Recently, we posted some tips for search Google better.  Here are even more tips for searching not just Google but new and different search engines!

(Many thanks to the Librarian in Black for this great recap of a presentation from Computers in Libraries)

-For Google, you can use the search operator ‘AROUND(#)’ to search for words which might not be next to one another but can be found close to one another [Photoshop AROUND(2) tutorial]

-Similarly, in Bing you can use the search operator ‘NEAR:#’ [autism near:3 vaccination’

-Using Wikipedia’s “concepts related to” list can be helpful in pointing your to related topics

-Yahoo Clues shows queries by age, gender, what they searched before and after the search in question

-In Bing, you can limit your search to a specific URL or domain [library link:fromdomain:.gov]

-The new search engine DuckDuckGo.com provides you with alternative uses of the word you are searching.  DucukDuckGo.com also will not track your search results.

-Blekko is a new search engine that blocks spam and irrelevant sites.  You can also utilize slash tags- for example, the search [ice cream /likes] will only return pages about ice cream that have been “liked” by your friends on Facebook.

-Waybackmachine.org lets you view snapshots of websites as they appeared at different dates over the life of the page.

-Topsy is a social search engine that allows you to search Twitter hashtags and limit those searches by date and time.