Improving Search Results

What we are going to do now is have a look at how to get more accurate results on a search engine. Now, there are lots of search engines you can use, but one we are going to use now is Google.

If you are trying to find something, say maybe you want to buy a product or look up some information, then you can just enter the term in and you will get results. So what we can do, just put a general term in. So maybe we want to look for a toaster. So as you can see, as soon as I have put the word toaster in, there are lots of different options that have come up for different sets. Some of these with individual companies, but I am just going to use the general term of a toaster.

Once the search comes up, you will see the way that the screen looks, there are different results. First off, you have got this long bar at the top with lots of pictures, now these are adverts for different types of a toaster. So a company will pay an amount of money and get their results on the screen. Now just because it is an advert, it can be really useful too, because it may be you want a particular type of toaster, maybe you want a green toaster like this one here and you like the look of it, well, clicking on here will take you directly to it. So this is one way around directly finding an individual product. And if you hit this right-hand arrow button, that will then take you along and you can see quite a lot of them along the top bar there. So if we just go back to the beginning.

So the first one is what is called Google products, which you have at the top here, so you can find information about it there. The other way you can find things is by the general results. So down here, we have got general results. So looking here we have got toasters that are available from an online store, so we have different online stores and also you have got here, people also ask for, which is the best toaster? So what you can do there is click this down arrow and that will open up some different options, this is the story done on this particular website here.

So sometimes you will find better results along here, say someone wants the best inexpensive toaster, so you can find there and you will get the results of different people who have done reports on cheaper toasters. So be careful when you are looking at those, because some of them will be like comparison sites, which will give you some general information, but it is their opinion on the results, but you can get some good ideas back from that.

Going down a little bit lower, there is more adverts here on different stores, we have got maps of where to find stuff and then down the bottom here, we have also got different branches. So it may well be that you particularly want to buy your toaster from this company. And so you can find out exactly where they are and if you click on the map, it will take you to Google Maps, you can get a little bit more directions on where to find them. And also down here, you have got individual branches of companies, again, you can have the searches directly there.

So there is lots of different search results here, so pan the way down the page, if you are looking for something, but if you are finding those results are not quite what you are after, so maybe you want to do a four-slice toaster. So you can just change the words you put into it. So here we have got a toaster, four-slice, so if you hit return now, we have got the images at the top. Now all those images now change to toasters, which are four-slice ones. Also down here, you see there is got... The ad and these are a different type of advert, these are adverts directly that companies put on about toasters. So they're not the pictured ones at the top, they are of different types. These are worth doing and looking at.

But it may well be that some of the results you are getting are worldwide results and if you want to buy a toaster, you want to pretty much buy it from the UK. So you can also then change this to the UK and you can get results that are just within the UK, or if you want to buy something... Go to a physical store, if we add the word Colchester UK on the end of it, then that is going to come up with branches immediately around where I am right now, so you see the map has changed and here instead of shops all around, we have only got shops that are immediately near me. So all these shops are within one or two miles, so it is a very good way of getting local results. If you want local results, put the product in, but also put in the name of the town that you want it for. You don't have to just search for local if you want to find how many toasters... Toaster companies in Cambridge, you can put Cambridge in.

Also here, you have got a View All button, if you hit that, then down the left-hand side, you will find all the different shops. And then on the map, you will identify where they are. So if we go down here, you see it is popping up a different name, so it will show you exactly where these different shops are. So if you want to particularly use this one... Well, I go to this one, we can then click on the menu on the left, it will tell you information about that company, it will tell you their phone number, their address and things like that and popular times. There is loads and loads of information you can find out, including the reviews on that particular store.

So really from one place, you can find an awful lot of information directly about an individual product on a search. The key thing with searching on the internet is putting the information in of what you actually want. So do not have long waffling sentences about what you are after, try and keep the information you put on a Google search engine concise and accurate and if you want it just for one particular area, then have it area specific.

So the other thing you can do is search for different documents. So if I am after maybe you are going to be doing a PowerPoint, you need a PowerPoint and you want to find out information about them, so we want to say just that we... Maybe just teaching here, we just put first aid PowerPoint. And I want to be able to download it. So I am going to put first aid PowerPoint download.

So what we have got here are some options come up, first aid PowerPoint download, which is what I have typed in, first aid PowerPoint presentation download and a template, for free download, so you can choose one of those if you want. So the results you are getting here are different organisations where you can look at PowerPoints and these are companies or organisations if you can click and then pull down, so we just pick on one here, we hit the button, it downloads the PowerPoint. And as you see at the bottom of the screen, you will see that PowerPoint is downloading.

Now because we wanted to put the download, it is not taking you to a website, it does just directly that that PowerPoint is available to download. So you can see it is just downloading on the screen and that will be then put into your downloads file. You can also here search for PDF documents, if you want to find out about something, you can download that. So if maybe we change that, just stick with the same terms, but we want to put a PDF download and hit return. And then this has come up with a couple of adverts at the top, you see those because they have got an ad, so we can skip that and just go down a little bit further. And we can look here, just click on one of these and in this example here, it will come up with the document. So you want to have a look at what this book is and if you wanted to download whatever is there, we can also hit the download button, which is this arrow at the top right-hand corner and that will download it directly onto our computer.

Now, important when you are downloading stuff off of the Internet is to just be respectful of copyright, because if you are downloading documents directly from the web and then you are using them for a commercial-type reason or not for the use that they are intended, you may find you are in breach of copyright, so just be aware of that when you are downloading them. If you are unsure, you need to contact the company or the organisation whose website it is, so that you can then find out whether you are allowed to use them for whatever purpose you are intending to use them for.