Whether you are searching for the perfect cashmere sweater or why the sky is blue, how you Google or use a search engine makes a big impact on the results you receive. Here are some tips to help you find what you are looking for:

1. Use Multiple Search Engines - Google is not the only search engine on the block. Try Yahoo!, Live Search, Ask or a combination search engine like Dogpile.
2. Use Boolean Search Terms On Non-Google Search Engines - Boolean searching uses the operators AND, OR and NOT to hone down what you’re looking for. AND combines the terms - cookie AND chocolate will bring up results about chocolate cookies. OR will search both terms - cookie OR chocolate will give you information about both shortbread cookies and Hershey’s Kisses. NOT will exclude words from your results - cookie NOT chocolate will give you information on oatmeal cookies and sugar cookies, so forget Chips Ahoy or Oreos. Not all search engines use Boolean operators, though - Google is one that doesn’t. You may also be able to use a plus sign (+) for a required word and a minus sign (-) for a restricted word.
3. Use Wildcards - Like Boolean operators, some search engines will allow you to search with a wildcard character. An asterisk is the most widely-known wildcard. Typing pop* would bring up results like popcorn, poppyseeds and pop culture.
4. Put Your Search Terms In Quotation Marks - The search engine will then look for words in that exact order. Typing “bye bye miss american pie” will most likely bring up websites about Don McLean and his famous song.
5. Search In The Form Of A Question - Typing How many stripes are there on the American Flag? may bring up more accurate results than American Flag stripes.
6. Check Your Spelling And Check Other Spellings - You may not get the results you need if you misspelled what you are looking for. But do also search for spelling variations; Hanukkah and Chanukkah is one good example.
7. Make Use Of Search Engines’ Advanced Search Features - If you go to Google’s home page, you will see a link to the right of the search box that says Advanced Search. Not only can you search by required and restricted words, but by file type, language, domain and more.
8. Try Product-Specific Search Engines - Most major search engines now have separate search engines accessible from the main one to search specific products, like images, videos, blogs, maps, news, finance and more. So if you’re searching for a photo of Bigfoot, try Google Image Search or Yahoo! Image Search.
9. Evaluate Your Search Results - According to  Web Research: Selecting, Evaluating and Citing by Radford, Barnes and Barr, a good website should meet the following five criteria: accuracy, authority, objectivity, coverage and currency. If the website is missing one or more of these criteria, you may want to rethink the website as a source of information.
10. Still Can’t Find Something? Ask A Question - There are many sites on the Web where you can ask a question and get answers from the Internet community. Two of the best-known sites are Yahoo! Answers and Craigslist Discussion Forums.\

What are your best tips for finding what you need on search engines?

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