Utilizing a search engine can be very powerful but even the most experienced Internet users could learn something new about using Google. By utilizing different search engine techniques, an Internet user utilizing Google could have a better success rate.
By putting a search term into double quotes, a search engine user can get what is called a phrase match. When using a phrase match, the search engine user is looking for matches that contain a specific phrase in it. For example, if someone wanted to search for electronic picture frames, typing in “electronic picture frames” with double quotes will help the search engine find matches for that specific phrase. In other words, the double quotes around “electronic picture frames” will match that specific phrase with content on a web-page.
To exclude unwanted words, a user can simply employ a minus sign or “-“when typing the query into a search engine. The minus sign simply tells the search engine not to look for that word during the search. For example, if a search engine user typed in tennis –shoes, it will not look for keywords or web-site content related to shoes. The minus sign before the word “shoes” in this instance tells the search engine not too look for any keywords with shoes in it and will simply focus in on “tennis” instead.
When typing keywords or a phrase into a search engine, there are times in which Google will add in synonyms to help enhance someone’s search experience. For example, if someone was typing the word “airplane” into the search engine, Google could suggest looking up “jet” as a synonym. For those who do not want that broad of a search, typing in a plus sign before the term tells the search engine to search only for that specific term. Utilizing the previous example, typing in +airplane into a search engine will tell the spider (which searches the web-site content) to look only for that keyword and no other synonyms.
Another way to get an exact match is to type in site:domain into the search engine. This search engine technique can be very handy when trying to match a specific keyword to a web-site. For example, typing in site:www.clevelandcavaliers.com merchandise will direct the user to the specific pages on the Cleveland Cavaliers web site that sells merchandise and Cavs team apparel.
This search engine technique can also be used to find sites with a top level domain. For example, typing in site:gov recycling will list recycling only web-sites that are sponsored by the US government. Specific directories can be searched utilizing this search engine technique by adding in a slash towards the end of the search query. For example, someone can simply type in site:google.com/paintings Monet to search within the paintings directory for a Money piece.
Over time, blogging has developed into one of the most popular Internet activities for users all around the world. Blogging has served as a way for a variety of Internet users to express their thoughts freely about different subjects and topics. Starting a blog is fairly simple and with online blogging tools such as Blogger and WordPress.org available, it just got easier.
Since being launched in 1999, Blogger (which is one of the most popular blogging sites) has grown in popularity due to its easy-to-use features. The original Blogger design is considered to be the trend setter for many of the blogging tools out there and the format quickly grew into popularity. In 2003, Blogger was purchased by Google and new features have been added to make the service more reliable and dependable. Many who spend time developing their blog with Blogger believe the sites index quicker in search engines and make it easier for Internet users to find.
In addition to being simple to use, Blogger can be used in two different ways. Blogger does allow users to host the web-site themselves meaning a domain name and space on a web-site hosting provider has to be purchased. This method does cost a little more money and time, however, it allows for the user to be a bit more creative in designing how the blog will look. Those with HTML or web-site design experience have the capability of designing their own templates, colors and other features. Those without HTML or web-site design experience can simply create an account for Blogger to host the site at no charge. In other words, Blogger will host your blog for free and the users can simply log in with the account names they made up or with their Google e-mail address. This method also allows for users to create their own URL address, use templates to give the blog a particular look, and can be updated without having to hire an independent designer. Once the design, URL and user name are all put in, users can simply log in to update the blog with posts, pictures or other features.
Blogger is a favorite among online bloggers but WordPress.org is also one of the most popular blog tools available. WordPress.org is an open source blog tool that is free, has downloadable software and requires HTML or web-site designing experience. Users do have to purchase space on a web-site hosting site in order to use WordPress.org and have to understand HTML and web-design to constantly make updates. Purchasing web-site hosting space along with a domain name does take time and money but the WordPress.org allows users to custom make the templates and features on their blogs. Web-site design does take a little more time, however, users can design their sites so that it optimizes well with search engines and is easily found by those looking for certain information.
Different and easy-to-use tools are available to blog but people who are unsure about starting up one often wonder what the benefits to starting a blog are. The first place to look when trying to understand the benefits is to know what types of blogs are out there.
To start off, people can have a personal blog in which the user can write about personal events and make it an online diary for people to read. People who work within the media industries for newspapers, television and radio stations will use a personal blog to engage readers, viewers and listeners. This is a unique strategy for these media outlets because it allows readers, viewers and listeners to understand the personal lives of their favorite writers, TV and radio hosts and creates a more personal. People going on mission trips or taking unique experience will sometimes create a personal blog so that friends and family can read about their daily experiences. This method can also be used to help the user write a book or document about the experience later on.
