Internet Search

Of surveys and the jungle: how we use search engines

By Tom Mighell on July 1, 2003

A few weeks ago I commented on the fact that Internet users are woefully behind when it comes to searching skills. Now Consumer Web Watch releases the results of a study discussing how consumers use search engines. Among the findings: that Internet users have little understanding of how search engines work, and that most do…

More on the new Google toolbar

By Tom Mighell on June 30, 2003

Posted in Search Engines

SearchDay continues its search toolbar series by reviewing the new features of Google Toolbar V. 2.0.

Microsoft seeks to compete

By Tom Mighell on June 28, 2003

Posted in Search Engines

Microsoft has launched software that will index web sites, called MSNBot. It is expected that Microsoft is making a move to compete directly with Google in the search industry.

The toolbars…the toolbars!!!!

By Tom Mighell on June 26, 2003

Posted in Search Engines

There’s a lot of buzz this week about search engine toolbars, most of it coming from Search Engine Watch. Monday’s SearchDay reported on the Dogpile Toolbar, which allows you to easily access the Dogpile metasearch tool from your browser window. On Tuesday, Chris reported on the new HotBot Quick Search Deskbar which, among…

So THAT explains it

By Tom Mighell on June 24, 2003

Posted in Fun Stuff, Search Engines

Ever wonder how Google’s results are so frighteningly accurate? Wonder no more — it’s all due to Google’s patented PigeonRank process.

More pictures than you can shake a stick at

By Tom Mighell on June 23, 2003

Posted in Search Engines

AltaVista announced last week that it now has the largest index of multimedia on the Web, including image files, audio, and video. Itsimage search engine contains over 540 million images — you can search for photos, graphics, or banners/buttons, and you can even limit your search to black and white or color, or…

How saturated is your site?

By Tom Mighell on June 13, 2003

Posted in Search Engines

Internet marketing firm Marketleap offers this search engine saturation tool to determine the number of pages a given search engine has in its index for your website. Interestingly, HotBot and AllTheWeb have more than 10 times the pages Google has for Inter Alia.

Searching the Internet 101

By Tom Mighell on June 10, 2003

Posted in Internet Search

Ernie expands on a point I started yesterday — that searching the Internet should be a skill taught in school. I couldn’t agree more. I frequently give seminars on searching the Internet, and I am constantly amazed at the lack of basic knowledge many have about conducting simple online research (for example, I find that…

Google Tips

By Tom Mighell on June 9, 2003

Posted in Search Engines

The MIT Technology Review has an article on Getting More from Google, with helpful tips for squeezing more information out of the search engine. I agree with the author — most people don’t want to learn these tips; they would rather just type a few words into the search box and take their chances…