1. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 1 Improving Your Search Engine Strategies. MVLS Workshop, March 16, 2006 Search SmarterSearch SmarterSearch SmarterSearch Smarter Linda J. Goff, Head of Instructional Services California State University, Sacramento

2. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 2 This presentation was created by Linda J. Goff, March 16, 2006 for Mountain Valley Library System. Some of the content of this presentation was borrowed with permission from a presentation by Patrick Douglas Crispen Google 201:Advanced Googolgy. which can be viewed at: http://netsquirrel.comhttp://netsquirrel.com

3. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 3 Glossary algorithm browser cache cookies directory path domain name html http hypertext link metasearch invisible Web phishing portal sites URL

4. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 4 Reading Parts of the URL http://library.csus.edu/databases/ The part before the colon is the access method or protocol, (hypertext transfer protocol). The part after the double slashes is the net address or domain name of the computer where the resource is located. The directory path and filename come after the next slash.

5. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 5 Todays Agenda What search engines can & cant do. How search engines think and work. Picking the right web search tool. Searching techniques & tips. Hands-on Exercises.

6. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 6 Todays Goals – To learn How Google and other search engines really work. About alternatives to Google and Yahoo. How to construct better searches. Explore some of the newest web tools and features.

7. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 7 Search Engines Part 1 What Search Engines Can and Cannot Do

8. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 8 They cant do (yet) Access the invisible Web (most proprietary databases). Search the content of pages that require interaction (filling out forms). Provide human evaluation of content (expert pages).

9. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 9 Expert Pages Infomine - Scholarly Internet Resource Collection http://infomine.ucr.edu/http://infomine.ucr.edu/ Librarians Internet Index http://lii.org/ http://lii.org/ The WWW Virtual Library http://www.vlib.org CSUS Librarian Guides: http://library.csus.edu/guides/

10. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 10 Scholarly Research Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com/ is attempting to remedy this. http://scholar.google.com/ Elsevier has produced Scirus for Scientific Information Only http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/ http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/

11. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 11 Web search tools can now... Search multiple search engines. Answer natural language questions. Rank sites by links made to them. Cluster results into categories. Limit searches with advanced features. Search by file type. Or - a combination of the above.

12. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 12 Natural Language Search Type your questions in Natural Language, (e.g., http:// ask.com, (formerly AskJeeves.com).http:// ask.com Analyzes words, grammar and syntax, and uses "templatics" to look for patterns in the way questions are asked. Ask.com responds with one or more closely related questions that it already knows the answer to.

13. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 13 Metasearch engines Search simultaneously across multiple search engines and displays top sites in each: Dogpile.com Vivisimo.com GahooYoogle.com (Yahoo & Google) GahooYoogle.com Jux2.com (Yahoo, Google & MSN) Jux2.com

14. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 14 Search Engines Part 2 How Search Engines Think and Work

15. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 15 Writing a Search Statement Most users are not aware what happens once they type in a string of words and push the search button. We need to fully understand and intelligently perform web searches in order to better serve our users.

16. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 16 All Search Engines use Boolean Search Strategy b a c a a d a AND b a OR c b NOT d family AND violence family OR domestic violence NOT sexual abuse

17. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 17 How pages are indexed Programs called spiders (a.k.a. robots or bots) that constantly search the Internet looking for new or updated Web pages. When a spider finds a new or updated page, it reads that entire page, reports back, and then visits all of the other pages to which that new page links.

18. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 18 Why is this significant? Pages with no links are unlikely to be indexed. Different search engines have different algorithms and therefore their indexes have different results. Lets look in depth on how the most popular search engine (Google) actually works.

19. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 19 Searching When you search, youre actually searching Googles cache of Web pages. And because of this, you can search for more than text or phrases in the body of a Web page. Google has some secret, advanced search operators that let you search specific parts of Web pages or specific types of information. Source: Google Hacks, p. 5

20. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 20 How Google works When you search for multiple keywords, Google first searches for all of your keywords as a phrase. So, if your keywords are disney fantasyland pirates, any pages on which those words appear as a phrase receive a score of X. Source: http://netsquirrel.com

21. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 21 How Google Works - Adjacency Google then measures the adjacency between your keywords and gives those pages a score of Y. What does this mean in English? Well … Image source: Google Source: Google Hacks, p. 21

22. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 22 How Adjacency Works A page that says My favorite Disney attraction, outside of Fantasyland, is Pirates of the Caribbean will receive a higher adjacency score than a page that says A Walt Disney was a both a genius and a taskmaster. The team at WDI spent many sleepless nights designing Fantasyland. But nothing could compare to the amount of Imagineering work required to create Pirates of the Caribbean. Source http://netsquirrel.com

23. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 23 How Google Works - Weights Then, Google measures the number of times your keywords appear on the page (the keywords weights) and gives those pages a score of Z. A page that has the word disney four times, fantasyland three times, and pirates seven times would receive a higher weights score than a page that only has those words once. Source: Google Hacks, p. 21

24. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 24 Putting it All Together Google takes The phrase hits (the Xs), The adjacency hits (the Ys), The weights hits (the Zs), and About 100 other secret variables Throws out everything but the top 2,000 Multiplies each remaining pages individual score by its PageRank And, finally, displays the top 1,000 in order. Source http://netsquirrel.com

25. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 25 PageRank? There is a premise in scholarship that the importance of a research paper can be judged by the number of citations the paper has from other research papers. Google simply applies this premise to the Web: the importance of a Web page can be judged by the number of hyperlinks pointing to it from other pages. Source: Google Hacks, p. 294

26. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 26 Also Googles Boolean default is AND. The order of your keywords matters. Capitalization does not matter. Google has a hard limit of 10 keywords. Google ignores a BUNCH of common stop words. Source http://netsquirrel.com

27. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 27 Knowledge is Power Those who understand how Google works can manipulate the end results. When we move into the lab - Type miserable failure and hit Im feeling lucky button. This is called Google bombing.

28. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 28 World Wide Web Part 3 Picking the Right Search Engine

29. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 29 Google and Yahoo are biggest qSearch monitors 1.5 million English-speakers worldwide (1 million in the United States) via proxy metering. July06 to measure searching. Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/2156431

30. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 30 Choose based on your Information Need Try Noodle Tools: http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/li teracies/information/5locate/adviceen gine.html http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/li teracies/information/5locate/adviceen gine.html

31. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 31 Google.comGoogle.com is the most popular Rankings based on number of links made to the sites, so results have been voted on by these links..edu link counts more than one from a.com page. Special features include Advanced Search, Image, Froogle, Blogger, Google Catalogs, Google World etc.

32. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 32 Yahoo.com Originated Directory format to organize sites by subject and subheadings. Can be personalized: My Yahoo. Geographic versions Get Local.

33. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 33 Vivisimo.com Queries one or more web search engines (Metasearch). Clusters Documents into groups based on this information. Try Clusty.com also.Clusty.com Groups the documents. Orders the groups and the documents within each group. Displays the hierarchical categories.

34. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 34 Ask.com Supports natural language searches. Recently absorbed Teoma.com Side bar suggests how to Narrow, Expand or find Related sites.

35. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 35 GahooYoogle.com Single search box queries both Google and Yahoo simultaneously. Displays results side-by-side.

36. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 36 Consult the Experts Searchenginewatch.com Searchengineguide.com Noodle.com netsquirrel.com LLRX.com Infotoday.com

37. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 37 World Wide Web Part 4 Searching Techniques and Tips

38. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 38 Command Searching Most search engines support these commands: plus/AND (+) minus/NOT(-) phrase Some support truncation (*) but not Google. Most ignore stop words (articles, conjunctions etc.)

39. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 39 Be as specific as possible If youre planning a trip to Yosemite and know youll be camping, dont search just Yosemite, instead try: +Yosemite +camping reservation –hotels Now all this can be done better from an Advanced Search screen.Advanced Search

40. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 40 My Favorite Advanced Features Limit to domain name. Search in Title. Search by file type. Links – to find pages that link to the page.

41. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 41 Guessing works Try typing a domain name into the address bar – its often quicker than using a search engine: ibm.com Pepsi whitehouse

42. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 42 Use Shortcuts! Shortcuts are keywords that will take you to specific search features, such as maps, calculations, local info, airport conditions etc. http://www.googleguide.com/shortcuts.html http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/index.html

43. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 43 Not sure the site is trustworthy? Erase the file name to get to the root of the URL and then see if you can find About Us or FAQ that will tell you enough to make a judgment.

44. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 44 Lost a page? Try the Wayback Machine! Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/ http://www.archive.org/ The Wayback Machine searches the archive for cached pages of versions of older web pages.

45. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 45 Can you stand to take in any more information? Yes? No?

46. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 46 Search Engines Part 5 Bonus Section

47. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 47 Google Tools

48. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 48 Google Services

49. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 49 Google Web Search Features

50. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 50 Google Print Google has made deals with publishers to make new books searchable online. Search link to books containing your search terms, as well as other information about the title. Click one of the links under "Buy this Book" and you'll go straight to a bookstore selling that book online. Image Source:http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9785346/site/newsweek/

51. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 51 Googles Digital Library Google has made a deal with large libraries to scan thousands of out of print library books to put them online. Association of American Publishers (AAP), has sued in federal court to stop Google. Publishers charge that by making electronic copies, the search giant is committing massive copyright infringement. We still recommend using real books! Source: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9785346/site/newsweek/

52. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 52 Google Labs

53. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 53 RSS or Feeds "RSS" may have come from "Really Simply Syndication." A feed is simply a way in which a reader may subscribe to website content, such as a blog or news site. You can use Feedster when you are looking for timely information from millions of news, blog and podcast sources. http://www.feedster.com/ http://www.feedster.com/ Most feeds are subscription services (you must register and login).

54. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 54

55. Linda J. Goff - Spring 2006 - http://library.csus.edu 55 This presentation was created by Linda J. Goff, March 16, 2006 for Mountain Valley Library System. Some of the content of this presentation was borrowed with permission from a presentation by Patrick Douglas Crispen Google 201:Advanced Googolgy. which can be viewed at: http://netsquirrel.comhttp://netsquirrel.com