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How to Use a Search Engine
There are literally thousands of different search engines that can be used on the internet. They are of varying quality and run searches using different criteria. The most effective and popular search engines are at www.yahoo.com, www.lycos.com, www.google.com, and www.askjeeves.com. These main search engines usually yield almost identical results for searches, but each is designed to look completely different way from the others. You may find that one webpage looks more accessible and is easier to navigate than others, or enjoy the page setup of the search results as compared to the others. You can use whichever search engine you choose. Along with the variety of search engines available on the internet, the way they are set up is equally varied. Therefore, it would be difficult to present a guide than can easily help you through using each of these different webpages. This guide will focus on the usage of www.google.com, as it has the simplest interface.
Open internet explorer. If you need assistance doing this, refer to the procedure detailed in “A Guide to Using the Internet.”
Left-click once in the address bar. The address bar is the white bar located above the web page but below the toolbar. For further clarification on the location of the address bar, look at the picture below.
NOTE: You can click anywhere in the address bar for this step. You can click on the text inside it, you can click on the white area to the right, you can click on the blue “e” to the left of the text. Each area in the address bar is equally effective as the rest.
Now, once you have left-clicked one time in the address bar, the text area will change color from white to blue. You will push the Backspace button on your keyboard to erase the current web address out of the address bar. The backspace button is located as shown below:
At times, you may accidentally double-click in the address bar, in which case the line will not be highlighted in blue. This is no problem whatsoever; it simply means that you will now have to delete the current text in the address bar one letter at a time. You will click in the right hand side of the address bar, in the white area, so that the blinking I-beam is located at the end of the text. You will then continuously hit the backspace button until all the text is gone. If you need a reminder of where the backspace button is located, look at the picture above. The white arrow indicates the location of the backspace key.
Now, you are able to type in a new web address. In this procedure, we are going to www.google.com in order to run a search, so type in exactly www.google.com into the address bar.
NOTE: Typing in a web address is not the same as running a search using a search engine. This guide lists the procedure to using a search engine. Typing in a specific web address takes you directly to that page without any searching involved. There is a difference between typing an address in the address bar and using a search engine.
Once you have typed in www.google.com, you can let the program know that you want to proceed on to the webpage itself by doing one of two different things. It makes no difference which way you choose to proceed- they have the exact same result. You can either move the mouse over to the right hand side of the address bar and left-click “Go,” or you can press the “Enter” key on your keyboard. Again, it does not matter which of these two options you choose to go with. If you choose to left-click “Go” or press “Enter,” each will let the computer know to load www.google.com equally effectively. For simplicity’s sake, it may be easier to remember the procedure if you decide which way you prefer to do it, and make it a habit of doing so in the future.
NOTE: The “Enter” key on your keyboard is indicated in the picture below.
Now, www.google.com will load on to your screen. It has a very simple look to it, and is easy to use.
There is a white bar in the center of the screen. To run a search, all you must do is the following few steps.
Left-click once inside the white bar in the center of the screen.
A blinking I-beam should appear inside the white bar once you have left-clicked inside it. The presence of this blinking I-beam allows you to type inside that space.
Type whatever you are interested in searching for.
NOTE: When running a search on a search engine, make sure you appropriately space your words. For example, if you were searching for black cats, you would left-click once in the white bar in the center of the google web page, and would type “black cats.” You do NOT type “blackcats.” It is very important to put the proper spacing between words. Additionally, your search will yield better search results if you leave out conjunctions such as “and,” “the,” “a,” etc. For example, if you were searching for a movie time in Allen Park, you should type “movie time Allen Park” rather than “a movie time in Allen Park.” It would be good to keep in mind that computers do not respond to human language, they only respond to specific search terms.
Once you have properly entered what you would like to search for, look over the webpage. You will notice that below the white box, there are two grey boxes. The left-hand box says “Google Search” and the right-hand box says “I’m Feeling Lucky.” Left-click once on the box that says “Google Search.” You can click anywhere within this box to run the search.
A new page will load which contains the results for your search.
Ten webpages will be on this first page, and these are the top ten most relevant webpages related to your search.
These will be presented in a list form, separated only by a blank line between areas of text. If you look at the picture below, each arrow points out a different search result.
Each of the search results on screen are web pages related to the subject you searched for. Each one presents a web link that you can simply click on to load onto the computer screen.
In order to view all of the search results, it will be necessary to scroll down.