With a personal blog, the user also has the ability to create a theme, topic or subject. Bloggers can write about sports, education, fashion, or anything that suits their interests and their passions. Having a particular theme to a blog creates consistency to it and can help the blogger market and reach out to people with similar interests. With time, hard work and promotion, these blogs can create a following and sometimes an income for the blogger. Not all blogs turn into money making machines for people and trying to do that takes lots of time and effort but there are instances in which a big enough following creates an opportunity for the blogger.
A popular example of this is the story of Julie Powell, the inspiration behind the film Julie & Julia. Powell started a personal blog in her spare time in which she decided to write about trying to cook 524 recipes out of a book written by the late television host and cooking legend Julia Child. The theme around Powell’s personal blog was the trials and tribulations of an ordinary person trying to cook recipes out of Child’s cookbook. With consistency and clever writing, Powell gained a following with people who liked to cook, enjoyed eating food, and were fans of Julia Child’s television show. As a result, Powell ended up with a book deal out of it in which she talked about writing her blog and cooking the recipes.
In addition to personal blogs, a business blog has been proven to be an excellent way to communicate with customers, prospects and even employees. Businesses will create blogs as a way to brand certain products, create brand awareness and market the product to current customers or potential clients. Having a business blog often creates hype for a certain product and anticipation for it to be released. Business blogs can also be used to communicate with employees internally and spread communication in that method.
Since being introduced years ago, closed captioning, subtitles and video captions have been useful television consumers who are hearing impaired or deaf. Closed captioning allows users who have hearing difficulties to enjoy a television program or video by displaying subtitles and words at the bottom of the screen. Closed captioning has already made its way to online video and YouTube has added two new features that are useful for both the hearing impaired and everyone else.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, recently added in “automatic captions” to its online videos. Available on most education channels, “automatic captions” transcribes and adds captions to the bottom of the screen. “Automatic captions” also allows for the captions to be translated into other languages. Even though the captions are not 100% accurate at times, it still allows the user to understand the video content.
In addition to “automatic captions”, YouTube also added an “automatic timing” feature. To make adding closed captioning easier, “automatic timing” shows videos owners when words are mentioned in the online video. With the help of a simple text transcript, Google will help the video owner save a file of the words said in the online video to add later on. Once this transcript is saved, a simple upload is needed to add closed captioning to the video.
Though it is designed to help the hearing impaired, these new features could help search engines find online videos in the near future. Search engines employ a spider (also referred to as a-crawler) look for certain keywords within the text, title tags and content of a web-site or description of an online video. With closed captioning and text being added to online videos, this could be an opportunity to optimize online video content for a search engine. Spiders are designed to look for specific keywords and if keywords can be found within an online video closed caption, it could help optimize the video for a search engine.
When looking to move a web-site, a big concern for web-site designers is harming online listings by moving it “in the cloud.”
To define, “in the cloud” is an expression used to describe the infrastructure of a computer network. The typical infrastructure of a cloud includes different personal and business applications that can be accessed from a web browser. While the business applications are considered to be “in the cloud”, software and data is considered to be outside the cloud because it is stored on servers.
Having a site “in the cloud” can have its advantages. If moving to the web-site to another server and a different IP address, users do have the option of setting a geographic target for a specific location. For example, if a web-site has a US IP address but has a target audience in England, the geographic target can be set for England. Even though the IP address would be listed in the United States, having the site “in the cloud” gives the web-site the opportunity to reach people in England. Software patches are not needed as much within the cloud and outsourcing online content to the cloud can make that information accessible even when the server is down.
Online chatting through the Internet is still a growing phenomenon and with Orkut, it just got better. Orkut, a social network operated by Google, recently improved their online chatting by integrating both voice and video into their online chat services.
This new video online chat is easy to use and a great way for Orkut users to communicate with one another. Similar to phone calls, Orkut users can simply call on other users and invite them to use the video online chat. It’s a free online chat for both PC and Mac users and another great way to communicate over the Internet.
Since being launched, Orkut has helped users meet new people and develop relationships over the Internet. Even though there are Orkut users in the United States, the online social networking service has a huge following in both India and Brazil. Similar to other social network or social media outlets, users can create profiles, upload videos and photos and reach out to other online users.
