how to get more relevant results from google

33
18/06/2022 www.rba.co.uk 1 How to get more relevant results from Google Internet Sourcing Workshop,17 th September 2013, London #discsource This presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License [email protected] www.rba.co.uk twitter: @karenblakeman http://www.linkedin.com/in/karenblakeman

Upload: karen-blakeman

Post on 08-May-2015

3.437 views

Category:

Technology


2 download

DESCRIPTION

Presentation given at the Internet Sourcing Workshop, 17th September 2013, Prospero House, Borough High Street, London. Part of the Discover Sourcing conference organised by UK Sourcers.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: How to get more relevant results from Google

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 1

How to get more relevant results from Google

Internet Sourcing Workshop,17th September 2013, London#discsource

This presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

[email protected]

twitter: @karenblakemanhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/karenblakeman

Page 2: How to get more relevant results from Google

Device dependent

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 2

Page 3: How to get more relevant results from Google

Five things you need to know about Google

1. Google personalises your search

Non-personalised search Personalised search

Page 4: How to get more relevant results from Google

How far does personalisation go?

An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: The answer to your question... depends on who you are (Anne Rooney) http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/answer-to-your-question-depends-on-who.html

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 4

Borromeo vs Borromeo

Page 5: How to get more relevant results from Google

Private browsing - quickest way “un-personalise”search

Chrome - New Incognito window - Ctrl+Shift+N

FireFox - File, New Private Window - Ctrl+Shift+P

Internet Explorer – Tools, InPrivate Browsing [location varies depending on which version you have] - Ctrl+Shift+P

Opera – File, New Private Window - Ctrl+Shift+N

Safari – click on Safari next to the Apple symbol in the menu bar, select Private Browsing and then click on OK.

Will not remove country personalisation

Page 6: How to get more relevant results from Google

Five things you need to know about Google

2. Google automatically looks for variations on your search terms and sometimes drops terms from your search

– Google does not tell you it has ignored some of your terms

– “..” around terms, phrases, names, titles of documents does not always work

– To force an exact match and inclusion of a term in a search prefix it with ‘intext:’

UK public transport intext:algal biofuels

– Use Verbatim for an exact match search

Page 7: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google Verbatim

Page 8: How to get more relevant results from Google

Five things you need to know about Google

3. Google web search does not search everything it has in its database

– two indexes: main, default index and the supplemental index

– supplemental index may contain less popular, unusual, specialist material

– supplemental index comes into play when Google thinks your search has returned too few results

– Verbatim and some advanced search commands seems to trigger a search in the supplemental index

Page 9: How to get more relevant results from Google

“Normal” search

84,600Search after Verbatim is applied

105,000

Page 10: How to get more relevant results from Google

Five things you need to know about Google

4. Google changes its algorithms several hundred times a year How Google makes improvements to its search algorithm

- YouTube http://youtu.be/J5RZOU6vK4Q

Page 11: How to get more relevant results from Google

Five things you need to know about Google

5. We are all Google’s lab rats

Just Testing: Google Users May See Up To A Dozen

Experiments

http://searchengineland.com/just-testing-google-searchers-may-see-up-to-a-dozen-experiments-141570

Mostly minor effects on search but sometimes totally bizarre

results

Google decides that coots are really lions

http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/02/12/google-decides-that-coots-are-really-lions/

Update on coots vs. lions

http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/02/21/update-on-coots-vs-lions/

Page 12: How to get more relevant results from Google

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 12

Page 13: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google gets personal

All searches lead to Google+ (they wish!)

Emphasis on individuals/authors

Author verification – linking Google+ profiles to other network profiles, websites, blogs, social media

Search Google+ separately but beware “private” or limited distribution of some postings

Find People on G+ http://findpeopleonplus.com/

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 13

Page 14: How to get more relevant results from Google

Choosing your search terms

Google automatically looks for synonyms and variations on your terms

– cv will find curriculum vitae, resume

– but you do not get the same results if you use resume or curriculum vitae in your search instead of CV

– OR command to look for alternative terms but often better to run separate searches

– no information on how the synonyms are identified or implemented

The terms you use can radically change results– copper mining north wales vs. copper extraction north wales

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 14

Page 15: How to get more relevant results from Google

Changing your search terms

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 15

Page 16: How to get more relevant results from Google

Country versions of Google and local information

Country versions of Google give priority to local content

Useful if you are researching a person, company, or sector in another country

Go to the relevant country version of Google, for example www.google.fr, www.google.de, www.google.no

Google International Domains - List of Country and Language Codes

– http://www.distilled.net/blog/uncategorized/google-cctlds-and-associated-languages-codes-reference-sheet/

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 16

Page 17: How to get more relevant results from Google

Searching foreign language pages

A significant amount of information is in the local language

Google has removed the extremely useful “Translated foreign pages” search option

This is how it can be done now

1. Use Google Translate (http://translate.google.com/) to translate your search into

the required language.

2. Copy the translated search and paste it into Google search.

3. Google Chrome - enable translate option under advanced search settings, &

Chrome will offer to translate the page of results for you.

