Copied from a newsletter that I get From: Robert Ragan <ragan@leading.net> Subject: **August 2000 - Treasure Maps Genealogy Newsletter** ----------------------------------------- SEARCH ENGINE SECRETS: ----------------------------------------- **ROBERT SAYS: "Nine out of ten people do NOT know how to use the Internet's search engines. If this is you, don't feel bad. I have developed and taught classes on search engines in the non-genealogy world, and I want you to know that people from all walks of life, do not know how to find what they want on-line. However, if you are a genealogy researcher who does not know how to find exactly what you are looking for on the Internet, you are in trouble. I liken the problem to this: Imagine that you are walking along the beach, and see some gold coins in the sand. You bend over and pick them up, delighted with your good fortune, and you go on your way. But, what you DON'T know, is that a few inches beneath the sand, near where you found the coins, is a treasure chest FULL of gold coins. You missed out, and you were oh-so close. So many people will stumble along on the Internet, and not realize that they are passing over what they want, but were so close to getting it. Genealogy directory Web sites that point the way to other sites are great. But what about the dear little old lady in Ohio that put up a small Web page that has information that you need? She may not be listed on these directory sites. How will you find her page and get that information that is important to your research?" Knowing how to really use the Internet's "Search Engines" to find the needle in the haystack is such an important skill to have. As a genealogy researcher, you simply must know how this all works. GO TO: The Alta Vista search engine at: http://www.altavista.com Note the SEARCH BOX (it could also be called the search field). Here is where you enter your KEY WORDS. To the right of the search box, note the SEARCH BUTTON. Once you have entered your key words, you can click on the search button or, press the ENTER key on your keyboard to do a search. **ROBERT SAYS: "I want to step away from genealogy for a minute to make a point. I want you try this, and all of these other examples that I will show you, on your own computer at home." TYPE IN: The key words Italian cooking (note the upper case letter "I") and click on the search button. Take a look at the results. They are listed TEN at a time. In my search here was the number one result (this can change daily, your top result may differ). Now, look at the bottom of the Alta Vista results page. Here is what you will see: Results Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 next>> Remember, the results are listed in sets of ten. Click on the number "2" and you will see results 11-20. If you click on "3" you will see results 21-30, and so on. But What About a Large Amount of Results? In this example there are 4356 pages that mention Italian cooking. But, it doesnt matter if it was 14,000 or even 140,000 pages. The ones that are most relevant and the most important will be on the top. Normally your best results will always be in the top fifty. And, after you learn how to "fine tune" your searches, they will be in the top twenty results. Bottom line: If you have a million pages when you do a search, do not worry. The best are on top. If you want to prove it to yourself; go down to result number 100 sometime and see how poor of a link that it is (pertaining to what you wanted). However, your goal is to get the VERY best results in the top twenty ALWAYS. ------------------------------------------- Upper Case, Lower Case Letters: ------------------------------------------- Now, TYPE IN: The key words italian cooking (note that the letter "i" is LOWER CASE) and click on the search button. NOW look at the first ten results. They are different this time. Why? Because when you type in the word Italian (with an upper case "I"), Alta Vista will ONLY search for the word with the upper case letter. So, only those Web pages with the word Italian with the upper case letter "I" (exactly as shown) will appear in the results. BUT, when you type in the word italian (with the lower case "i"), Alta Vista will show the Web pages that have this word listed in these three ways: Italian, ITALIAN, and italian This is a VERY important fact. Hmmm Think about it for a minute. Why would this be of any real concern to a genealogy researcher? Do you know the answer? IMPORTANT: Always Use LOWER CASE Key Words: If I did a search for the surname Ragan (with the first letter upper case), I could miss out on some important information. In the genealogy world, the surnames are often listed in ALL UPPER CASE letters. For example, when I type the surname ragan (all lower case) so that Alta Vista will search for Ragan, RAGAN, and ragan. So, when you are typing in those key words ALWAYS use lower case letters. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Forcing Words to APPEAR and to be EXCLUDED: Forcing Words to APPEAR and to be EXCLUDED: -------------------------------------------------------------------- o The + (plus) symbol forces that word to APPEAR in the search results. o The - (minus) symbol forces that word to be EXCLUDED in the results. TYPE IN: The key words ragan +genealogy and click on the search button. It reads: ragan(space)+genealogy Note: There is NO SPACE between the plus symbol and the word genealogy. But there IS a space between the word ragan and the plus symbol. ***Try These Searches with Some of YOUR Surnames: Note: Starting now, the term "yourname" will represent whatever surnames you are interested in. Decide now, which of your surnames (use several each time) that you will use in these exercises. For instance: If one of the surnames that you want to use is "Brewer," and the exercise says: yourname +genealogy you would type in brewer +genealogy TYPE IN: yourname +family and click on the search button. GREAT TIP: A big part of genealogy research has to do with vital statistics (born, died, and married), right? These are excellent key words. So try these three searches: o TYPE IN: yourname +born and click on the search button. o TYPE IN: yourname +died and click on the search button. o TYPE IN: yourname +married and click on the search button. Again, try this with several different surnames that you want to do research on, and see what comes up. Just examine the results for now, because soon you will see how to "fine tune" your searches to get as many quality family history Web pages listed in the results as high as possible. **ROBERT SAYS: "I call this getting the cream to float to the top just like it did in Grandpa's milk bucket. Here is how the fine tuning process works: - You type in your key words and do a search. - You EXAMINE your results (the top 10-20 only). - Then you add more key words (usually with the "-" minus symbol to EXCLUDE things in your results) to your existing key words and try again. Remember, it will take from 3 to 5 times to get it right. So, just count on fine tuning your searches 3 to 5 times with each attempt, and the good stuff WILL float to the top." NOTE: Real examples from the conference: When I asked for someone to yell out a surname, the names "Morse" and "Bunk" came up. When we did a search on the Bunk surname, the word "house" kept coming up on the results. So to fine tune this, we would add -house to the list of key words. Here is how it works: -First search: bunk +born (examine the results). -Second search, fine tuning: bunk +born -house (examine results). Here is an example with the surname Morse: -First search: morse +born (examine the results). Have you ever heard of the methods of communication called Morse code? We need to fine tune the search and exclude the word "code." -Second search, fine tuning: bunk +born -code (examine the results). But let's also say that you see Web pages in the results for "Morse Realty" and "Morse Plumbing." You would also exclude these non-genealogy words. -Third search: morse +born -code -realty -plumbing (examine results). Now try the same searches, but change the word "born" to married, or family, or genealogy. Get the idea? In my opinion, here are the top three best search engines for genealogy and family history research: 1. Alta Vista -- www.altavista.com 2. HotBot -- www.hotbot.com 3. Google - www.google.com So now that you can actually start to find things on-line easier, I want to show you how you can save your eyesight and keep from going blind and cross-eyed..." ---------------------------------------------------------------- Going Cross-eyed? Use The Key Word Search Feature on Your Web Browser --------------------------------------------------------------- When you go to a Web page with a lot of text, you can go blind looking at all of the information looking for a name. So, use your Web browsers key word search (or, "Find") feature (not to be confused with a search engine). **ROBERT SAYS: "Often, I will find genealogy Web pages that are very long. And since these genealogy pages are full of names, dates, and places, looking at them carefully for good information puts quite a strain on your eyes. If for no other reason, the tip I am going to share with you was worth the time it took for you to come here today. You will love me for this: You have the answer to this problem waiting for you on your computer already. The "Key Word Search" feature on your Web browser is one of the most overlooked tools I have seen (next to the search engines). If I find a Web page with tons of data. I can use my Web browser to do the looking for me. For example: Let's say I am looking for information on Jonathan Ragan who lived in Oglethorpe County, Georgia long ago. When I got to that lengthy Ragan Web page, I would do a key word search (again, this tool is already built into my Web browser) using the word "Jonathan." Then, I might try the word "Oglethorpe." Then I might try doing a search on that same Web page using the word "Georgia" as a key word, just to see if I can find anything interesting. "