There are a few different ways to “scroll down,” but these widely depend on the type of mouse and computer you have. Therefore, for simplicity’s sake, I will only explain the universal way to scroll up and down, a way every single person will be able to do. If you look to the right hand side of the webpage, you will notice a light grey area with a smaller, darker grey box inside of it. At the top of this area there is a small black arrow pointing up. At the bottom of this area, there is a small black arrow pointing down. By left-clicking on either the up or down arrow, you will be able to navigate up or down the webpage. Most webpages will require you to scroll down to view the entire contents of the page. Each time you left click on one of the arrows, it will move you up or down exactly one unit. This means that in order to view the rest of the webpage it will be necessary to left click the down arrow on the scrollbar several times.
If you need further clarification on exactly where the scrollbar is located on the webpage, refer to the picture below. The two white arrows indicate where the scrollbar arrows you will be left-clicking on are:
Keep in mind that what you are looking at is only the first page of search results. To see if you can proceed onto an additional search result page, all you must do is scroll to the bottom of the screen.
When additional pages containing search results are available, a graphic similar to the image shown below will be located at the bottom of the page:
You are currently on the first page of search results, therefore the 1 in the list is bolder than the rest of the numbers and is not underlined. The rest of the numbers are lighter than the 1 and are underlined. This is to show you which pages you can navigate to, and which page you are currently on. To further clarify this matter, if you were to left-click once on the numeral 2 in the list, allow it to fully load, and then scroll to the bottom of the screen until you see the above graphic again, it would look exactly the same save for two small differences. Now that you are on page 2 of the search results, the numeral 2 in the list will be bolder than the rest of the numbers and it will no longer be underlined, and the rest of the numbers in the graphic will be underlined and a lighter shade than the numeral 2.
A simple way of navigating to the next page of search results is to left click once on the blue next button. You can either left click once on the word “Next” or left click once on the arrow pointing right above the word “Next.” If you look at the graphic below, there are two white arrows pointing directly at both the word “Next” and the arrow above it. Remember, clicking on either one of these is a simple way to load the next page of search results:
Let’s go over a hypothetical situation, and say that you wanted to immediately go to page ten of the results. It is not necessary to click “Next” nine times to get to the page, you can simply click on the numeral “10” and the tenth page of search results will immediately begin loading onto your screen. Likewise, if you are on a page of search results but at any point you would like to return to an earlier page of search results, all you must do is left click once on the numeral of the page you would like to look at.
Additionally, if you would like to simply go back a page, or prefer to navigate through the search result pages using the “Previous” and “Next” options, you can return to previous pages of search results through either left clicking once on the word “Previous” or by left clicking once on the arrow above it. Below, the white arrows point directly at the two options.
Result Page:
REMEMBER: You can click ANYWHERE on a link for it to work properly. It is not necessary to click on any one particular letter to command the internet to load a webpage onto your screen.
If you spot a link presented in the search results that you would like to visit, all you must do to view the webpage is left click somewhere on the text of the link. This text will be blue and underlined. Once you have clicked on it, the webpage will load onto your screen.
If this webpage is what you were looking for, congratulations! You have used a search engine to success! But, if it turns out not to be what you were looking for, don’t despair! You can easily go back to the page of search results by left clicking once on the “Back” button on the upper left hand side of the webpage screen. The back button is indicated by the white arrow pointing in the picture below:
Once you have returned to the page of search results, you can repeat this process of selecting a link presented by the search engine, left-clicking on it, and looking over the webpage as many times as you please until you find a webpage that contains the information you were looking for.
Sometimes the page of search results will not contain anything close to what you were looking for. In cases such as this, the search terms you entered were not sufficient enough for the search engine to produce a list of results for you to look through. An example of a case such as this would be if you were looking for information on the Red Hat Society in the Downriver area. If you were to enter the search terms “red hat society in Melvindale” the search results will not yield anything of relevancy. In such a situation, all you must do to alter your search terms is to scroll to the top of the page of search results, left click once inside the search engine bar, and enter a different set of search terms. Now, if you were to give it another try and you typed in “red hat society downriver michigan” the search results will contain a plethora of information pertaining to the topic.
Remember, the only two steps that are required for you to alter your search terms are to:
1) Go to the top of the search results page, delete the old search terms, and enter your new search terms, and
2) Click on the grey button to the left of the search engine bar that says “Google Search.”
For further clarification on the location of the search engine bar in the search results page, look at the picture below. The white arrows indicate where the search engine bar and the google search button are.
TIP: When entering search terms, it is important to remember to reduce your search terms to the bare elements of what you are searching for. Again, leave out conjunctions, don’t worry about capitalization, avoid making your search too narrow or specific, and be sure to make your search terms focus upon what information you are seeking. Searching for “bed and breakfast petoskey michigan” will yield much better results than a search for “Bed and Breakfasts located up north.” Another example of this is if you were specifically searching for the location of the large lighthouse in Ludington, “lighthouse ludington” will yield much better results than “Lighthouses located on Lake Michigan.” It is essential to boil your search terms down to the basic elements of what you are searching for rather than searching for a list of words that can only be loosely interpreted as having anything to do with your subject of interest.
