Genealogy Searches on Google

Today’s slides are available at: http://www.eogn.com/handouts/google

http://www.eogn.com/handouts/google

Google's mission statement “ Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

“ Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

As of March 2006, Google users can: search through approximately 11.3 billion web pages search through approximately 1.3 billion images Read millions of messages

search through approximately 11.3 billion web pages

search through approximately 1.3 billion images

Read millions of messages

If printed: the pages being indexed would result in a stack more than 700 miles high.

the pages being indexed would result in a stack more than 700 miles high.

Google

So how does Google make money?

Google’s Motto Don’t be evil

Don’t be evil

Basic Concepts static web pages dynamic web pages

static web pages

dynamic web pages

Google Searches Google will find most of the information that you and I post on the web, along with more information published by tens of thousands of other individuals and societies. Google will not find the information stored within the databases of the big sites: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org and others.

Google will find most of the information that you and I post on the web, along with more information published by tens of thousands of other individuals and societies.

Google will not find the information stored within the databases of the big sites: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org and others.

Two popular types of search engines: searchable subject indexes Yahoo is a searchable subject index full-text search engines Google is a FULL TEXT search engine

searchable subject indexes

Yahoo is a searchable subject index

full-text search engines

Google is a FULL TEXT search engine

Google searches by words Boolean logic Upper/lower case is ignored “ Trivial words” are ignored: I, a, the, of, etc.

Boolean logic

Upper/lower case is ignored

“ Trivial words” are ignored: I, a, the, of, etc.

Boolean AND is Assumed A search of: John Smith Denver Colorado Is the same as: John AND Smith AND Denver AND Colorado

A search of: John Smith Denver Colorado

Is the same as: John AND Smith AND Denver AND Colorado

This can be changed by specifying Boolean terms "John Smith" AND "Denver, Colorado" (the AND may be omitted) This search will return results that contain both phrases

"John Smith" AND "Denver, Colorado" (the AND may be omitted)

This search will return results that contain both phrases

Other Boolean searches can help (John OR William) AND Smith AND Denver AND (Colorado OR CO) John Smith of Denver, CO John Smith in Denver, Colorado William Smith Colorado Mining Company in Denver, Texas

(John OR William) AND Smith AND Denver AND (Colorado OR CO)

John Smith of Denver, CO

John Smith in Denver, Colorado

William Smith Colorado Mining Company in Denver, Texas

Genealogy challenges A search for Washington Harvey Eastman Will produce many “hits” relating to photography in Washington, DC as well as references to many people named Harvey or Washington!

A search for Washington Harvey Eastman

Will produce many “hits” relating to photography in Washington, DC as well as references to many people named Harvey or Washington!

Genealogy challenges A search for “Washington Harvey Eastman” (with the quote marks) Will not produce references to: Washington H. Eastman Washington Eastman W. H. Eastman Etc.

A search for “Washington Harvey Eastman” (with the quote marks)

Will not produce references to:

Washington H. Eastman

Washington Eastman

W. H. Eastman

Etc.

Genealogy challenges You can use a minus sign, meaning “NOT” A search for: Washington Harvey Eastman –Kodak Should eliminate most references to photography

You can use a minus sign, meaning “NOT”

A search for:

Washington Harvey Eastman –Kodak

Should eliminate most references to photography

Google’s Special Syntaxes intitle: Restricts your search to the titles of Web pages Example: intitle:”george bush”

intitle:

Restricts your search to the titles of Web pages

Example:

intitle:”george bush”

Google’s Special Syntaxes inurl: Restricts your search to the URLs of web pages Example: inurl:help Will return: http://www.eogn.com/helpfile.html

inurl:

Restricts your search to the URLs of web pages

Example:

inurl:help

Will return: http://www.eogn.com/helpfile.html

Google’s Special Syntaxes intext: Searches only the body text, ignoring link text, URLs and titles.

intext:

Searches only the body text, ignoring link text, URLs and titles.

Google’s Special Syntaxes inanchor: Searches for text in a page’s anchors (links). Example: inanchor:”Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter”

inanchor:

Searches for text in a page’s anchors (links).

Example:

inanchor:”Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter”

Google’s Special Syntaxes site: Allows you to narrow the search by a site or a top-level domain Examples: familysearch.org Ancestry.com edu

site:

Allows you to narrow the search by a site or a top-level domain

Examples:

familysearch.org

Ancestry.com

edu

Google’s Special Syntaxes link: Returns a list of pages that link to the specified URL Example: link:http://www.eogn.com

link:

Returns a list of pages that link to the specified URL

Example:

link:http://www.eogn.com

Google’s Special Syntaxes cache: Finds a copy of a web page that Google indexed even if that page is no longer available today or has since changed its contents. Example: cache:www.eogn.com

cache:

Finds a copy of a web page that Google indexed even if that page is no longer available today or has since changed its contents.

Example:

cache:www.eogn.com

Google’s Special Syntaxes daterange: Limits your date to a particular date or range of dates that a page was indexed. Note #1: It is the date that the page was INDEXED by Google, not the page CREATION date! Note #2: Date format must be in Julian dates

daterange:

Limits your date to a particular date or range of dates that a page was indexed.

Note #1: It is the date that the page was INDEXED by Google, not the page CREATION date!

Note #2: Date format must be in Julian dates

Google’s Special Syntaxes filetype: May specify to search only for PDF, Word (DOC), PowerPoint (PPT), Excel (XLS) or other file types.

filetype:

May specify to search only for PDF, Word (DOC), PowerPoint (PPT), Excel (XLS) or other file types.

Google’s Special Syntaxes related: Finds pages that are related to other pages. Example: related: www.eogn.com Returns a list of genealogy newsletters as well as a list of other newsletters owned by the owner of eogn.com.

related:

Finds pages that are related to other pages.

Example:

related: www.eogn.com

Returns a list of genealogy newsletters as well as a list of other newsletters owned by the owner of eogn.com.

Google’s Special Syntaxes info: Provides a page of links to more information about a specified URL

info:

Provides a page of links to more information about a specified URL

Google’s Special Syntaxes phonebook: Looks up telephone numbers Example: phonebook:remling syracuse ny

phonebook:

Looks up telephone numbers

Example:

phonebook:remling syracuse ny

Advanced Search Query Word Input Language Filtering File Format Date

Query Word Input

Language

Filtering

File Format

Date

Advanced Search

Setting Preferences Language Filtering Number of Results Results Window

Language

Filtering

Number of Results

Results Window

Setting Preferences

Search news groups

Google Books

Google Books

Google Books

Google Books

Google Books

Need more information? http://www.google.com/support or http://www.google.com/help

http://www.google.com/support

or

http://www.google.com/help