (-).

*Search for Arab agriculture -egypt -jordan rather than Arab agriculture

*Results will then be more specific

These tips work for and the other two major web search engines. If you have any specific queries regarding other search engines, look in the 'help' section, and you are likely to find 'search tips'.