Introduction
Not only is Google.com one of the best search engines with the largest data bases, but you can maximize your ability to search on it if you know how to do this.
Google is widely recognized as an excellent search engine. It has been rated the #1 search engine for providing an Outstanding Search Service by Search Engine Watch. It was also rated the Most Webmaster Friendly Winner. In fact, Google has received extensive industry praise and accolades, including being:
-listed among the top 100 Web Sites for Search and Reference by PC Magazine (March 2001),
-rated the Most Intelligent Agent by Wired Readers Raves (October 2000),
-described as the "Best Bet" Search Engine by PC World (September 2000),
-characterized as the "Best of the Web" by Forbes Magazine (September 2000),
-listed as the Editors' Pick at CNET (August 2000),
-honored for the Best Technical Achievement and given a People's Voice Award by the Webby Awards (May 2000),
-listed among the Top 10 Sites by TIME Digital (May 2000).
It was even described as the Best Search Engine on the Internet by Yahoo! Internet Life (January 2000) and as the Best Search Engine by the Net (March 2000).
How Google Works
Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, who developed a technologically advanced method for finding information on the Internet. Their intention was to create a powerful, but simple-to-use format for finding the most relevant answers to search queries. Google uses a sophisticated text-matching technique to find pages that are both important and relevant. It not only returns pages containing all search terms by default, unless an OR operator is used, but it looks at the pages linking to that page. Then, it ranks its search results in part by using a proprietary page-ranking system which is partly based on how often other sites link to that site, according to a Wall Street Journal article by Walter S. Mossberg, "Search No Further: Google Is the Best Search Engine", published in March 1, 2001. Also, Google rates more highly those pages where the query terms are near each other. In short, a Google search is based on combining its PageRanking system for ranking Web pages with a sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to provide a good match for each query.
Then, the search results return a short summary of each Web page, which features a short excerpt or snippet of the text matching the query with the search terms highlighted in boldface. This way you see what is currently on the page rather than a never changing Web page summary. In addition, Google provides a link to a snapshot of that page, called a "cached version", which Google saved when it first indexed the site. Google further provides a link to a list of similar sites, though they are not exactly on target, such as linking to other types of cars, when you do a search for Ford or GM.
Google's Database of Sources
Google developed its database of sources through an automated computerized search, based on directly indexing Web pages through a full text analysis and on including additional pages through link analyses. It does this link analysis by looking at the text in and around hyperlinks, and uses this information to help define the pages which the links point to. Should it find that many pages point to the same site, using particular words to do so, Google is programmed to presume the site is relevant for those words, even though it hasn't visited that site. Through this link analysis, it leverages its search ability.
Thus, for example, when Google reported a full-text index of 560 million URLs in June 2000, making it the largest search engine on the Web, its link data expanded its reach to another 500 million URLs or about 1 billion pages, as reported by an article in Search Engine Watch: "Google Announces Largest Index" (from The Search Engine Report, July 5, 2000). As of November 2000, its reach was even larger, when it reported indexing 602 million pages and 1.2 billion pages through link data - more than double the size of any other search engine, including Fast, WebTop.com, Inktomi, AltaVista, Northern Light, Excite, and Go (previously Infoseek and now about to go out of business), according to an article on "Search Engine Sizes" in Search Engine Watch by Danny Sullivan (November 8, 2000).
This database not only includes Web sites, but it now includes Adobe PDF files from all over the web, the first of any major search engine to include such files, according to Search Engine Watch article by Danny Sullivan in February 2001: "Google Does PDF and Other Changes." By mid-February, Google enabled users to access the full text of 13 million PDF files, indicated by a "pdf" label next to their title, although text-only versions are available. The way to access these files is to include the "inurl:pdf" command after all of your search words, although these files turn up in a regular search, as well.
In addition, Google has added an index of WL and HDML pages, which are designed for WAP browsers, now at 2.5 million pages. Plus Goodgle has set up a University Search program, in which universities can make their sites searchable for free.
Still another recent development is the Google Toolbar, which users with Internet Explorer can download, so they can access Google's search technology from wherever they are on the Web without having to return to Google's home page to do a search. This toolbar also enables users to search more deeply on the pages of the site they are already visiting as well as learn about similar pages and about pages that link back to that page. Plus this tool bar will highlight the users' search terms on the page, each word with its own color.
