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Search Tools Summary and Comparison

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Search this site:

 

Search the web:

Get Arcobat Reader

Google
www.google.com

Yahoo!
uk.search.yahoo.com search.yahoo.com

Exalead
www.exalead.com

Bing
(formerly Live.com)
www.bing.com

MSE360
www.mse360.com

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 *

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 No

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
Bing
MSE360

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

 

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 or use NOT

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:

Word in title

intitle:
allintitle:

intitle:

intitle:

intitle:

intitle:

Links to specified URL

link: to find pages that link to a specific page e.g. link:rba.co.uk/sources

link: looks for links to the specified page e.g. link:http://www.rba.co.uk/

linkdomain: looks for links to any page on the site e.g. linkdomain:rba.co.uk

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
Bing
MSE360

Similar pages

related:

No

No

No

No

Specify part of domain

site:
Advanced Search

site:
Advanced Search

site:
Advanced Search

site:
Advanced Search

site:
Advanced Search

Limit by Web site

site:
Advanced Search

site:
Advanced Search

site:
Advanced Search

site:
Advanced Search

site:
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

or use originurlextension:

Select from options on the results page or use filetype: followed by PDF, excel, word, powerpoint, TXT, RTF, WPD, RSS, SWF

filetype:

filetype:

Search by date

Advanced Search

Advanced Search

date:
For example date:"14/09/2001" or use Advanced Search

No

No

Limit by language

Advanced Search

Advanced Search

language: or use Advanced Search or 'Narrow your search'

language: or use Advanced Search

No

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

Pull down menu next to search box or Advanced Search

Google
Yahoo!
Exalead
Bing
MSE360

Boolean

OR

AND
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.

Cached copy Click on the cached link next to the entry in the results list or search using cache: e.g. cache:www.rba.co.uk Click on the cached link next to the entry in the results list Click on the Preview link on the thumbnail next to the entry in the results list. Click on the cached link next to the entry in the results list  
Unique features

Numeric range search e.g. DVD player $100..200

Synonym search (~)

define:

Additional search features under Show options on results page

region: command

region: followed by one of europe, asia, downunder, africa, centralamerica, northamerica, southamerica, mideast, southeastasia

Phonetic search (unreliable)

Approximate spelling (unreliable)

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 type

linkfromdomain: to list all the links from a site

 

 

Important: Starting in February 2010, Yahoo will start using the Bing search engine for its results on the .com version of its site. The change will be rolled out gradually in the other country versions of Yahoo.

PDF Version (40 KB)


This page was last updated on 22 February, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Karen Blakeman