Hopefully this guide to using the google search engine has been useful for you. Soon I will be providing guides to using other popular search engines as well, but in the meantime the use of other search engines will be basically the same, with the only differences being in the appearance of the pages themselves. The background and layout will be quite different from that of google, but by all means feel free to try and teach yourself how to use other online tools for searching.
Glossary of Terms
Mouse: This is a device attached to your computer that allows you to control the cursor on screen. If you set your hand on the mouse and physically move it to the left, the mouse on screen will automatically move to the left as well. If you move the mouse to the right, the mouse’s cursor on screen will move to the right. This rule applies to all other movements as well. The way a mouse works is through a sensor inside it sensing friction when you move the mouse one way or another. Therefore, it is important to keep the mouse on the mousepad and off of the table, as the pad provides more friction than other materials provide.
I-Beam: This is the blinking line that indicates where you are typing. While on the internet it is necessary to left-click once inside wherever you plan on typing, and the presence of this blinking line indicates that you are able to begin typing in the designated area, and its presence also indicates the location of where you will be typing.
Backspace Button: This key deletes the text behind it, earning it the name of the “Backspace Button” as it truly does take the text back a space.
Address Bar: The address bar is the white bar located above the web page but below the toolbar.
Mouse Pad: The pad located to the right hand side of a keyboard that the mouse is used upon. These are commonly used to provide more friction for the mouse itself, and improve its effectiveness as a tool to control the cursor on-screen.
Right-Clicking: On a typical mouse, there are two buttons located towards the top of the mouse. There is one on the left, and one on the right. To right click, all you must do is simply set your finger on top of the right hand button and press it once.
Left-Clicking: On a typical mouse, there are two buttons located towards the top of the mouse. There is one on the left, and one on the right. To left click, all you must do is simply set your finger on top of the left hang button on press it once.
Cursor: This is the part of the screen that the mouse controls. It can appear in a few different ways. It normally appears as an arrow; in writing programs, it switches between an arrow and an image resembling a capital I; when you are loading a program, the cursor will appear as a time turner.
There are literally thousands of different search engines that can be used on the internet. They are of varying quality and run searches using different criteria. The most effective and popular search engines are at www.yahoo.com, www.lycos.com, www.google.com, and www.askjeeves.com. These main search engines usually yield almost identical results for searches, but each is designed to look completely different way from the others. You may find that one webpage looks more accessible and is easier to navigate than others, or enjoy the page setup of the search results as compared to the others. You can use whichever search engine you choose. Along with the variety of search engines available on the internet, the way they are set up is equally varied. Therefore, it would be difficult to present a guide than can easily help you through using each of these different webpages. This guide will focus on the usage of www.google.com, as it has the simplest interface.
Open internet explorer. If you need assistance doing this, refer to the procedure detailed in “A Guide to Using the Internet.”
Left-click once in the address bar. The address bar is the white bar located above the web page but below the toolbar. For further clarification on the location of the address bar, look at the picture below.
NOTE: You can click anywhere in the address bar for this step. You can click on the text inside it, you can click on the white area to the right, you can click on the blue “e” to the left of the text. Each area in the address bar is equally effective as the rest.
Now, once you have left-clicked one time in the address bar, the text area will change color from white to blue. You will push the Backspace button on your keyboard to erase the current web address out of the address bar. The backspace button is located as shown below:
At times, you may accidentally double-click in the address bar, in which case the line will not be highlighted in blue. This is no problem whatsoever; it simply means that you will now have to delete the current text in the address bar one letter at a time. You will click in the right hand side of the address bar, in the white area, so that the blinking I-beam is located at the end of the text. You will then continuously hit the backspace button until all the text is gone. If you need a reminder of where the backspace button is located, look at the picture above. The white arrow indicates the location of the backspace key.
Now, you are able to type in a new web address. In this procedure, we are going to www.google.com in order to run a search, so type in exactly www.google.com into the address bar.
NOTE: Typing in a web address is not the same as running a search using a search engine. This guide lists the procedure to using a search engine. Typing in a specific web address takes you directly to that page without any searching involved. There is a difference between typing an address in the address bar and using a search engine.
