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Web Data Searching Techniques

In this article, we are going to learn about the different Web Data searching techniques like URL search, know the definition of word, searching a set of word etc.
By: Shamikh Faraz, on 18 APR 2018

Nowadays this is a very big problem to search appropriate data on web search engines. This is quite difficult to get our desired data. Well, there are more search engines which perform the job of data searching like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc., but sometimes these are unable to provide required data. Here is a list of searching techniques to improve the accuracy of results. The uses of these searching techniques are just like "something is better than nothing". After using these, one can be able to get fruitful results.

1. URL Search

URL (Uniform resource locator) is a particular web address inside a website. For example ‘http://sciencecongress.nic.in’ is a web address. When we type this in the search bar of a web browser, then we get the opened home page of this website. Suppose we wish to get information about membership of ‘Indian Science Congress Association’ which has the web address ‘http://sciencecongress.nic.in’. Then through the first way, we will open the home page and will click on membership link given on the website. The second way is to go through specified search i.e. type specified address (‘http://sciencecongress.nic.in/membership.htm’) in the search bar of the browser and we will get opened page of ‘membership’ link. Using third way with the help of search engine, we can go directly to the link of membership page of the particular website. When we are searching for the membership of a particular website through any search engine, then we can use this method. For this, type ‘inurl:membership’ followed by website name such as ‘inurl:membership sciencecongress’ in the search bar of the search engine. Then we will receive all web links containing the information about membership page of that website. Top three will be the links to membership page of that website. The other will also be the link to membership page, but some may be from Facebook or anything else.

But if we type ‘inurl:membership’ then the web links returned by search engine will contain the name of only those websites which has membership link inside them and if our required website link is in the top results then it will show in the first page otherwise we have to search next pages returned by search engine. For example if we type inurl:membership in the search bar of the search engine, we will easily and directly get the link of membership page of ‘club penguin’ website (We can find this on the first page because nowadays this is in the top order in Google search priority, otherwise we have to search in next some pages) But if we write ‘inurl:membership clubpenguin’, then we will find only those links which has the information related to membership of club penguin. All the search engines will produce the links containing the word ‘membership’.

2. Know the definition of a word

People use different techniques to find out the definition of particular one. For example, we wish to find out the definition of the computer then we can write “What the computer is”, "definition of the computer", "what is the definition of a computer “or anything related to it. But in this way, we can find different definitions which may be not satisfied with us. The work style of a search engine is something like this that all words written by you are searched in different websites. That is why many times we get results are not related to our search. But if we write our query in this way.

Define: computer

Then there will be complete information. Firstly there will be word meaning of computer, secondly encyclopedia of computer and tertiary other desired information.

3. Minimum use of prepositions

This is defiantly a truth that search engines do not consider prepositions in searching such as ‘in, for, and’. We can easily find this concept in practice, when some words are typed in the search bar of a search engine then in search results the words typed by us are shown in bold black letters excluding prepositions. Only those words are shown in bold black letters which are not prepositions, no matter those are numeric or alphabetic.

For example, if we search ‘ewaste seminar in India in 2018’. Then the words ‘ewaste’, ‘seminar’, ‘India’, ‘2018’ are shown bold black. There is also a preposition i.e. ‘in’ in the words written in the search bar. The result shown by search engine contains a no. of web addresses and also some concern text of those web addresses. We can also search same above information with a little change i.e. removing ‘in’ proposition. If we make a search with same words with a little change i.e. excluding preposition ‘in’, then we can get the same result with a negligible change. All the links of websites excluding one are same after using both sets of words. So these are the evidence that may try to prove that search engines do not consider preposition in searching. In other words, we can say prepositions play a little bit roles in searching. So, we should make as little as a possible use of prepositions in searching. Search engines search all the words that we write in a search bar. So during a search, this must be kept in mind, type a most relevant word in a little sentence. If we write more words for searching, then this will not give sufficient result, because every word is searched by a search engine in different websites, sometimes, the word belongs to totally different websites that are not concerned with our desired result, which may be a totally distinct type of data. But in contrast, if there are minimum words related to the subject, so more chances to get the desired result in minimum time.

4. How to search a set of words

For searching a particular set of words, there is an easy technique write the set of words in inverted commas. For example “the life is not a bed of roses”. In this way mostly those web links will occur in which the above words are in given order. If we search a set of words written in inverted comma then all the words are in the inverted comma searched in only the given order. The search engines search the words typed by us on different websites. Suppose we have entered “Life membership of Indian science congress association”, then the words are searched in different websites. So sometimes, this may be also possible that a link related to word ‘life’ can be found in different websites, in one of them contains the information about life insurance, so the web link of that life insurance company may be shown in the result, sometimes, another word ‘membership’ may present different link because this can be found in other websites. But when the words (Life membership of Indian science congress association) are written in an inverted comma (“Life membership of Indian science congress association”), then most of the web links appear which are closely related to our search i.e. less no. of links of websites which are not concerned with required data. In case of idiom/phrase mostly those web links occur in which these words are in the given order.

5. Selection of category

It is well known that in a search engine there are different categories for searching a specified information such as map, news and etc. So first select the category of search that we wish to search. After selecting the category of search, second thing is to set the words for searching. Suppose if we wish to search the pictures then first we have to select the images category otherwise we can’t get the desired result. Also if we want to get the information about the location then we have to select first map category otherwise same problem will occur i.e. no desired result. The second one is to check the order of the words, Suppose we wish to get the information about the holidays in India then we write ‘Holidays India’ but if more information is not obtained then we can write ‘India vacation’. The mean to say is that to change the order of words for the desired result and also use synonyms for a particular word for a better search.

6. I am feeling lucky in ‘Google'

This is a button which is a neighbor of ‘Google search’ button in Google. This opens the most relevant page of our desired search. For example, if we want to search the conference's list of India in 2018, For this we type “conferences in India in 2018” or “conferences India 2018” (excluding preposition) and press the ‘Google search’ button then we will get the different web links. There will be a lot of results and it will create a problem. Which one should be open and which are to be left? But if we use ‘I am feeling lucky’ button then we will get opened most relevant page. In the above example, we must get opened http://www.conferencealerts.com/country-listing.php?page=5&ipp=100&country=India which contains only the list of conferences of India in 2018 and nothing else. The same will also be available in web links if we go through the ‘Google search’ button. But sometimes we don’t have the information about the exact web link and we were unable to get the required information.