A guide on how to conduct a search of the Internet, using a range of techniques to locate the information required. It might seem simple but this guide could save hours of research. Searching just got easier. From the Northampton Business Directory team.

1. How to search the
Northampton Business Directory

2. • The Northampton Business Directory, like other
directories on the Internet, is a catalogue of
businesses and their websites sorted by
categories.
• The directory is organized by real people making
contact with businesses. Ensuring the companies
listed in the Directory create useful and relevant
listings for all users.

3. • On the other hand, Search engines, use
automated programs called Spiders, to look for
information based on keywords entered by
users.
• Common ones such as Google have many
different methods for seeking information to find
exactly the right response to a request.

4. • Directories like the Northampton Business
Directory rely on users knowing the type of
business or site category needed to find the right
information.
• Searching the Northampton Business Directory is
easy. Simply browse the list of categories
provided, and then drill down through the
categories and businesses from there.

5. • Alternatively, users can type a query into the
search function box and browse the results
provided.
• The search results list web sites by category and
subcategory, based on the entire web site rather
than keywords or just one page of a site.

6. • General Searching Techniques
• Most people use Google, Yahoo or Bing. They
enter keywords or phrases to try and find the
information they seek.
• This works well but many results on the top pages
are paid for or are sponsored results.

7. • Many companies employ webmasters and search
engine optimization (SEO) specialists to make sure
their pages appear in the top two or three pages of
results.
• There are many tricks to improve the accuracy and
usefulness of a search query while avoiding duplicate
or paid results.

8. • The search engines themselves use proprietary
algorithms to determine the page rank of a
website. Page rank is simply how high the page is
listed on search results.
• Google tweaks their algorithms several times a
month and changes their result layouts in tests to
improve ad revenues and improved visitor
experience.

9. • This constant change makes it difficult for
webmasters and SEO workers to keep websites
up-to-date and in the proper format to perform
well in the results.
• Google uses items on the website including the
page name, page title and headings in H1 through
H6 format, amount of
text, keywords, images, links, and frequency of
updates to the page.

10. • The engine “spiders” or search “crawlers” that do
the automated searches must incorporate these
items into their search processes for every web
page on the internet.
• Users enter keywords or phrases, and the search
engine, retrieves pages corresponding to that
enquiry. The pages may not always be relevant to
the data entered.

11. • Search engines, are not intuitive and as such they
cannot make inferences about what results the
user seeks.
• One key to getting the best results is learning to
use specialty searches, searches for a specific
area of interest or region, and learning to become
an expert.

12. • Most engines have advanced options and tools.
These make searches much more relevant and
specific to the information users truly want.
• Start by entering the most specific criteria
possible. Tell the search engine exactly what
information is needed and try different ways to
get the information.

13. • Specialty search engines including region or
nation-specific engines are a boon to searchers
seeking information specific to certain areas.
Searching Google.com works well for the US and
the world in general.

14. • However, if a searcher knows they are seeking a
site based in the UK, for instance the
Northampton Business Directory, they are more
likely to find the sites they want by searching
www.google.co.uk for UK-specific results.

15. • Most engines have free translation services
allowing web users to read documents or
websites from around the world.
• Web searching another trick of experienced web
searchers is the use of the so-called Invisible
Web.

16. • The term “Invisible Web” refers to the vast
amount of information that engines and web
directories do not access directly, such as
databases and institution-specific web
directories.
• This information is also known as the “Deep
Web.” Many Internet users have created their
own web directories and lists, which search
engines do not access directly.

17. • Sites such as Complete Planet, OCLC, and Library
Spot specialize in accessing the deep web data
bases, libraries and other resources.
• Another important aspect to successful searching
is learning how to expand or narrow the results
effectively.

18. • For instance, change the wording to add different
keywords. Try alternate spellings of words and
ordering terms differently. Find synonyms for the
terms.
• Metasearch engines, such as Search.com retrieve
results from many different engines at the same
time.

19. • Search.com pulls results from the major
companies, including Google, Alta Vista, Yahoo
and more.
• Some Metasearch engines also track other
internet users Web searches, what is trending on
the Internet, and what other users are
bookmarking or sharing on social networking
sites.

20. • Use quotation marks around search terms when
searching for a phrase. This tells the engine to
show only pages that use those terms in the
exact order typed by the user.
• Typing the same phrase without quotation marks
will return sites that contain one or more of the
terms, which could be a huge number of sites.

21. • Inurl syntax lets searchers look for words within
the URL of a specific site. This is a good way to
find sites that may not have been found entering
a search word or phrase.
• If the user wants to find only sites that contain
the word “Flower” in the site name, they would
type inurl:flower in the search box

22. • Inurl syntax lets searchers look for words within
the URL of a specific site. This is a good way to
find sites that may not have been found entering
a search word or phrase.
• If the user wants to find only sites that contain
the word “Flower” in the site name, they would
type inurl:flower in the search box

23. • Similarly, it is easy to find terms and documents
related to the original search term. Add a tilde (~)
in front of a search term to tell the search engine
to return related terms.
• Entering ~careers in the Google search box tells
Google to return results with the word careers, as
well as related terms like
jobs, employment, professions and more.

24. • Math symbols are another common method to
expand or contract search engine results. Placing
the word AND between two search terms ensures
the search returns results with both words listed.
• The MINUS sign (-) tells a search engine to
exclude words commonly attached to the search
word.

25. • Final Thoughts
• All the search engines are clever, and know a lot
more about you than you might think.
• If you use Google and always search for the same
type of brand or similar products, it filters the
results and supplies what it knows will interest
you.
• How to Search document