bringing google to heel: how to get better search results

Bringing Google to heel: how to get better search results

19th September 2012Karen Blakeman

[email protected], http://www.rba.co.uk/ Twitter: @karenblakeman

11/04/23 www.rba.co.uk 1This presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Oi! Google, NO!!

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.rba.co.uk/

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

What you see in the Google results on your own computer will probably

not be anything like the results I show you here.

11/04/23 www.rba.co.uk 2

Google – the beginning


11 November 1998From the Internet Archive www.archive.org

http://www.archive.org/

Why do we use Google?

Often gives 'good enough' results with minimal effort from

the searcher

Great coverage

Personalisation

Problems?

Google thinks it knows best when it comes to the search

strategy

Too much information

Personalisation



How Google makes improvements to its search algorithm - YouTube http://youtu.be/J5RZOU6vK4Q

http://youtu.be/J5RZOU6vK4Q

Points to remember when searching

Main or primary index of higher "quality" documents and a

supplemental/secondary index. Only the main index is

searched when running simple searches on two or three

keywords.

The supplemental/secondary index (now referred to as ‘tiers’)

comes into play with more complex searches and if a

relatively small number of results are found.


Points to remember when searching

Google no longer looks for all of your words in a page

No more "+" sign in Google web search to force an exact

match search

Google changes its search algorithms up to 500 – 600 times a

year


Google's new Privacy Policy


"Our new Privacy Policy makes clear that, if you’re signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience."

Toward a simpler, more beautiful Google http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/toward-simpler-more-beautiful-google.html

"we're more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google"

Google's new(ish) social network Google Plus (Google+)

http://plus.google.com/

Search Plus Your World (SPYW) referred to by some as Search+ or SPYworld (!) now available in Google.com and is the default. Gives priority to content from people in your networks if you are signed in to your account.


Google.com and signed in to Google



Word cloud of top 20 results for a Google search on Prague (web history and social networks switched off, cookies cleared)

Word cloud of top 20 results for a Google search on Prague (signed in to Google+ account, social networks and web history enabled)

Want to switch personalisation off?

Log out of your Google account when searching

Actively manage search cookies, automatically delete cookies

How to delete cookies

http://aboutcookies.org/Default.aspx?page=2

Use Chrome Incognito (Chrome owned by Google!)

In Google use Verbatim in the left hand menu on results page


Google Knowledge Graph


Google results page side bar


Google side bars


Images Videos News Books Blogs

When it all goes wrong


Verbatim

Forces Google to run an exact

match search. Run your search

first and then select Verbatim

from the left hand menu on your

results page

Cannot be combined directly with

time options in the side bar. Use

http://gmacker.com/web/content/g

DateRange/gdr.htm for date

search using daterange: then

apply Verbatim to the results


Verbatim pulls in supplemental index?


Forcing exact match for a single wordintext:


Google automatically runs synonym searches


Change one of your search terms


Advanced searchAdvanced Search screen (now hidden under cog wheel in upper right hand area of the results page)


Search tips

" " around phrases

"Metadata mega mess in Google Scholar"

- to exclude a term Caversham –otago

* to stand in for one or more words (may have to use quote marks)

solar * panels

"solar * panels"

Picks up solar PV panels, solar photovoltaic panels,

solar water heating panels


Numeric range search

Anything to do with numbers

[search terms] [1st number]..[2nd number] [unit of measurement

(optional)]

wind turbine generation Devon UK 2013..2020


Looking for specific type of information for example statistics, research report, expert presentation?

Use the filetype: command

For statistics

beer consumption UK filetype:xls

beer consumption UK filetype:xlsx

For government, research, industry reports

beer consumption UK filetype:pdf

For conference presentations or trying to locate an expert

biofuels UK filetype:ppt

biofuels UK filetype:pptx


site: to search within a single web site or type of web site

asthma prevalence Devon site:nhs.uk

asthma prevalence Devon site:gov.uk

asthma prevalence Devon site:ac.uk

Sir Francis Drake -site:bbc.co.uk

biofuels UK filetype:ppt site:ac.uk


Reading levelSeems to base analysis on number of technical terms in the page


Translated foreign pages for a different perspective

Your search is translated, run against pages in the chosen language and the results are translated back into your own language.

Can view original text

Google offers some default languages but you can choose your own


Who is the artist?


Photo taken in the courtyard of Museum Kampa, Prague, Czech Republic

Google web search, image search and Flickr search only told us that it was called the Red Rider or the Red Horseman

Who is the artist?


1. Ran a standard web search on red horseman statue czech

2. On the results page selected “Translated foreign pages” from the side bar

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....


Keeping up to date

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

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

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

Search Engine Land http://searchengineland.com/

Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com/

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

Phil Bradley's weblog http://philbradley.typepad.com/


Additional material and factsheets

Search Strategies http://www.rba.co.uk/search/

– Top Search Tips. List of search tips contributed by participants of Karen Blakeman's advanced search workshops.

– Selected Google Commands

– Google Search Tips. List of tips for taming Google that have been recommended by people who have attended Karen Blakeman's Google workshops.

– Search Tools Summary and Comparison. Table summarising and comparing a selection of the advanced search commands that are available in Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo.


Questions?


bringing google to heel: how to get better search results

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