Super Searching: Getting More From Online Search. Mary Ellen Bates BatesInfo.com October 17, 2018

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1 Super Searching: Getting More From Online Search Mary Ellen Bates October 17, 2018

2 Super Searcher Mindset 2

3 Don t get complex Too many terms = lower results Don t use long OR statements Graze, don t just dig deep Trust Learn to love relevance ranking 3

4 Ask yourself first Who cares about this? Look for info containers, not for the answer itself 4

5 Use context words Overview How to OR tutorial OR help Database OR data set Reviews Figure OR chart OR graph 5

6 Test different words Industry/specialized terms Geographic/linguistic differences Process vs outcome 6

7 Test multiple versions female participation in the labor force 17,900,000 results female participation labor force 21,300,000 results female participation labour force 15,700,000 results... 7

8 Test multiple versions female participation labor force 95,400 results labor force female participation 95,400 results but ranked differently workforce women 146,000,000 results 8

9 How you ask matters 9

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11 Search creatively Need info on a person? Local newspapers, business journals, social media Google Maps Street View shows the office/residential neighborhood Search for them in Google Images 11

12 Search creatively Use multiple sources; nothing is comprehensive Use libraries LibGuides to get smart keywords inurl:libguides 12

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14 Search creatively Millionshort.com finds hidden results Eliminates the most popular sites Find obscure and less-commercial sites 14

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16 Getting More From Google 16

17 Hacking Google Limit your search to the past year 17

18 The Deep Web = 2nd page of Google search results Change your settings to see 100 results per screen 18

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20 Dig deeper with snippets Sub-snippets show aspects of topic Click one sub-snippet and more appear! 20

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22 What about Bing? 22

23 Bing gives you perspectives Uses AI to discern multiple viewpoints Not perfect; useful to ID proponents of a point of view 23

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25 Bing expands your thinking 25

26 Social Media Search Tips 26

27 Search social media on Google Not comprehensive but more complex searching site:twitter.com, site:facebook.com, site:linkedin.com, etc. Example: site:linkedin.com female participation labor force 27

28 Facebook Graph searches When you don t know who you re looking for People who have worked at Monterey Bay Aquarium ( /employees/ever) 28

29 Facebook Graph searches People who are MDs and worked as RNs RNs who speak Dutch NPS students who know blockchain See researchclinic.net/facebook/ and batesinfo.com/bates-infotips/facebookgraph-search/ for more 29

30 Twitter tips Use Advanced Search page twitter.com/search-advanced 30

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32 More advanced search tools filter:follows limit to users you follow filter:links tweet includes a URL filter:news tweets from news sources min_faves:5 minimum of 5 likes min_retweets:5 minimum of 5 retweets 32

33 Know your news 33

34 Good info hygiene Is this a Whoa if true story? Is it reported anywhere else? How established is that social media account? Is this a real news site? See Google s Answer Box 34

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36 Good info hygiene Always reverse image search Tineye.com Berify.com good for monitoring your images Google Image search, maybe 36

37 Fact check resources Snopes.org Factcheck.org (Annenberg Public Policy Center) Politifact.com (Poynter Institute) 37

38 What about privacy? 38

39 Google knows your location Some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other services, like Search and Maps even if Location History is turned off 39

40 Embrace Google s brain Google monitors your searches Feature AND bug Expands search to find related info Filters search to limit the perimeters 40

41 or go private DuckDuckgo.com Bing-based StartPage (ixquick.com) Google-based Peekier.com mostly Bing Preview images of the results 41

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43 Final thoughts Be DIS-satisfied try several approaches Look for clues, not just answers You re searching broad, not deep 43

44 Mary Ellen Bates Slides at /mcwla 44

Super Searcher Tips. Mary Ellen Bates Oct. 15, 2018 BatesInfo.com

Super Searcher Tips. Mary Ellen Bates Oct. 15, 2018 BatesInfo.com Super Searcher Tips Mary Ellen Bates Oct. 15, 2018 BatesInfo.com What about privacy? If it s free, then you re the product being sold. 3 Google knows your location Some location data may be saved as part