Prepared for InterLab 99

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Web Searching 101 Search Tools, Strategies, and
Tips

• Prepared for InterLab 99
• Marsha Luevane and Joe Chervenak
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• NREL/PR-27533

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Background

• Users in our organizations are becoming more
  dependent on the Web to do their jobs
• They are frustrated
• They need to be trained to use the Web
• Basic browser use
• Finding information

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Training approach

• Browser
• Experimented with study hall sessions
• Finding information
• Developed search training
• 1.5 hour session
• Includes lecture and on-line demos

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Why we offer search training

• Users dont take the time to teach themselves
• Users cant tell the difference between a subject
  directory and a search engine
• Users cant keep up with the changes

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Benefits

• Leverage Web Team investment/expertise in search
  tools
• Makes Web Team part of the solution
• Clients
• Users
• Cost-effective approach

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Web Searching 101 Search Tools, Strategies, and
Tips

• Marsha Luevane
• marsha_luevane_at_nrel.gov
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• Fall 1999

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Search tools

• Why we need them
• Web sprawl
• Web is unorganized
• Lack of keyword lists and controlled vocabulary
  
• Browsing the entire Web is impossible

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Search tools (cont.)

• Hundreds of search tools
• Major search tools are big business
• Major search tools are among the most visited
  sites on the Web
• Two types of search tools
• Subject directories
• Search engines

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Subject directories (cont.)

• Features
• Listings of Web sites
• Organized by subject
• Include brief site descriptions
• Compiled and maintained by humans

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Subject directories

• Major subject directories
• Yahoo
• LookSmart
• Snap
• Lycos
• Open Directory Project

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Subject directories (cont.)

• Use to find
• Specific Web sites (home pages)
• Information on broad, general topics
• Astronomy, health, cities
• Reference tools
• Dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri
• Products and services
• Bookstores, software, companies

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Subject directories (cont.)

• Strengths
• Selective
• Smaller and less overwhelming than search
  engines
• Browsable due to hierarchical structure
• Searchable

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Subject directories (cont.)

• Weaknesses
• Searches are limited to words in subject
  categories, site names, and site descriptions
• Do not index the content of Web sites and pages
• Cover a small portion of Web
• Strive to be portals add-ons are distracting

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Search engines (cont.)

• Features
• Huge collections of Web pages
• Index the content of Web pages (words on pages)
• Compiled and maintained by computers
• Vary in search algorithms, size, coverage,
  currency, ranking methods, search features

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Search engines

• Major search engines
• HotBot
• Go/Infoseek
• Excite
• AltaVista
• Northern Light

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Search engines (cont.)

• Use to find
• Narrow, specific information
• vertical axis wind turbines
• Specific Web sites and pages
• Alliance to Save Energy consumer information
• Specific pieces of information
• population of Denver
• Exhaustive information on topics
• amorphous silicon

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Search engines (cont.)

• Strengths
• Drill down into content of Web sites
• Index Web pages
• Cover a greater portion of the Web than subject
  directories
• Searchable
• Many have browsable subject directories

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Search engines (cont.)

• Weaknesses
• Not selective
• Have huge collections but dont index entire Web
• Results can be overwhelming
• Change constantly (not always for the better)

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Search engines (cont.)

• Weaknesses (cont.)
• Have quirks and bad days
• Do not index PDFs, most databases, Intranets,
  sites that require payment or passwords
• Strive to be portals add-ons are distracting

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Rest of Training...

• Search strategies
• Search results
• Dealing with zero or few results
• Dealing with a gazillion hits
• Dealing with irrelevant results

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Search strategies

• Examples

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Tips for searching success

• Learn a few search tools well
• Spot changes or new features
• Recognize quirks and bad days
• http//www.thesource.nrel.gov
• Use other search tools frequently
• Read the help sections
• Watch for special groupings of results
• Use search tools for their primary purpose

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Tips for searching success (cont.)

• Use search tools directly and not via your
  browser or metasearch engines
• Limit use of natural language queries, which are
  match any term searches
• Explore advanced techniques
• Use the find similar pages feature in search
  engines

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Best search tools

• Depends on what you are looking for
• It is personal
• My favorites are Yahoo, HotBot, and
• Go/ Infoseek
• Handout

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For more information

• Yahoo section on searching the Web
• http//www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/ Inter
  net/World_Wide_Web/Searching_the_Web/
• Help sections in the search tools

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Future

• Offer additional training
• Advanced searching
• Search tool strategies and tips for Web site
  managers
• Training specific to our site search engine
  (Infoseek)
• Meta tagging

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