Web Search

Tips for Better Searches

Tip 1: Use a few simple key words

For example, if you are doing a history project on what it was like to be a child in Britain during World War Two, typing this into a search engine won't give you very clear reults. The extra words will only confuse the search engine:

what was it like being a child in Britain during World War Two

Instead, pick a few well-chosen key words:

children WW2 Britian

Tip 2: Use + signs to tell the search engine exactly what you are looking for

For example, if you want to find out about the human heart for some Science homework, don't simply type heart. This doesn't give the search engine enough information. Instead, you need to tell it that we only want pages that have the both the words heart and human in them, by placing a + between the words:

heart + human

Tip 3: Use speech marks to tell the search engine to look for a phrase

For example, if you want to find information on the town Kingston Upon Thames, it is better to put speech marks around the words, so that the search engine treats it as one phrase, not 3 separate key words:

"Kingston Upon Thames"

Tip 4: If you are using Google, select 'Pages from the UK'

This will stop your search results including pages from America and the rest of the world.