Once you have typed in www.google.com, you can let the program know that you want to proceed on to the webpage itself by doing one of two different things. It makes no difference which way you choose to proceed- they have the exact same result. You can either move the mouse over to the right hand side of the address bar and left-click “Go,” or you can press the “Enter” key on your keyboard. Again, it does not matter which of these two options you choose to go with. If you choose to left-click “Go” or press “Enter,” each will let the computer know to load www.google.com equally effectively. For simplicity’s sake, it may be easier to remember the procedure if you decide which way you prefer to do it, and make it a habit of doing so in the future.
NOTE: The “Enter” key on your keyboard is indicated in the picture below.
Now, www.google.com will load on to your screen. It has a very simple look to it, and is easy to use.
There is a white bar in the center of the screen. To run a search, all you must do is the following few steps.
Left-click once inside the white bar in the center of the screen.
A blinking I-beam should appear inside the white bar once you have left-clicked inside it. The presence of this blinking I-beam allows you to type inside that space.
Type whatever you are interested in searching for.
NOTE: When running a search on a search engine, make sure you appropriately space your words. For example, if you were searching for black cats, you would left-click once in the white bar in the center of the google web page, and would type “black cats.” You do NOT type “blackcats.” It is very important to put the proper spacing between words. Additionally, your search will yield better search results if you leave out conjunctions such as “and,” “the,” “a,” etc. For example, if you were searching for a movie time in Allen Park, you should type “movie time Allen Park” rather than “a movie time in Allen Park.” It would be good to keep in mind that computers do not respond to human language, they only respond to specific search terms.
Once you have properly entered what you would like to search for, look over the webpage. You will notice that below the white box, there are two grey boxes. The left-hand box says “Google Search” and the right-hand box says “I’m Feeling Lucky.” Left-click once on the box that says “Google Search.” You can click anywhere within this box to run the search.
A new page will load which contains the results for your search.
Ten webpages will be on this first page, and these are the top ten most relevant webpages related to your search.
These will be presented in a list form, separated only by a blank line between areas of text. If you look at the picture below, each arrow points out a different search result.
Each of the search results on screen are web pages related to the subject you searched for. Each one presents a web link that you can simply click on to load onto the computer screen.
In order to view all of the search results, it will be necessary to scroll down.
There are a few different ways to “scroll down,” but these widely depend on the type of mouse and computer you have. Therefore, for simplicity’s sake, I will only explain the universal way to scroll up and down, a way every single person will be able to do. If you look to the right hand side of the webpage, you will notice a light grey area with a smaller, darker grey box inside of it. At the top of this area there is a small black arrow pointing up. At the bottom of this area, there is a small black arrow pointing down. By left-clicking on either the up or down arrow, you will be able to navigate up or down the webpage. Most webpages will require you to scroll down to view the entire contents of the page. Each time you left click on one of the arrows, it will move you up or down exactly one unit. This means that in order to view the rest of the webpage it will be necessary to left click the down arrow on the scrollbar several times.
If you need further clarification on exactly where the scrollbar is located on the webpage, refer to the picture below. The two white arrows indicate where the scrollbar arrows you will be left-clicking on are:
Keep in mind that what you are looking at is only the first page of search results. To see if you can proceed onto an additional search result page, all you must do is scroll to the bottom of the screen.
When additional pages containing search results are available, a graphic similar to the image shown below will be located at the bottom of the page:
You are currently on the first page of search results, therefore the 1 in the list is bolder than the rest of the numbers and is not underlined. The rest of the numbers are lighter than the 1 and are underlined. This is to show you which pages you can navigate to, and which page you are currently on. To further clarify this matter, if you were to left-click once on the numeral 2 in the list, allow it to fully load, and then scroll to the bottom of the screen until you see the above graphic again, it would look exactly the same save for two small differences. Now that you are on page 2 of the search results, the numeral 2 in the list will be bolder than the rest of the numbers and it will no longer be underlined, and the rest of the numbers in the graphic will be underlined and a lighter shade than the numeral 2.
A simple way of navigating to the next page of search results is to left click once on the blue next button. You can either left click once on the word “Next” or left click once on the arrow pointing right above the word “Next.” If you look at the graphic below, there are two white arrows pointing directly at both the word “Next” and the arrow above it. Remember, clicking on either one of these is a simple way to load the next page of search results:
Let’s go over a hypothetical situation, and say that you wanted to immediately go to page ten of the results. It is not necessary to click “Next” nine times to get to the page, you can simply click on the numeral “10” and the tenth page of search results will immediately begin loading onto your screen. Likewise, if you are on a page of search results but at any point you would like to return to an earlier page of search results, all you must do is left click once on the numeral of the page you would like to look at.
Additionally, if you would like to simply go back a page, or prefer to navigate through the search result pages using the “Previous” and “Next” options, you can return to previous pages of search results through either left clicking once on the word “Previous” or by left clicking once on the arrow above it. Below, the white arrows point directly at the two options.
