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Advicenators Frequently Asked QuestionsThe wonders of Google and other search engines
Advicenators is asked hundreds of questions each day, a substantial portion of which could be easily answered with a trip to Google.com or Google.ca. In order to save our advice-giving time and energy on actual advice, Advicenators encourages everyone to check a search website such as Google, before posing a "google-worthy" question.
First, the people over at Google have compiled a very handy help search page, you can find that here: Helpful Googling Tips
There are some really common searching areas that people hit up Advicenators.com for help with. Those common areas are generally;
- Guitar Tabs
- Name this song
- Where can I find this item (clothing, cd, make up, etc)
- Layouts, photos, music for my Xanga, Livejournal, whathaveyou.
- Straightforward definitions
- Stuff about MySpace
Now, let's take at look at the best ways to make exciting and useful searches using Google.
Guitar tabs are a good example of something quickly, and easily searched on a site such as Google. You can simply go to www.google.com and in the search bar - type in "guitar tabs". Why in "quotations"? you may ask. The quotation marks will keep the words 'guitar' and 'tabs' together, otherwise you may end up with search results that have nothing to do with what you are looking for. (An interesting example would be if you searched without quotation marks, and you ended up with a search result like this: ...I wanted to buy a guitar but I had no money... so I put the guitar on one of my tabs with the store owner... See what we mean? Quotations are important for filtering out search results you definitely won't find useful.)
Another important part of effective Google searching is thinking of key words that will help you find what you're actually looking for. It's important to remember that Google will automatically take out very common words from your search, otherwise you might always end up with three billion results. Examples of this include "i", "of", "the". (Sidenote: if you really need an "i" in your search, in situations perhaps where you are searcing for something with a roman numeral of one [i], Google itself suggests that you add that in after a plus sign. So - Looking for King Louis I? Type king louis +i OR "king louis i", both should be useful.) If you want to save yourself some typing time, don't bother typing those words in at all, stick to key words. If you are searching for Xanga layouts, for example, avoid typing something such as, "purple stars for my xanga background and layout." First, break that sentence down into something more simple. What are you looking for in basic terms? An Xanga layout.
"xanga layout" produced 588,000 results. So maybe you will want to narrow it down more.
"xanga layout purple stars" brought the results all the way down to 77,300 while still keeping the search pretty simple.
When Advicenators users ask us if, for example, Top's works with prescriptions, the answers will not only be different because not everyone lives near the person asking the question and therefore go to different Top's, it is also easy to find yourself. For example, if you type, quite simply "tops" in the Google search bar, the first result is in fact Top's Friendly Market, and by clicking on THAT website, you can navigate to the Top's section called "Pharmacy" and find out all sorts of interesting stuff about that.
Searches such as straightforward definitions are extremely easy using Google. You don't even need to find a definition website, because Google will provide that for you. Simply type in the word you want a definition for, then when the results appear, click on the hyperlinked word, or [definition] on the right hand side of the bar just below the search bar you just used. It's quick and easy to do.
MySpace information is also listed as a common never-ending question situation. Google may or may not help you with your problem. If you're looking for MySpace layouts, head over to the explanation for Xanga layouts (it goes for Livejournal, and... all those other places that have the option of using layouts.) Google those. If you're looking for something about technical stuff about such a website - read their FAQ! It's so easy, your answer could be RIGHT THERE. Check it out first. BUT! Ah yes, there's a catch to this one. Not everything about MySpace and other similar sites can be effectively googled. Just because a question involves MySpace does mean it HAS to fall under a "google it already" category. For example, perhaps you have a situation that originated from such a website, but really isn't about the technical bit of the site itself.
One more important searching suggestion is that if you are trying to find a song title, but simply can't think of it, try going to Google, and typing in "Lyrics." From there, select a lyrics site (watch out for pop ups, they'll be all over you, most likely) and you can search artist's names, or use a general search, which helps if you only know part of the chorus.
And thus, to summarize - what have we learned can be useful in searching with Google?
- "quotation marks"
- the +plus+ sign
- key words!
- the definition feature
- primary searches for companies/brand names etc. and then using their specific websites to help you find what you need.
Our advice columnists would love to help you, but try googling it first. It'll save us all some spare time.
Advicenators now allows our advice columnists to use the disturbingly handy and user-friendly google search bar in their answers! Aren't you jealous? I hope not, you can use it too. The search bar appears at the top and bottom of this page, and can be used by columnists who think the best answers can be found through Google, based on their search terms (that the columnist thinks is most helpful to the question-asker).
If you want to add the google search bar to YOUR answer:
[search]good search terms[/search]
NOTE: you must close with [/search]!!!
FernGoogling v.1.6 Last Updated: Feb. 24, 2006.
Contributed by:
Click the image, or click HERE to see FernGully's column.
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