The Best Methods of Doing Research and Utilising Search Engines

The internet has made access to information easy and free. There are nearly 2 billion websites, and tens of thousands of them provide similar details. Consequently, finding the correct or precise information on some topics can be like looking for the proverbial needle in the proverbial hay. Fortunately, there are tricks around it. Here are five tips on how to use the search engines to research efficiently:

Use the Tabs

The tabs on the result page are the most useful but the least used in the search engines. It categorises the results as, web, image, news, videos, and more. The web section provides results from all over the internet. Clicking on the different tabs reveals content only in the specific section. For example, images’ tab shows pictures, and News tab shows only content that is from news websites.

Use the Hyphen

Some names have two or meanings or more application. The term rose, for example, can be a flower, a name or the act of rising. You can eliminate other results when researching on the flower by introducing the hyphen and adding defining detail information, such as rose-flower.

Location-Based

The results that search engines provide are based on the geolocation of the source IP. Therefore, if you are looking for a casino, most of the results will be of those closest to you. Some service providers also have different web pages for different areas.

Use a Colon

Sometimes you need information from a specific website. The longest way is to look up the site and go to the particular section. Instead, write the item followed by a colon then the name of the website.

Use a File Format

Add the type of file at the end of the search. For example, search for “Laws of Nature PDF,” if you are looking for the PDF file format. Lastly, use quotation marks. They help limit the results to the specific phrase. It will significantly narrow down your search.

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