I've used Google for searches since its inception, and had it as my browser's home page until Wikipedia came along. One problem with Google is its gargantuan range; a search for a simple topic may yield 730,000 hits. A proper search for the most relevant item may require using Google's "advanced search" function, which can be daunting. Several websites, including THIS ONE by Google, facilitate specialized searching.
An extremely useful filter that I had not encountered before was posted on Presurfer this morning and is illustrated above. It allows one to search only for recent information - an incredible advantage when searching for current events. The original article is here at tech-recipes.com, but I'll excerpt the instructions below.
First go to google.com and search for your search term. Next, just add &as_qdr=d to the end of the URL and press ENTER. This triggers a Google dropdown box to appear (see image above). With the dropdown box you can select a time filter for limiting the search. Also, you can change the =d to d5 for 5 days, or w5 for 5 weeks or y5 for 5 years.
Let me add two personal tips. First, the &as_qdr=d has to be added to the URL, NOT the Google search term (it took me about 5 minutes to figure this out).
Secondly, I would personally never remember something like &as_qdr=d, so an easy workaround is to do it once with a common term (perhaps in ALLCAPS), and then bookmark that search as "time-limited Google searches." For future searches, go to that bookmark and just change the term in ALLCAPS in the url.
Enjoy.
Stan -
ReplyDeleteGood stuff on Google.
May I suggest a search engine that you might want to try? I've used this one for YEARS, and it almost always gives me the most relevant hits right at the top of the list.
URL: http://www.metacrawler.com/info.metac/search/advanced/web.htm?r_fcid=414&r_fcp=top&dpcollation=1&familyfilter=0&sort=0&adultfilter=none
Metacrawler uses several search engines, INCLUDING Google, then sorts them in a way that I have 99.75% of the time found gives me what I want NOW.
(I have been recommending Metacrawler to people for maybe 10 years, and not ONE person to my knowledge has ever actually used it. Same thing with my GREAT chiropractor. Go figure.)
. . . .
Stan -
ReplyDeleteGood stuff on Google.
May I suggest a search engine to anyone who finds this? I've used this one for YEARS, and it almost always gives me the most relevant hits right at the top of the list. When it doesn't, I am actually SHOCKED.
URL: http://www.metacrawler.com/info.metac/search/advanced/web.htm?r_fcid=414&r_fcp=top&dpcollation=1&familyfilter=0&sort=0&adultfilter=none
Well, that didn't seem to work - too long of a URL, it seemed. It bled off the right side of the window...
OK, do this instead: Go to http://www.metacrawler.com, and then pick the [Advanced] link, then the [Preferences] link. You will be able to set your preferences in six categories:
1. Search filter (for explicit material filtering level)
Language Filter
2. Spelling correction On/Off
3. Display search terms in bold
4. Recent searches history On/Off
5. Results display (5 settings)
6. Language selection
Those are all the permanent settings.
When done, hit the [Save settings] button. Then save the link as a Favorite (IE) or Bookmark (Firefox).
For each search on the Advanced Search page, you can tell it what date range.
I have had this URL as my homepage for freaking ever, and I am so satisfied with it, I have never been TEMPTED to change it.
It is simple: no strings to remember or save elsewhere, and booleans are done for you, based on which search window you use.
Metacrawler uses several search engines, INCLUDING Google, then sorts them in a way that I have 99.75% of the time found gives me what I want NOW. In the top one or two or (infrequently) three hits.
(I have been recommending Metacrawler to people for maybe 10 years, and not ONE person to my knowledge has ever actually used it. Same thing with my GREAT chiropractor. Go figure. So, anyway, I won't be offended if you don't check it out or like it. I'm used to it. It ain't my loss if no one wants a really effective search engine.)
Also, search parameters are simply these:
Single words: separate by a space
Multiple word entries: Put them in quotes. It is really painless.
. . . . Steve
P.S. I am NOT a stockholder in Metacrawler.