The entire database is updated on a regular basis, though the exact time isn't stated in Google's literature or recent articles, though a few Google users advised me it does this updating process daily. Each time Google crawls the Web, it not only adds new pages, but it discards dead links and updates links automatically. Then, outdated links typically fade out of Google's index on the next Web crawl.
Conducting a Search on Google
I conducted my own search for organizations involved with organizational behavior, and more specifically with psychological profiling, which is a field within organizational behavior. However, as I discovered, the term "psychological profiling" is not always used together; instead the two words are often used separately. I also decided to focus the search to the programs these organizations offer in California. I chose this subject, since I plan to work in this area and was interested to see what types of organizations and programs I might become more involved with in this field, especially in California.
To assess the effectiveness of this search engine, I tried experimenting by starting with a broader search and then making it more focused. When I listed just the words "organizational behavior" without quotes, I came back to 490,000 entries, and by put these words in quotes: "'organizational behavior'" narrowed the search to 116,000 entries. When I added the term "organizations", since I was interested in organizations dealing with this subject, the search returned 309,000 entries when I didn't use quotes around "organizational behavior," and 60,500 entries when I did.
To narrow down the search still further, I tried various combinations with "'organizational behavior'" and "organizations", including "California" by itself (10,400) and "psychological profiling" without quotes (242) and in English only (239) and with quotes (7), which was too narrow, and with "workshops OR seminars" in "California" (3380). When I tried adding "organizations OR organizations" instead of just "organizations" to see if the alternate spellings made a difference, there were a few hundred additional entries (3760). When I tried to limit the search to more recent references, I found there was no way to request entries after a certain date other than putting in each date individually. However, when I put in a reference to the years 2000 or 2001, I found this too limiting, since Google searched for the actual dates in a page, not for entries after a certain date. As a result, the search primarily resulted in my getting listings for college catalogs in PDF files, even though the number of entries was reduced (to 118 when I listed both 2000 and 2001, and 70 when I listed just 2001). It didn't matter whether I restricted the search to only English or not.
Then, since many of the references were to academic offerings of classes at schools, including PDF catalogs, whether I used dates or not, I expanded the listings of "workshops" or "seminars" to include "conferences" or "meetings". Ultimately, I found the most targeted search in English only to be as follows:
"organization OR organizations" "'organizational behavior'" "psychological" "profiling" "workshops" OR "seminars" OR "conferences" OR "meetings" "California", which resulted in 111 listings (176 if I dropped California). I found that including the additional options of "conferences OR meetings" effectively expanded the search, since without these there were only 89 listings, mostly referring to school and university programs.
Then, I went through the listing of these 111 items, listed by default 10 to a page, though I preferred the 20 to a page option (other options included 30, 50 or 100 to a page) to pick out selected organizations which offered programs I found of interest. I found the most useful listings on the first page, such as the International MBA for Executives, Society for Human Resource Management Foundation, and Prometheon: Trainers on Management. Google also had a related advertising banner for "PlaceWare Web Conferencing" that featured Web seminars and live events.
Some Limitations of Google
However, while my search on Google was effective in pointing to some programs, it was not possible to screen out the pdf files (which would have eliminated most of the academic catalogs), and it was not possible to limit the search to more recent files after a certain date, since using specific years (ie: 2000 or 2001) didn't work well.
By contrast, when I used some of these words in Alta Vista, I got a greater proportion of non-academic listings, although it was most effective to use just a few of the search terms, since the most relevant listings were in the beginning. However, when I used all or most of the search terms, this resulted in a very small number of listings (from 1-13). Alta Vista additionally came up with some interesting links, such as linking through HotBot and Lycos to an organization that did personality testing on its Web site, which wasn't referenced by Google. Another advantage with Alta Vista I was able to limit the search to listings since 2000 more effectively. However, there was some overlap in the listings, in that Alta Vista also noted the International MBA for Executives program and the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation.
About the Author
Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D., J.D. She is the director of CHANGEMAKERS, and a business and organizational consultant, speaker, and workshop-seminar leader, specializing in creativity, conflict resolution, and organizational behavior. Her own Web site is at www.giniscott.com. She is also the co-founder of an international corporation with its Web site at www.doyoulooklikeyourdog.com.