| |
Google
www.google.com
|
Yahoo!
uk.search.yahoo.com search.yahoo.com |
Exalead
www.exalead.com www.exalead.co.uk |
Live Search
www.live.com
|
Ask
www.ask.com
www.ask.co.uk
|
|
Default search |
All of your words |
All of your words |
All of your words |
All of your words |
All of your words |
|
Wild card or truncation |
No. Sometimes automatically
stems words and looks for variations. |
No |
asterisk *
Automatic stemming can be switched on |
No |
No |
| Alternative terms or variations |
~for synonym search e.g. ~aspartame
Use the Boolean OR |
Use the Boolean OR |
Phonetic or approximate spelling in
Advanced Search, or use the Boolean OR
|
Use the Boolean OR |
Use the Boolean OR |
| Suggests other search strategies and
related terms |
Google Suggests as you type in your search terms. |
Suggests alternative searches as you type |
Yes - on results page |
Related Searches & Related People on the results page depending on the type of search |
Suggests alternative searches as you type and on the results page |
|
Phrases |
".." e.g.
"peak oil" |
".." e.g.
"peak oil" |
".." e.g.
"peak oil" |
".." e.g.
"peak oil" |
".." e.g.
"peak oil" |
| Proximity |
Use the asterisk to stand in for one
or more words in a phrase e.g. climate * change |
No. |
NEAR command looks for words within 16 words of
each other.
Can specify the number of words NEAR/n where n
is a number. |
No |
No |
|
Google |
Yahoo! |
Exalead |
Live Search |
Ask
|
|
Must include word |
Precede stop words with
a plus sign (+), also disables automatic stemming |
Precede stop
words with a plus sign (+) |
Precede stop words with
a plus sign (+) |
".." around
stop words |
Precede stop words with
a plus sign (+) |
|
Exclude pages with
a word |
Precede words with a
minus sign |
Precede words
with a minus sign or use NOT |
Precede words with a
minus sign or use NOT |
Precede words with a
minus sign or use NOT |
Precede words with a
minus sign |
| Boost importance of a term |
Repeat the term 2 or more times in your
search. |
Repeat the term 2 or more times in your
search. |
Repeat the term 2 or more times in your
search. |
prefer: |
Repeat the term 2 or more times in your search |
|
Word in URL |
inurl:
allinurl: |
inurl: |
inurl: |
inurl: |
inurl: |
|
Word in title |
intitle: |
intitle: |
intitle: |
title:
|
intitle: |
|
Links to specified
URL |
link:www.rba.co.uk to find pages that link to a specific page
|
link:http://www.rba.co.uk/
(looks for links to the specified page)
linkdomain:rba.co.uk (looks for links to any page on the
site) |
link: to search for pages that link to a domain
e.g. link:rba.co.uk or to a specific page
Advanced Search |
No |
No |
|
Google |
Yahoo! |
Exalead |
Live Search |
Ask
|
|
Similar pages |
related: |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Specify part of domain |
site:
Advanced Search |
site:
Advanced Search |
site:
Advanced Search |
site:
Advanced Search |
site:or Advanced Search |
|
Limit by Web site |
site:
Advanced Search |
site:
Advanced Search |
site:
Advanced Search |
site:
Advanced Search
|
site: or Advanced Search |
|
Filetype or format |
Advanced Search or use
filetype:
PDF, DOC, RTF, XLS, PPT, PS, WPD, RSS, XML |
Advanced Search PDF, PS, DOC, XLS,
PPT, XML, RSS
originurlextension: |
Advanced Search or use
filetype: PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT, TXT, RTF, WPD, RSS, SWF |
filetype: |
No |
|
Search by date |
Advanced Search |
Advanced Search |
date:
For example date:"14/09/2001" or use Advanced
Search |
No |
Advanced Search |
|
Limit by language |
Advanced Search |
Advanced Search |
language: or use Advanced Search |
language: or use Advanced Search |
lang: or Advanced Search |
|
Limit by geography |
Country versions
of Google |
Advanced Search or region: e.g. region:africa |
Advanced Search or Narrow your Search
|
loc:followed by two letter
country code or use Advanced Search |
Advanced Search |
|
Google |
Yahoo! |
Exalead |
Live Search |
Ask
|
|
Boolean |
OR |
AND
OR
NOT
Boolean operators
can be nested using parentheses for more precise searching |
AND
OR
NOT
Boolean operators can be nested using parentheses for more precise
searching. |
AND
OR
NOT
Boolean operators can be nested using parentheses for more precise
searching. |
OR |
| Unique features |
Numeric range search e.g. DVD player $100..200
Synonym search (~)
define:
|
region: command |
Phonetic search
Approximate spelling
Support for wild cards
NEAR command
OPT for optional terms
"sort:new" and "sort:old" to sort documents by increasing / decreasing
dates
|
prefer:
contains: for pages that have links to a particular document or
file format
site: combined withh feed: to find RSS feeds on
a site
url: to check if a URL is in the Live Search database |
|
