How to Find Answers With Keyword Searches
Searching for answers to questions on the Internet can be fun… or frustrating. The trick is knowing how to form your searches using the right keywords (and exclude the wrong ones).
A keyword is a word or phrase you enter into a search engine that matches or describes the information you are trying to find. A search engine is a site that can match your keywords to web pages that have information relevant to your question. Google is the leader and most well-known search engine, so much so that the phrase “Google it” was chosen as the “most useful word of 2002” by the American Dialect Society! Other well-known search engines include Bing (a Microsoft product) and Yahoo. There are less famous search engines, including some specializing in a particular field like science.
I’ll refer to Google in this lesson because it is, by far, the most popular search engine, and the concepts and tools will largely be the same as all search engines.
Use natural speech patterns and don’t worry about capitalization
Search engines have become very good at understanding natural speech. Looking for the cast of West Side Story? Just search for “cast of west side story.” Search engines ignore capitalization and punctuation. You can search for the weather or time in a different location, the score from last night’s game, or the user’s manual for your microwave.
Get specific
Searching for the cast of West Side Story will first return results from the 2021 version. Why? Because it is the most recent and the one most people are searching for with that keyword. A search engine’s job is to return the most likely desired result to your keyword, which includes, in this case, the most recent and popular result.
If you are interested in the original classic, add some information to your keywords to narrow your search. One way to do that is to search for “cast of original west side story.”
Mobile devices know where you are as long as you have location services turned on. Google and other search engines can also pinpoint your location if you give them permission. You may see a permission box popup asking if Google (or another search engine) can know your location.
Be specific in your search. If you are looking for a bakery, include your city. If you are on a device that allows Google to know where you are, you can search for a “bakery near me.”
Eliminate unwanted results
Sometimes your keywords include unwanted results. Type a – (minus sign) in front of a word to exclude search results with that word. For example, if you search for “elvis” your results will include millions of Elvis Presely references. I you search for “elvis -presely” your results will primarily be about Elvis Costello and other less-famous websites, movies, and people with the name Elvis.
Quick answers to questions with Google search
- Put “define” in front of a word to return dictionary definitions.
- Search for the name of a sports team to find scores and schedules.
- Put mathematical equations, like 12/3, to solve math questions. (Even complex math equations).
- Enter in any conversion, like 10 dollars in pesos or 120mm in inches.
- Search for the name of a celebrity, location, movie, or song to return quick facts.
- Translate nearly anything like “how do you say i love you in Mandarin.” Click the speaker icon and you can hear the translation.
Find images, shop, or restrict the search to a date range
By default, Google returns everything related to your search, websites, videos, and more. You might want to filter those results to just one type of media. You will see the filters listed at the top of the results column. Clicking Maps restricts your search return to only maps, as Clicking Images restricts your returns to only images, etc. Click More for even more options, as shown below.
Google also provides some handy tools to restrict results to various time frames and gives you the option to create a custom range, as shown below.
How search engines parse your search keyword(s)
Search engines will display your results in an order based on ranking. And ads. Google makes its money selling ad space, and you’ll see ads with almost every search. How exactly Google ranks sites for listing on returns is a closely held secret. Your results will depend on the type of search you are doing and if it makes sense to return to local shopping and locations. Let’s look at a search for “best coffee” and discuss the what and why Google results.
- If there are advertisers who have paid to display ads based on your search, the ads will show up at the top.
- Then you may see results that are close to you if there are local shops that match your keywords. If you are searching for “nasa mars photos,” your results will not include a local map.
- Next is a list of websites that Google thinks will best meet your expectations. The ranking will include sites that Google thinks are relevant, have authority (lots of site traffic and other sites that link to it), and have depth (lots of information that is recent and updated often).
Wow, that is a lot of information but hopefully it will help you understand why you get the results you see and how to more carefully craft your search to find what you want.
Now for the world’s second-most popular search engine
And guess what? It’s another search engine from Google. It’s YouTube. YouTube has billions of hours of content on virtually anything you can imagine, including music and shows. Want to learn how to play the guitar or speak Spanish? Try YouTube.
Have a microphone? Use your voice to search
There are several ways you can use your voice for searches. One way is to click the microphone icon in the search box at google.com or yourube.com and simply say your keywords. My voice search for “spanish tutorials” on YouTube returned a little under a million results in a fraction of a second. And I can use filters to narrow my search.
What is a keyword and how is it used in a search engine?
A keyword is a word or phrase that is entered into a search engine to match or describe the information you are trying to find. Search engines match your keywords to web pages that have information relevant to your question.
How can you use natural speech patterns when searching on the internet?
Search engines have become very good at understanding natural speech, so you can search for information in a conversational way without worrying about capitalization and punctuation.
How can you eliminate unwanted search results?
To eliminate unwanted search results, you can use the minus sign (-) in front of a word to exclude results that contain that word. For example, if you search for “Elvis -Presley,” your results will primarily be about Elvis Costello and other less-famous websites, movies, and people with the name Elvis.