Search Engine

What is a Search Engine?

• A page on the web connected to a

backend program
• Allows a user to enter words which
characterize a required page
• Returns links to pages which match the
query
 Components of a SE

• Robot (or Worm or Spider)

– collects pages
– checks for page changes
• Indexer
– constructs a sophisticated file structure to
enable fast page retrieval
• Searcher
– satisfies user queries
 How Search Engines (SEs) Work?
• Crawler-Based Ses

• Human-Powered Directories

• "Hybrid Search Engines" Or Mixed Results

 What do we search?
• Information
• Reviews, news
• Advice, methods, how to avoid errors
• Educational material
Examples:
• Laptop reviews
• How to write a cover letter?
• How to conduct seminars?
 Main Steps

• Make a decision about the search

• Formulate a topic. Define a type of
resources that you are looking for
• Find relevant words for description
• Find websites with information
• Choose the best out of them
• Feedback: How did you search?
 Main Problems

Why is it difficult to search?

• Know the problem, don’t know what to
look for
• Lose focus (go to interesting but nonrelevant
sites)
• Perform superficial (shallow) search
• Search Spam
 Typical Problems

• Links are often out of date

• Usually too many links are returned
• Returned links are not very relevant
• The Engines don't know about enough
pages
• Different engines return different results
• Political bias
 Typical Mistakes

• Unnecessary words in a query

• Unsuitable choice of keywords
• Not enough flexibility in changing
keywords (SEs)
• Divide the time devoted to search and
evaluation of search results
• “Your search did not match any
documents. ” – Bad Query!
 Search Tricks

• Technical aspects
• Search of Resources
• Useful words
• Useful sites
 Improving Query Results

• To look for a particular page use an

unusual phrase you know is on that page
• Use phrase queries where possible
• Check your spelling!
• Progressively use more terms
• If you don't find what you want, use
another Search Engine!
 Useful words

• Download, free
• Pdf, ppt, doc, zip, mp3
• Forum, directory, links
• Faq, for newbies, for beginners, guide,
rules, checklist
• Lecture notes, survey
• How, where, correct
Thank you