Or click on the ‘Translate this page’ link next to a result to view a translation of

just that page.11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 17

Page 18: How to get more relevant results from Google

Tricks worth remembering

Repeat important search terms in your search strategy

Change the order of your terms

" " around phrases (but does not always work)

- to exclude a term

* to stand in for one or more words marketing * director director * marketing

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 18

Page 19: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google commands - filetype

Think file format– pdf for research documents, government reports, industry papers,

conference papers

– ppt or pptx for presentations, tracking down an expert on a topic

– xls or xlsx for spreadsheets containing data, delegate lists, staff lists

– also doc and docx

Use the advanced search screen or the filetype: command zeolites environmental remediation UK filetype:pdf

zeolites environmental remediation UK filetype:ppt

zeolites environmental remediation UK filetype:pptx

renewable energy delegates filetype:xlsx

renewable energy delegates filetype:xls

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 19

Page 20: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google commands - site

For searching large websites, or groups of sites by type for example government, NHS, academic

Search inside a single site (x-ray) site:linkedin.com

Can exclude sites using -site:

Use advanced search screen or site: command

algal biofuels site:ncl.ac.uk algal biofuels site:ac.uk

algal biofuels site:gov.uk

biofuels public transport wales –site:au

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 20

Page 21: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google commands

Numeric range search

Anything to do with numbers and quantities: years, temperatures, weights, distances, prices etc

Use the advanced search screen or type in your two numbers separated by two full stops as part of your search

toblerone 1..5 kg

rhodes zeolites 2010..2013

zeolites environmental remediation Manchester 2010..2013

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 21

Page 22: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google commands – title, url

Words in the title – can be single words or phrases

Use advanced search screen or intitle:

nanotechnology manchester intitle:”marketing

director”

nanotechnology manchester intitle:marketing

intitle:director

allintitle:marketing director [does not work with search

terms in other areas of the page]

Words in the URL

Use advanced search screen or inurl:

nanotechnology manchester inurl:cv

nanotechnology manchester inurl:cv

inurl:nanotechnology

allinurl:cv nanotechnology [does not work with search terms in

other areas of the page]11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 22

Page 23: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google Reading level

Changes the type of material that is returned

Nothing to do with publishers assigned reading age

Run the search and from the menu above the results select Search tools, All results, Reading level

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 23

Page 24: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google Reading level

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 24

Basic Advanced

Page 25: How to get more relevant results from Google

Date

Search tools, Any time and select an option 

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 25

Page 26: How to get more relevant results from Google

daterange:

Date restriction does not work with Verbatim

Use daterange: command instead

Uses Julian date format (fractions omitted)

Julian Date Converter http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.php/

Syntax

chris rhodes zeolites daterange:2456171-2456545

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 26

Page 27: How to get more relevant results from Google

daterange: the easy way

Third party tools for the daterange: search, for example http://gmacker.com/web/content/gDateRange/gdr.htm then apply verbatim to results

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 27

Page 28: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google Scholar

http://scholar.google.com/

“Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Google Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research”.

 • Search all scholarly literature from one convenient place

• Explore related works, citations, authors, and publications

• Locate the complete document through your library or on the web

• Keep up with recent developments in any area of research

• Check who's citing your publications, create a public author profile

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 28

Page 29: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google Scholar advanced search commands

Use advanced search screen or commands as follows:

+ sign before a search term to force an exact match, for example +norne

“....” around phrases for example “environmental remediation”

 

intitle: to search for a single word in the title, for example intitle:zeolites environmental remediation

 

allintitle: to search for all of your terms in the title, for example allintitle:zeolites environmental remediation

 

author: to search on an author’s name, for example

zeolites environmental remediation author:rhodes

 

site: to limit your search to specific institution for example

marcellus shale site:psu.edu

 

Commands can be combined for a precise search, for example

author:wolford site:psu.edu allintitle:marcellus shale11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 29

Page 30: How to get more relevant results from Google

Google Scholar h-index

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 30

Author creates a profile and claims papers

Page 31: How to get more relevant results from Google

1. Remember that Google is continually changing

2. Personalisation is a key element of Google’s algorithms

3. Explore and make use of the options in the menus on your results pages

4. Get to know the advanced search commands

5. If you want to keep Google in check keep up with changes and new developments at Google

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 31

Page 32: How to get more relevant results from Google

Keeping up to date

Inside Search http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/

Official Google Blog http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

Google Scholar Blog http://googlescholar.blogspot.com/

SearchReSearch : http://searchresearch1.blogspot.co.uk/

Search Engine Land http://searchengineland.com/

Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com/

Boolean Black Belt-Sourcing/Recruiting http://www.booleanblackbelt.com/

Karen Blakeman’s Blog http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/

Phil Bradley's weblog http://philbradley.typepad.com/ 11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 32

Page 33: How to get more relevant results from Google

Free fact sheets http://www.rba.co.uk/search/

Search Strategies - Selected Google Commands – http://www.rba.co.uk/search/SelectedGoogleCommands.shtml

Search Strategies - Google Search Tips – http://www.rba.co.uk/search/GoogleSearchTips.shtml

11/04/2023 www.rba.co.uk 33