Search Engine Results

[StuartW]

When using a search engine such as Google, I sometimes get over 500,000 sites found.I know that Google lists them in the best order of probability, but I sometimes wonder what is listed at say site 300,000. Is there a quick,easy way of getting to the end of the list without clicking on the numerous pages numbers to go forwards?

[Rick Hall]

Click on the last page.

[StuartW]

Google doesn't have a last page, only a NEXT. Besides this will not help get to the centre pages of the listings.

[mairving]

If you do a search and receive 300,000 hits, it seems like you need to do a more relevant search. Here are search tips from google:

Basic Search

To enter a query into Google, just type in a few descriptive words and hit the 'enter' key (or click on the Google Search button) for your list of relevant results.

Google uses sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. For instance, when Google analyzes a page, it looks at what those pages linking to that page have to say about it. Google also prefers pages in which your query terms are near each other.

Automatic "and" Queries
By default, Google only returns those pages that include all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms.

For example, to plan a vacation to Hawaii, simply type


To restrict a search further, just include more terms.

"OR" Searches

Google supports the logical "OR" operator. To retrieve pages that include either word A or word B, use an uppercase OR between terms.

For example, to search for a vacation in either London or Paris, just type


Stop Words
Google ignores common words and characters, known as stop words. Google automatically disregards such terms as "where" and "how," as well as certain single digits and single letters, because these terms rarely help narrow a search, and can slow down searching significantly.

Use the "+" sign to include stop words in your search. Be sure to include a space before the "+" sign. You can also include the "+" sign in phrase searches.

For example, to search for Star Wars, Episode I:


See your search terms in context
Each Google search result contains one or more excerpt from the web page, which shows how your search terms are used in context on that page. Your search terms are bolded so you can tell at a glance whether the result is a page you want to visit.

Stemming
To provide the most accurate results, Google does not use "stemming" or support "wildcard" searches. In other words, Google searches for exactly the words that you enter in the search box. Searching for "googl" or "googl*" will not yield "googler" or "googlin." If in doubt, try both forms: "airline" and "airlines," for instance.

Does capitalization matter?
Google searches are not case sensitive. All letters, regardless of how you type them, will be understood as lower case. For example, searches for "george washington", "George Washington", and "gEoRgE wAsHiNgToN" will all return the same results.

[StuartW]

Thanks mairving.If I want to carry out a specific search,I do in fact use the Google advanced search techniques.What I was curious about is what would be in say hit number 250,000
and how relevant it would be.I guess I've got too much time on my hands at the moment. LOL

[mairving]

You obviously don't have too much time on your hands. If you did you would have hit the next button on google until you got to hit no. 300,000. It does appear that google for the most part shows links by relevance. It is pretty rare on a search that I even go to page 3 of the search.