How to Get Better Web Addresses on Search Engines

Although the Internet, once named the Information Superhighway, seems like a network of endless information avenues that may or may not lead to dead ends — it isn't half as difficult to navigate as users often believe. Frustration from unrelated website search results is typically the product of poor word choices and planning. Here are a few ways to improve your chances of finding better web addresses on search engines.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Use keywords when running your search and restrict your search to only the key words or phrases that you are interested in (for example, if you are interested in finding out the origin for the name "Steven," you might type "origin name Steven"). Keyword usage has also helped to reduce the need for stopwords such as "the" or "and."
2. Alter your search parameters by changing the nature of your request. For example, pluralize singular words, add or subtract words, combine words, use synonyms and alternative descriptions or capitalize words (for example, although most search engines are no longer case sensitive, capitalizing words that usually require capitalization can bring up better search results).
3. Write your search in the form of a question if you are searching for the answer to a specific question. Although this may seem like a common sense tip, with increased keyword usage many Internet users forget to use a question format when searching for an answer and this can in fact reduce the number of quality websites initially found when searching for a specific question and answer set.
4. Describe your search. If you are looking for an "image" or "movie" with a specific title, typing the title name and then the word "image" or "movie" can help the search engine to narrow the search (for example, by typing "The Great Gatsby book" your search engine will pull up websites related to the book before those related to the movie).
5. Search for web addresses through multiple search engines at one time through a web search engine site such as WebCrawler.
6. Sign up for a free service such as StumbleUpon which matches user interest and search requirements to better addresses on the web.