Google and the Hidden Web

July 18

A Few More Google Tips

The previous article tells about some of the simple things Google can do that we often miss. The one before that tells about the concept of the Invisible Web, which is all the stuff that Google can’t get to. Below are some Google resources that are not always simple and actually are easy to miss.

Let Google Search for You at Google Answers
Let’s say you have a burning question but you can’t find what you are looking for with your Internet search (or maybe you don’t want to take the time to find it!). Instead, ask Google your question, but don’t do it the traditional way. Go to answers.google.com – instead of google.com. At Google Answers, type in your question, offer a fair price ($2.50 being the minimum) and send it off to Google’s squad of 250 researchers.

Here’s just one example. Recently someone asked the Google researchers – “Where can I purchase email and street address data for College Seniors who are about to graduate?” The questioner offered $200 for the answer. One of the Google researchers wrote back and recommended Alloy Media & Marketing (www.alloymarketing.com), a company that specializes in target marketing to college age prospects.

Or, don’t even pay anything! Google Answers keeps a database of all their previous questions and answers, like the one above. Before you offer to pay the Google researchers anything, do a search of Google Answers first to see if someone else has already asked your question. Look for the search box labeled “Search Google Answers for” on the Google Answers home page. If someone has already asked (and answered) a question like yours, you won’t have to spend a cent!

Let Google’s People Call Your People
Google is a powerful search tool – from your computer or your fancy cell phone. But, what if you have one of those older phones without Internet access? Do you know that you can still “Google?” It’s called SMS – for Simple Messaging Service. You’ll find out how to use it on the “More” page of Google – look for “Go Mobile” and then SMS. Send a text message to Google at 46645 (googl) and you can get weather information, driving directions, or the phone number of that next appointment. Google will text message an answer back to you in seconds.

To do this, you need to know how to do a “text message” on your cell phone (ask a kid to show you if you don’t know how). Here are some examples of the kind of information Google can send to your cell phone:
• Want the weather? – weather denver co
• Need a phone number? – don gabardie 80303
• Get directions – evanston il to arlington heights il
• Up to the minute stock price – aapl or goog
• movie times – da vinci code 60201.
Remember you send these text messages to 46645 (googl) – and wait only a second for them to answer. Cool!

We repeat – you do NOT need a phone that is connected to the Internet to do Google’s SMS!

She’s a Smooth Operator
You can often search a particular web site directly from that site – just look for the search box (although these can often be harder to find than your car keys). And some web sites don’t even have a search mechanism. Never fear. Google can search any particular web site more quickly and more accurately than that site’s own search tools by using what is called an “operator.” In this case, the operator is a simple four letter word (no, not that four letter word!) called “site.” Just type what you are looking for in the Google search box exactly as shown below (it’s important to do it exactly like our examples – there must be a colon after the word “site:” and it must not be capitalized – don’t ask why!):
“sales leads” site:www.forbes.com

The above will return only articles from the Forbes web site that have the phrase “sales leads” in them. If you start to think of the time this would save you, you’ll begin to use the “site” operator often (sorry, we broke down and used the technical word “operator” – we usually don’t but we trust you guys). If you were searching for “finding a doctor,” you might want to only search the Mayo Clinic site, or the American Cancer Society site, because you trust them. Similarly, you trust certain news and information sources. So, you might want to research a new topic for a speech or do some fact checking by only searching that topic in the New York Times, Fast Company or SpeakerNet News. If you were to search for the term “business coach” in Google you’d get 4,130,000 results (or 122,000,000 if you forget to put the term “business coach” in quotes). Compare that to the 62 results you get when you limit your search to the Fast Company web site. Try this with a search term you need – and restrict your search to a trusted site or two. Then, grab us on the floor and tell us about your success.

Or, try something like:
“saxz stevens” site:www.thecrossingsaustin.com
You’ll use the above example often when you wonder if a certain person or topic is mentioned on a particular web site. In the case above, instead of browsing through the whole web site for The Crossings (a first class learning & conference center in Austin, Texas – and a pretty neat site) we find the exact number of times Saxz Stevens is mentioned on his own company’s web site. Before we call our convention contact back, we’ve taken only seconds to get exactly what his company web site says about him. That would have taken much longer if we had browsed the site for the same information! Try it – you’ll use “site:” often to save time and target your search.

You can also do site only searches from the “Advanced” tab on the Google home page. This advanced tab should be called the “Beginner” tab. Take a look at it. You can “slice and dice” your searches any number of time saving ways without remembering all the specific “operators.”

Your Own Personal Clipping Service – Google News Alerts
It’s only smart to search the “News” tab before you make a major sales call. However, no matter what stage of the sales process you are in – qualifying leads, closing, or even after you’ve made the sale – it’s more efficient do a News Alert. You won’t have to remember to search for the latest news about your clients because each story will land in your e-mail the minute it happens.

Here’s how to set up a News Alert. On the News Tab page of Google you will see a link that will step you through the process (look for the small envelope and the words “News Alerts.”. Follow the instructions for setting up a News Alert account – and then try just one or two to get the feel of how they work. A tip to remember is that names and phrases that belong together should be put in quotation marks (I know, you’ve heard that one before, but it really does make a difference).

Once your alert is set up you’ll be the first to know when anything new happens with that company. If they make a change in upper management, announce a new program or fire the person you’re working with, you’ll know it. Further, if they or one of their executives is featured in Fortune, USA Today or any other magazine or newspaper around the world – you’ll know about it.
News alerts save time, don’t cost anything and make you look like a genius. That’s a deal!

