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A
little bit of maths can help you get the search results you are looking for.
You might wonder what maths has got to do with search engines, but trust us,
using basic addition, subtraction and multiplication with
your favourite search engine can improve the search results dramatically.
Don’t
Hesitate To Elaborate Your Query
As
in the case of medicine, the more information you provide your doctor, the
more accurate his diagnosis, the more information you provide a search
engine the more accurate your search results. For example if you are looking
for information about the Indian economy in the year 2000, searching for the
India or India Economy will throw up hundreds of search results, most of
which will not be relevant to you. Type in “Indian Economy 2000” in the
search box or if you are looking for industrial growth, then type in
“Industrial growth in Indian economy in the year 2000 “.
Using
the (+) plus Sign
If
there is a particular keyword that must appear in your search results adding
a + sign before it will ensure that the search engine displays only those
results in which your particular keyword appears. For example adding a +sign
before India in your search will ensure that pages containing the word India
show up. You can add the +sign as many times as you wish. Each + sign
narrows your search further. Searching for +India +economy +2000 will show
display only the pages containing all three words.
Using
the (–) Minus Sign
The
effect of the – sign is the exact opposite of the +sign. Using the –
sign before a keyword will drop all the pages containing that page in your
search results. For example using +India –News will drop out all the pages
containing the word News. As in the case of the +sign , the – sign can
also be used several times.
Using
Multiplication
Enclosing
the keywords that you are looking for with quotes will ensure that the
search engine displays the pages that contain the exact phrase.
For
example “Taj Group Of Hotels” will ensure that you get to the website of
the hotel group and not those dedicated to the monument or any other pages
with the word Taj in them.
Compare
the following search entries
“taj
group of hotels”
+taj
+group +of+hotels
The
first statement will fetch you the search results which contain the exact
phrase in the exact order of words as specified. The second statement will
fetch search results that contain all the words you have specified which may
be in any particular order.
The
next time you want to search the web, remember these tips to get the needle
from the haystack.
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