Result Page:
REMEMBER: You can click ANYWHERE on a link for it to work properly. It is not necessary to click on any one particular letter to command the internet to load a webpage onto your screen.
If you spot a link presented in the search results that you would like to visit, all you must do to view the webpage is left click somewhere on the text of the link. This text will be blue and underlined. Once you have clicked on it, the webpage will load onto your screen.
If this webpage is what you were looking for, congratulations! You have used a search engine to success! But, if it turns out not to be what you were looking for, don’t despair! You can easily go back to the page of search results by left clicking once on the “Back” button on the upper left hand side of the webpage screen. The back button is indicated by the white arrow pointing in the picture below:
Once you have returned to the page of search results, you can repeat this process of selecting a link presented by the search engine, left-clicking on it, and looking over the webpage as many times as you please until you find a webpage that contains the information you were looking for.
Sometimes the page of search results will not contain anything close to what you were looking for. In cases such as this, the search terms you entered were not sufficient enough for the search engine to produce a list of results for you to look through. An example of a case such as this would be if you were looking for information on the Red Hat Society in the Downriver area. If you were to enter the search terms “red hat society in Melvindale” the search results will not yield anything of relevancy. In such a situation, all you must do to alter your search terms is to scroll to the top of the page of search results, left click once inside the search engine bar, and enter a different set of search terms. Now, if you were to give it another try and you typed in “red hat society downriver michigan” the search results will contain a plethora of information pertaining to the topic.
Remember, the only two steps that are required for you to alter your search terms are to:
1) Go to the top of the search results page, delete the old search terms, and enter your new search terms, and
2) Click on the grey button to the left of the search engine bar that says “Google Search.”
For further clarification on the location of the search engine bar in the search results page, look at the picture below. The white arrows indicate where the search engine bar and the google search button are.
TIP: When entering search terms, it is important to remember to reduce your search terms to the bare elements of what you are searching for. Again, leave out conjunctions, don’t worry about capitalization, avoid making your search too narrow or specific, and be sure to make your search terms focus upon what information you are seeking. Searching for “bed and breakfast petoskey michigan” will yield much better results than a search for “Bed and Breakfasts located up north.” Another example of this is if you were specifically searching for the location of the large lighthouse in Ludington, “lighthouse ludington” will yield much better results than “Lighthouses located on Lake Michigan.” It is essential to boil your search terms down to the basic elements of what you are searching for rather than searching for a list of words that can only be loosely interpreted as having anything to do with your subject of interest.
Hopefully this guide to using the google search engine has been useful for you. Soon I will be providing guides to using other popular search engines as well, but in the meantime the use of other search engines will be basically the same, with the only differences being in the appearance of the pages themselves. The background and layout will be quite different from that of google, but by all means feel free to try and teach yourself how to use other online tools for searching.
Glossary of Terms
Mouse: This is a device attached to your computer that allows you to control the cursor on screen. If you set your hand on the mouse and physically move it to the left, the mouse on screen will automatically move to the left as well. If you move the mouse to the right, the mouse’s cursor on screen will move to the right. This rule applies to all other movements as well. The way a mouse works is through a sensor inside it sensing friction when you move the mouse one way or another. Therefore, it is important to keep the mouse on the mousepad and off of the table, as the pad provides more friction than other materials provide.
I-Beam: This is the blinking line that indicates where you are typing. While on the internet it is necessary to left-click once inside wherever you plan on typing, and the presence of this blinking line indicates that you are able to begin typing in the designated area, and its presence also indicates the location of where you will be typing.
Backspace Button: This key deletes the text behind it, earning it the name of the “Backspace Button” as it truly does take the text back a space.
Address Bar: The address bar is the white bar located above the web page but below the toolbar.
Mouse Pad: The pad located to the right hand side of a keyboard that the mouse is used upon. These are commonly used to provide more friction for the mouse itself, and improve its effectiveness as a tool to control the cursor on-screen.
Right-Clicking: On a typical mouse, there are two buttons located towards the top of the mouse. There is one on the left, and one on the right. To right click, all you must do is simply set your finger on top of the right hand button and press it once.
Left-Clicking: On a typical mouse, there are two buttons located towards the top of the mouse. There is one on the left, and one on the right. To left click, all you must do is simply set your finger on top of the left hang button on press it once.
Cursor: This is the part of the screen that the mouse controls. It can appear in a few different ways. It normally appears as an arrow; in writing programs, it switches between an arrow and an image resembling a capital I; when you are loading a program, the cursor will appear as a time turner.