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July 17Tips to Make Google Work for You

In the previous article we wrote about how Google can actually access only a small fraction of the information on the Internet. This isn’t Google’s fault, so don’t point fingers, OK. None of the premier search engines can access the part of the web that has been called “the invisible web.” The PEW Internet and American Life Project says, “only a small fraction of existing web pages are actually indexed by the popular engines. The rest are hidden on the “invisible web.”

That doesn’t mean that you can’t get Google to do a better job on what it can do. Teach your employees to focus their searches and get information more quickly, so they’ll have more time for the really crucial things – like surfing ESPN for sports scores.

Tip #1 – Bartlett never had it this good
Always use quotes around words that belong together. This is particularly useful if you can only remember a line or two of a song, a poem or a joke. For example, “Once upon a midnight dreary;” “St. Agnes Eve – ah bitter chill it was” or “I was stranded in the jungle.” Try this at home – you’ll win a lot of those dinner table bets.

Tip #2 – Pictures or news?
Google can search many things besides web sites. It can search for pictures, for instance. Just click the “Images” tab and Google will search for pictures of anything you want – Brazilian rain forests, Derek Jeter, even the Hope Diamond. Similarly, if you’re looking for news articles on a subject, don’t search the entire web; just click the “News” tab to restrict your results to late-breaking news about the Brazilian rain forests, Derek Jeter, or the Hope Diamond.

Tip #3 – Triple Google Latte – half-decaf and hold the whipped cream
Want to keep from seeing explicit pictures? Need Google to talk to you in French? Get Google to work the way you want it to – on the “Preferences” tab. Google lets you tell it lots of other things – by far more things than you can ever tell your kids – and, it will listen! The “Preferences” tab is on the Google home page. Give it a look.

Tip #4 – Just Your News – Sent to You
Who wants to spend more time on their computer these days? Stop following your nose for hours and hours on end looking for the latest information. Instead, sign up for Google’s “News Alerts.” You can have alerts sent to you on everything from the stocks you own to the latest news about global warming to your favorite soap opera stars. Save time by letting Google send you just the topics you want.

Tip #5 – It’s a Calculator, It’s a Phone Directory, It’s Super Google!
This is sort of scary, but just type in a telephone number and up comes the name and address of the person who owns that number. You can also type in a stock symbol and, “Bam,” you have the up-to-the-second price. This list goes on and on. For instance, type in your UPS shipment number (you don’t even have to type in “UPS” because it just somehow knows). By the way, when you do type in your UPS tracking number, sure enough, it will tell you that it’s been held up in a snowstorm in Detroit.

Tip #6 – It’s All in How You Say It
Hang on to your hat for this one. If you are new to all things Google, you might want to skip this paragraph. If you’re a Google veteran, this one’s for you. Let’s say you are looking for information about “fixed annuities.” Add the word “site” to zero in on the kind of information you need. If you type “fixed annuities” you will have 355,000 results – mostly from sites that want to sell you stuff. However, if you type in “fixed annuities” site:edu you’ll get much more targeted information from university and educational sites – and leave the sales guys back at the station, where they belong. We have to keep this short here, but if you want to avoid looking for every possible mention of your search term (“Adlai Stevenson”) and are only looking for sites that deal with Adlai, start your search by typing intitle:“Adlai Stevenson” These are just a few of many terms you can use to narrow down your search results and get exactly the kind of information you need.

Tip #7 – Digital Photography Without Going to The Madhouse
Google offers photo editing software that is what every software program in the world should be – free and easy to use. Picassa 2 does a lot more than just help you edit your photos. At the click of your mouse it will run a slide show of your trip to Bali, send (and size!) photos of Bali to Aunt Jenny and print your pictures any way you like them. You find it under the “More” tab – which is one of those tabs on Google’s impossibly simple home page.

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July 16Just Google It?!

Here’s a remarkable statistic. Nine out of ten people are confident and satisfied with their ability to search the Internet. The PEW Internet and American Life Project reports:
“92% of those who use search engines say they are confident about their searching abilities.”

What an amazing number! Do you think 92% of Americans are satisfied with their looks? Are 92% of Americans pretty confident that they weigh as much as they should or have as much money as they need? As Carolyn Myss, the author of Anatomy of the Spirit, has said, “Americans have managed to make lack of self-esteem a national malady.” Except when it comes to the Internet! This is surprising considering that the Internet has appeared in the equivalent of the last instant of human time, and is more enormous than the human brain can comprehend. Astounding then that anyone can believe they know it all when it comes to Internet search.

Deborah Fallows of the Pew Internet and American Life Project says it this way, “In a sense, many search-engine users are a little bit like kids with a fancy new toy. They want to go play with it immediately and have a good time, but most don’t want to read the instructions or much care to know how it works.”

But you are still reading – and that means you’re among the 8% who believe there is more to learn. So, for you, here is one tip that might help you the next time you get one of those annoying messages that say “Page NOT Found” when you do a Google search. Use the “back button” and then click on the word “Cached” in your Google result. Like magic, the web site you wanted will appear – actually a picture of the site, but let’s not argue – and, it will even highlight (in different colors!) each of your search terms. We know friends who are using the “Cache” link for all of their searching – because the highlighted words make it easy to find their search terms quickly.

And the next time you hear someone say they can find anything on the Internet by just typing a few words into Google, just tell them that most of the Internet is not available through Google. The PEW study said it this way:
“Finally, there are billions of web pages that users of the popular search engines have no access to. In fact, despite what feels like a veritable and ever-growing glut of information, only a small fraction of existing web pages are actually indexed by the popular engines. The rest are hidden on the “invisible web.”Yes, Virginia, there are a few (billion) things Google can’t do. But, since you’re part of the 8% you already knew that. Keep learning – there’s a lot to find with Internet search!