How to search smarter

Search is the primary method for finding out about new sites and information, so it really pays to do it more efficiently. There are quite a few tips and tricks you may not have thought about using that will definitely help you sniff out that obscure fact more quickly. (All these links will open in a new window, by the way.)

1. Looking for a picture or trying to find out what something looks like? Use Google's image search. If you're searching for an image that you'd like to use in your own work without having the copyright hounds set on you, use a great search engine called YoToPhoto, which trawls the web for images which are free to use.
   Google UK image search
   YoToPhoto
   
   
2. Looking for information on a general subject? Save yourself time by adding the word "links" to your search keywords. This surprisingly effective trick will bring you to pages with ready-made, 'best-of' collections of links that other people have edited, which means less link trawling for you.
   
   
3. Want to see a variety of possibilities at a glance? Use a 'meta-search' engine. These put your keywords into a number of different search engines for you automatically, and compile the results on one page. These were once all the rage in the heady, pioneering days of the net, but have fallen out of fashion somewhat lately. They can still turn up unexpected gems however, especially because the way search engines work out what results to put at the top of your list can differ somewhat. Give this one a go and see if it works for you.
   Dogpile
   
   
4. Search returned few or no results? Try using a thesaurus. If 'design study' was your search phrase, bear in mind that 'design research' might return an equally valid list of links.
   Thesaurus.com
   
   
5. Got a mass of irrelevant results for your search? Brave the 'advanced search' function. You can specify words to exclude from the search - so that, for example, you could make a search for 'beans' ignore any sites containing the word 'jumping' or 'jelly'.
   

And finally, if you need some light relief on your net.travels, these are just for fun:

• Put in the name of something or somebody to find out what Google 'thinks' about them. (Apparently, rechord is a treatment program with three parts...)
  Googlism
  
  
• Have a go at Googlewhacking, one of the first true internet sports. The challenge is to find a search phrase that returns only one result. The rules, and hall of fame are here:
  Googlewhack
  
  
• See who would win in a fight between Gordon Brown and David Cameron. (No, not literally; we mean on Google.) Enjoy an animated punch-up while this site calculates which of your 2 keywords has more results in the search listings.
  Googlefight