There are two ways to find what you are looking for on the internet. The first is to know exactly where you need to go and type the address into your web browser. The problem is that you don’t always which site has the information that you are looking for. That’s why we have Search Engines which is the second way to find what you are looking for.
Web Servers
Web servers are just computers that run special programs to host and serve websites to people that request them. For example, typing http://www.cohitech.com/ into your web browser’s address bar will send a request to your internet service provider who will point the way to CHTS’ web server. Our web server will see that you are looking for cohitech.com and will process the page and then respond to your computer with the home page.
Search Engines
Search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN, are a special type of web server that does more than just display a webpage. They also have special programs, called spiders, that search through the world wide web for websites. When they arrive at a site they will start on one page and read the content and follow the links on the page. As it goes through the site it records information about the content, links, keywords and more in a database on the search engine’s server. Their programs then categorize, index, optimize and hash all of the information so that the data can be found quickly when a search term or phrase is applied.
Queries
A query, in the computer world, is a database search string. When you type a phrase into a search engine, it uses your words to query the database to find what you are looking for. The largest search engines also incorporate more than just word searches into their queries. They will also include different forms of the words you use and special algorithms to predict what you might have meant by what you typed. This would also include misspelled words.
Once the query has been run the results of websites that match your search terms is returned to you and you can select from the short titles descriptions and descriptions the one you think might best have the information you are looking for. At this point you leave the search engine and access the web server that hosts the website at the link you clicked.
Advanced Searching
Search engines also allow what are called Boolean Operators. This is a fancy word for how words in your search relate to each other. They vary from search engine to search engine, but generally they are words like AND, OR, NOT, FOLLOWED BY, NEAR, and using Quotation Marks. Using AND will require both words, OR accepts one or the other, using Quotation Marks requires the quoted phrase to be found exactly as typed.
There are a few search engines that attempt to interpret the way we speak (like ask.com), where you can enter a sentance as a search term (i.e. where can i buy a new computer?). However, for the most part they expect keywords. The less common the word, the more likely you are to find something specific. The search phrase, “computer,” will produce many generic results, whereas the search phrase, “computer tech colorado springs,” will produce a much more specific result.
Special Tools
Search engines often have helpful tools for common tasks. Simple calculations, measurement conversions, word definitions and more can be found easily by typing it into a search engine like Google.com or Microsoft.s Live.com. For example: define: computer, 352+874, 5 inches to centimeters. Each of these will produce the expected result. Look at the about links on each search engine to learn more about their special features.
Trial and Error
The more you search, the better at searching you will become. Keep experimenting and you’ll find out just how powerful these tools can be.
