How to Use Search Engine Math to Search the Internet Effectively

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By Jessie K.
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$Use Search Engine Math to Search the Internet Effectively$

Use Search Engine Math to Search the Internet Effectively

As the internet continues to expand and more and more pages are added, effective searching requires new approaches and strategies. Remember that the more specific your search, the more likely you will find what you want. To find relevant information, you must use a variety of tools and techniques. Here's how to use search engine math to search the internet effectively.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

You can use math symbols to enter a formula to filter out unwanted listings.

o Put a plus sign (+) before words that must appear in your search
o Put a minus sign (-) before words that you do not want to appear in your search
Step 2

For example:
our search words are +cookie+recipes. The only pages that contained both words would appear in your results. Now let's say you wanted recipes for chocolate chip cookies. Your search words are +cookies+recipe+chocolate. This would display pages with all three words.
Step 3

You can take this a step further. Say you don't like coconut. So you don't want any recipes that call for coconut in your search. The minus (-) symbol is helpful for reducing the number of unrelated results. You would write your search phrase like this:
+cookies+recipe+chocolate-coconut.
Step 4

You will find that almost all search engines support search engine math. You can also use math symbols with most directories.

Comments

stevemar2 said

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on 5/9/2009 This is something very new to me. I really only use quotation marks when typing things in a search engine. Great article!

dcole said

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on 5/8/2009 I have occasionally done 'advanced' searches in Google and noticed these symbols. Thank you for putting this so clearly. I'm sure that search engine math will make my searches more effective. 5*