Top Ten Tips on ‘How to Find Virtually Anything on the Internet
By Karl Kasca, Information Researcher/Speaker
Kasca & AssociatesHere are ten quick and simple tricks that you can use to make your Internet searches much more effective. If you use these search techniques you may be able to find what you’re seeking on the first or second pages of search engine results.
1) Use Key Words: Pick ‘Key’ words to enter into the search engine box. Choose nouns, subjects, objects, person’s names, or place names for your search. For added search success use ‘unique’ words in your search. This will limit your search results to web pages most likely to have your answer on them. Try to think of words which might be on the ‘ideal’ web page you’d like to find…and use those words in your search.
2) Use Quotation Marks: The simplest and best way to make many of your searches stronger and more effective is to use “quotation marks” around phrases, such as: “the quick brown fox”. This is even stronger if you use a phrase along with another word (or phrase), e.g., try: “the quick brown fox” typing. Then try: “the quick brown fox” “traditional typing exercise”.
3) Use More Words for Less Results: The more words you use, the less results you get back. This is a great way to narrow the focus of your search. Try using at least four or more words.
4) Use Less Words for More Results: If you used ‘more words’ and ended up with less results than you’d like, then just use less words and you’ll get more results again. This is especially useful if you get no (or very few) results (“your search did not match any documents”): just ‘dial it back a notch’ by deleting a word (or two…).
5) Use the Google Toolbar: By using the Google Toolbar, you will be able to:
· Search within just one website so you can ‘focus like a laser beam’ on what you’re searching for (Search Site), · Navigate from a web page deep within a web site one level at a time until you reach the ‘top’ page or Home Page of the site (Up one Level), · Highlight the key words you searched on so you can easily locate them on the web page(s) Google found (Highlight), · And many other useful features as well.If you use Internet Explorer*, you can download the Google Toolbar for free at: http://toolbar.google.com. And for users of the Firefox browser, you can find a Google Toolbar here: http://toolbar.google.com/firefox/. * In fact there’s a new ‘Beta’ (test) version of the Google Toolbar that has even more features to make your searches even more targeted and powerful: http://www.google.com/tools/toolbar/T4/.
6) Search Discussion Groups: Some of these groups have been around for decades. Mainly used by hobbyists, professional groups, clubs, and many diverse kinds of people sharing common interests, these groups are virtual ‘treasure troves’ of great information. Discussion groups can be especially useful for Due Diligence reviews, Fraud examinations (finding apparent links between companies and individuals), Competitive Intelligence, and Product Research, and other research. You can easily search Discussion Groups by selecting the ‘Group’ tab above the search box at Google.com.
7) Try other search engines: Most people use Google as their main search engine. However, as amazing as Google is, it isn’t able to access every web page on the Internet (no search engine currently is). In fact, one study found that first page search results for the four main search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask Jeeves) only overlap about 1% (http://snipurl.com/ma3d). Since so few of the same results are returned, it means that ‘if you don’t find what you are seeking on one search engine, then try another’. If you’d like to keep up to date on search engines, you can find more information at: www.searchenginewatch.com.
8) Use Advanced Search, or Help, or Tips: Most search engines have ‘advanced’ search features or pages which you can use to make your searches even more powerful. I strongly recommend that you ‘know your search engine’: Just look for a button or link such as, ‘help’, ‘tips’, or ‘advanced’ that you can select to find out how to use the search engine(s) that you prefer so you have the best chance of finding what you’re seeking (using the search features/strategies available or recommended by the search engines creators).
9) Try, Try Again: As the saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. As much of a cliché as that sounds like, ‘persistence’ is one of the prime methods for successful searches, as long as you are using reasonably good search strategy(ies). So if you don’t find what you’re looking for with your favorite search engine, first try different words, phrases, or advanced tips (see #8 above). If you still haven’t found what you’re looking for, then try a different search engine (see #7 above). Or try a Metasearch engine (a search engine which searches many search engines at once). For more on Metasearch engines, see: http://snipurl.com/ma6a.
10) Just try it: I’m often asked if a certain search works. The answer is: ‘Just try it!’. Try different search engines, features, and strategies. If there’s any doubt in your mind about whether a search or approach would find what you’re seeking, just try it. Since you’ll only be looking at the first or second pages of results, it won’t take much time…and you might just find your ‘ideal’ result(s)!
Bonus Tips for Accountants: Try this search:
"top 10" "accounting resources" government accountants
Note: You can add the word ‘municipal’ (no quotes) if you want to limit this further. Or you can add/subtract other words to the search strategy.Or try this search:
gasb accounting "municipal government" resourcesOr try this search in Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/):
municipal accountingBonus Tips for Auditors: Try this search:
government auditing linksOr try this search:
municipal auditing resourcesOr try this search in Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/):
municipal auditing
KARL KASCA'S BIOGRAPHY
Karl Kasca, CFE, CIA, CSL
Karl owns his own company, KASCA & ASSOCIATES, which provides information that businesses and attorneys use to make decisions and act on. His company specializes in business research and competitive intelligence; as well as market, product, industry trends; and due diligence. Karl also speaks about Information Research and the Internet. His most requested speeches are: ‘How to Find Virtually Anything on the Internet’, ‘There’s Nothing You Can’t Not Know’ (about Competitive Intelligence), and ‘Efficient/Creative Internet Searching for Fraud Investigations’.
Karl has a series of speeches covering the entire research cycle, including Searching (Sources of Information), Thinking (Creative Thinking & Search Strategies), Analyzing Data (into Knowledge), and Communicating Results. He is also a Certified Seminar Leader (CSL).
Karl co-teaches a Competitive Marketing and Strategy class for UCLA Extension. He also serves on the Board of the Pasadena Jaycees Foundation, which helps the Pasadena Junior Chamber of Commerce with fundraising for their community service projects.
Karl Kasca was formerly with Unocal, a Fortune 500 energy resources company, with over 16 years experience performing operational and financial internal audits as well as vendor and conflict-of-interest/fraud examinations in diverse business situations. As a result, Mr. Kasca has become very experienced at finding creative approaches and solutions to problems/questions as well as performing insightful analyses of results. Since that time, Karl has expanded these skills into the field of information research using some of the most powerful subscription-based databases in the world, as well as becoming an expert in innovatively searching the Internet.
Credentials:
- UCLA-Extension – Co-instructor: ‘Competitive Marketing & Strategy’ class;
- CIP (Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals) – Los Angeles Chapter – Steering Committee);
- Past Board-member & Treasurer of AIIP (Association of Independent Information Professionals);
- LA-ACFE (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners) - Los Angeles Chapter – Board member;
- Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE);
- Certified Internal Auditor (CIA);
- Certified Seminar Leader (CSL).
For more information: - Information Research: www.kasca.com
- Speaking/Seminars: www.kasca.com/speaking/
