According to Nielsen NetRatings, the three most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Mostly, I use Google and MSN because my regular surfing habits take me to those pages and because they work. I’m sure Yahoo works as well, but I don’t live in that world so I never use it.

The secret to a successful search is in knowing what words to use in your search criteria. That may sound obvious, but the more you use search engines, the more you realize it’s as much an art as a science. I continually run across people who know precisely what they want to search for, but you wouldn’t know it by what they type in that little box.

For instance, to find the lyrics to a song, don’t just search for title of the song and the word “lyrics.” Sure, that might work, but if you can think of a unique line from the song, you’re more likely to find what you’re looking for. Take “Truckin’” by Jerry Garcia and  The Grateful Dead. A general search for “Truckin’ AND lyrics” returns 5,500 hits, including The Dead’s song, but also including songs from Deep Purple and Fats Waller. Instead, if you make your search criteria a unique line from The Dead’s song, like: “Truckin’ got my chips cashed in,” you’ll get the lyrics you’re looking for without all that other nonsense.

In a more practical example, a couple of nights ago, my friend Larry called because he was having trouble opening an attachment in Outlook Express. “I open these things all the time,” he said, “but this one won’t crack. What do I need to do?” After discussing the problem for a minute or two, I cleverly deduced that Outlook Express had removed access to an unsafe attachment in his mail. My conclusion was based on years of messaging experience, a highly trained mind for problem resolution, and an error message that read “Outlook Express has removed access to an unsafe attachment in your mail.”

Because I’m not too familiar with Outlook Express, I was unaware of this feature and couldn’t walk Larry through a fix off the top of my head. “Click on the Help menu and search for ‘virus’ or ‘protection’ or something like that,” I told him.

“Just tried that. No dice,” he said. (Over the phone, Larry sounds just like Mulder from The X Files.)

“Try an Internet search.”
“What do I search for?”
“What’s the problem?”
“I can’t open this attachment.”
“No, that’s the symptom. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is that this virus protection software is blocking me from opening an Excel attachment that I’m positive does not contain a virus.”
“So what are you going to search for?”
“How about ‘virus’ AND ‘protect’?”
“Never mind. I’ll do it.”

Virus AND protect, indeed. Larry may be a successful real estate developer, but he needs to apply his sharp business savvy to his Internet searches. Virus AND protect. Please.

I fired up my PC and surfed over to MSN. Yes, I know that Google gets more business—40% to MSN’s 30%—and no, I didn’t use MSN much before I started working at Microsoft. But just as my move to Seattle has caused me to embrace the hometown Mariners, Sonics, and Seahawks, I determined that my move to Microsoft ought to include a good-faith attempt to convert to home company products like MSN. And it’s worked. It didn’t take long for MSN to become my search engine of choice, and I actually like the MSN news page better than the one I was using before.

I knew that if Larry’s problem was a common one, chances were good that people were discussing it in Internet chat rooms, Q and A forums, and other places where they exchange ideas about Microsoft products. I searched for:

“outlook express” AND “unsafe attachment in your mail”

Jackpot the first time. My search returned 81 hits, the first ten of which were right on the money, providing a simple fix to Larry’s problem, which just involved un-checking a box, saving the attachment, then re-checking the box.

The problem is that the Web is still very much an untamed wilderness. You know the information you want is out there, but locating it can sometimes be a real challenge. Search engines are improving, but with six billion web pages at your beck and call, your best bet for a successful search still depends on your ability to narrow down your specific search string. If you’re not a natural at it, keep practicing.

Otherwise, you may find yourself muttering along with Jerry Garcia, “What a long strange trip it’s been.”

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