Search engines are one way you can find information on the Internet. When the sun is shining and the birdies are mooing and the cows are tweeting, you can even find information easily! But in any event, at least you'll always have a place to start.

Let's commence our discussion about search engines by tackling:

Before You Begin - The Biggies

The are some big huge mega mondo whopping search engines out there. The biggest include:

• Google

• Yahoo

• MSN

• AOL

• Ask

Searching is pretty simple actually - you visit a search engine and you, well, search. In other words, you can type in search queries and check out the results.

Boy, that last paragraph was profound. But I digress.

Anywhos, there are some smart techniques you can include in your searching to make your life a wee bit easier. They include:

Step 1 - Precision

Ask yourself:

• Am I looking for a phrase? - ie, instead of "trumpet", you want to find the word "black" followed directly by "trumpet". In this case, you'd use quotes to enclose the search phrase like so:

  "black trumpet"

  Click on the following two searches - the first one will yield over 3 million results in Google, the next only a mere teeny tiny 29 thousand or so.

  black trumpet

  "black trumpet"

• Do I want to ignore certain terms? - consider the above search - you can end up with either musical instruments (my goal) or edible fungi (not quite my goal). I could search on:

  "black trumpet" -mushrooms

  But wait! I'm still coming up with gourmet pages that have nothing to do with my wonderful black trumpet musical instrument.

  More targeting is required! Let's see - a trumpet is a musical instrument. So! Consider:

  "black trumpet" -mushrooms instrument

  That does the trick far more nicely.

Remember, the more precise, the better.

Are you limited to only those big huge massively large search engines to use?

No indeed! It's now time for:

Step 2 - Niche Search Engines

A niche search engine is simply a search engine dedicated towards a particular hobby. It could be a doggie search engine, a gaming search engine, an antique collectibles search engine, a kids friendly search engine, a math search engine, etc.

Some good collections are:

• Search Engine Collection

• Search Engine Colossus

However, my favorite personal search place for reeeeeeeaaaaaallllly targeted searching is The Librarians Internet Index. After all, who needs to know how to find information faster?

Step 3 - For More Information

As always, an educated Internet user is the safest online! Check out:

• Search Engine Watch - cutting edge site for search engine development

• Search Engine Showdown - comprehensive comparisons of several different search engines.

• The BEST Search Engines - By Berkeley.edu, this site has excellent resources for all sorts of search engine analysis.

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