Searching Google For Website

Searching Google TM SHR Medical Library

In This Session You Will Learn

How Google Works

Tips for Searching Google

Boolean Logic

Google Special Features

Tips for evaluating information on the Internet

A. Same number of syllables as YAHOO B. Named after founder’s dog C. Misspelling of Googol Test Your Google I.Q. Why is Google called “Google”?

Answer is C ! Originates from term Googol means 10 100 Test Your Google I.Q. Answer from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googol

“ Don’t Be Evil”

Started in 1996 as the PhD research project of engineering students Sergey Brin & Larry Page at Stanford University

They never went on to finish their PhD

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

The Little Spider that Could… how search engines work

Google refers to their spiders as Googlebots

Crawls the web - sends request to web page – passes off page to Google indexer

They are not a directories

i.e. Google Directory

From: http://www.googleguide.com/google_works.html

A (very brief) description of How Google Gets Results

1. Searches for all of your keywords as a phrase

2. Will search to see if our search terms are found close together on the page

3. Measures number of times your keyword appears

4. plus some other secret stuff

5. multiplies page’s individual scores by its ‘Page Rank’

6. Then Displays top 1,000 in order of relevance

Based on IMPACT factor premise from scholarly publishing

Google applies this to the Web: importance of Web page judged by number of hyperlinks pointing to it from other pages

Page Rank TM From: http://www.google.com/technology/

Deep Web or Invisible Web Google & others search about 15% Internet

Can Google Do it All?

Google and other Internet search engines access only 7% of available health-related information.

Source: Henderson J. Google scholar: A source for clinicians? CMAJ 2005;172(12):1549-1550

Google Scholar

Still in BETA, meaning its still in a developmental phase

Does not used controlled vocabulary and does not have up to date access to current journal articles

Let’s Get Googling! Go to Google Canada: www.google.ca

Basic Google Search Screen Choose what to search Enter search terms here Click here when ready to start search Can choose to search only Canadian sites Set your preferences Automatically takes you to the first site in results URL- the website address Get more help with your searching Title of Web Page

Example: http://www.saskatoonhealthregion.ca/

http:// - stands for hypertext transfer protocal

www – World Wide Web

saskatoonhealthregion – this is the domain name

.ca – this is the type of domain, this is a Canadian site

URL: Uniform Resource Locater

Setting Your Preferences

Understanding Google Results Database searched Number of results Words searched Cached & Similar Pages Search terms in Bold Results current as of January 29, 2007

Image Search Results current as of January 29, 2007 Click on Images and then click on Search Click on Advanced Image Search for more options

Map Search Click on Maps and then click on Search Maps Shows location of Museum Results current as of January 29, 2007

AND, OR, NOT …. Boolean Operators

AND is exclusive – must have both terms

OR is inclusive- must have either idea

Dogs Dogs Cats Dogs AND Cats Cats Dogs OR Cats

AND, OR, NOT …. Boolean Operators

NOT : is e xclusive, must have first term not the second

Cat Dog Cat Not Dog

AND is the default in Google

Example: dogs AND cats = dogs cats

Phrase put phrase in quotes

Example: “The truth about cats and dogs”

OR can use the word OR and can use symbol (I)

Example: dogs OR cats = dogs I cats

+ forces search of common words

Example: the + truth + about + cats + dogs

Synonyms searched using Tilde (~)

Example: dogs ~ puppies ~ terrier ~ husky

Googlean Boolean

Google Advanced Search AND Phrase OR NOT

Google Advanced Search Pearl Growing: Helpful when you find the perfect site and want more like it Allows you to search within Google Books or only for MAC computer stuff, etc.

1. Choose some search terms

2. Try different combinations

(with all the words, with the exact phrase, with at least one of the words, without the words)

3. Choose some limits

file type (.ppt, .doc)

Language (English, French)

Domain (.edu, .gov, .org, .ca)

4. Ask Us Questions!

Try It! Google Advanced Search

Google Advanced: Sample Search We limit our search to Power Point Presentations

Google Advanced: Sample Search Results current as of January 30, 2007 Our Results are all Power Point Presentations

Other Google Stuff

Quick Tips: Evaluating Web Sites

Who Runs the Site? Check the About Us Page, Do they provide any contact information? (anonymous sites can spell trouble). Do you recognize the organization, institution or agency?