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Searchable Catagorized Listings
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Search engines like Yahoo
catagorize their listings. When a page is added to their collection, it
is placed in one or more categories that describe it. I'll explain how
this is done with an example...
I wanted to find information
about the U.S Government, but I wasn't sure exactly what I should name
what I was looking for. I chose to look for an address by using the Yahoo
search engine. When asked for search text, I entered
government information
When the results page was
displayed, I found many categories with government information in their
titles. If I clicked on the of the titles, I would then recieve a listing
of sites having to do with that title. I skimmed through the titles and
selected
Government: Politics:General
Information
When the listing loaded,
I was happy to find a site that broadcasted what was happening in the Senate
live.
The previous was a good
example of a catagorized search. Catagorized searches are best when search
for broad or topics which you may not be sure what to search for.
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Full Text Searches
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Search engines like AltaVista
are full text searches. This type of search engine catalogs the entire
text of the pages that it contains. When you search a full text search
engine, you are performing a much more thurough search. Again, I will use
an example...
I wanted to find information
on Hydrogen Fuel Cell used in Automobiles. I decided that this was a pretty
specific topic and so I decided to search AltaVista. When asked for search
text, I entered:
Hydrogen +"Fuel Cell" +Automobile
When the results page displayed,
I found 35 sites that mentioned Hydrogen and Fuel Cells having to do with
Automobiles. After skimming through the pages, I found a page all about
Hydrogen Cars - just what I was looking for.
The above is an example
of a very specific search. Very specific searches produce the best results
with full text search engines. Also, if you first try a catagorized search
and find nothing, try the same search with a full text search engine -
you may be pleasantly surprized.