豆知识 2009-06-28&07-04 网络搜索策略

 The Web may seem like a vast ocean when it comes to finding something you need. Thankfully, search engines can help turn oceans of information into small pools that make finding information easier.

 

This is Web Search Strategies In Plain English.

 

Before we dive in, let's talk a bit about how search works on the Web. Search engines go out and try to account for every word on every webpage. All this information is then organized for easy reference¹. When you search for a word, the search engine finds all the pages where the word appears and displays them in the search results. Usually, the pages that appear highest in the search results have lots of other web pages linking to them. Each link acts as a vote to say “this may be a good resource.” 

 

The problem is that there are often too many results. You need a way to reduce the number of results, so you can find what you need. Let's look at how this works.

 

Say you’re looking for a specific kind of fish and these represent all the websites on the Web. Searching for fish doesn't help much. There are way too many results. You need to be more specific. Try to imagine the exact fish and describe it in the search box. You'll see that each word you use gets you closer to what you need. 

 

You can do this for any website by imagining the website that has your answer. What's the title of the page? What words appear on it? If you put those words in the search box, you’ll get closer to finding answers. 

 

But to be a smart searcher, you should know some basic shortcuts³. Let's say you’re looking for words that appear together, like a phrase or a quote. An example is a search for information on “sand sharks”. If you search for it like this, the search engine looks for pages with “sand” and “sharks”. To get better results, put quotes around the words like this. It limits the results to the exact phrase. 

 

Here's another shortcut². Words often have multiple meanings. Consider the word “mullet”, which is both a fish and a hairstyle. A search for “mullet” may give you a number of results about the hairstyle but fewer about the fish. To remove the results about hair, place a hyphen or minus sign just before the word you want to exclude, which means “show me the pages about ‘mullet’, but take away results relating to hair.”

 

By being specific and using words and symbols that remove useless information, you can find exactly what you need and keep the Web from swallowing you whole.

1 reference   

n.提到，说到，暗示，查看，查阅

参考例句：

• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。
• I like to have my reference books within my reach.我喜欢把参考书放到伸手可取的地方。

2 shortcut   

n.近路，捷径

参考例句：

• He was always looking for a shortcut to fame and fortune.他总是在找成名发财的捷径。
• If you take the shortcut,it will be two li closer.走抄道去要近2里路。

3 shortcuts   

n.捷径( shortcut的名词复数 )；近路；快捷办法；被切短的东西（尤指烟草）

参考例句：

• In other words, experts want shortcuts to everything. 换句话说，专家需要所有的快捷方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Offer shortcuts from the Help menu. 在帮助菜单中提供快捷方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