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This week's LabZone activity
Jan. 10, 2007
Getting More Out of Less: Google Hits and Search Terms
"Google" is the name of the most often used search engine on the Internet. "Googol" is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. It's a very large number! Want to know how to get less than a googol hits on Google? Do this experiment to test different search terms and find out.
Objective
In this experiment you will use different search terms to measure the effect on search hits with Google.
Introduction
Do you often use Google to do research on a topic for school or fun? You may have even used Google to find this project idea. Google is a very good search engine for finding information, but sometimes it seems like you get way too many hits that don't have the kind of information you are looking for. Why is that? Doesn't Google know any better? Unfortunately, the answer is no.
Google is simply a computer program that searches for information using an algorithm. An algorithm is like a formula. It is a set of instructions written for the computer in coded language that tell it what to do. The Google algorithm is programmed to scan through digital information on the Internet looking for search terms (the words or phrase that best describe the information you want to find) that are typed in the search box by the user (you). By counting the number of matching search terms found on all of the pages on the Internet, it gives each page a score. The hits you see on your results page are the sites that got the highest scores from the Google algorithm because they contained the search terms you entered in the search box.
So how can you get better search results? The answer is by typing in the right search terms. Because of the way the Google algorithm works, the only way that you can get better hits is to give the computer better, more specific terms to search for. Here are some of the strategies that we will test:
- Use a specific term.
- Use more than one term.
- Change the order of the terms.
- Use quotes to search for a complete phrase.
- Use a negative term.
For example, you can use a negative term to keep certain information out of your search that you know is not what you are looking for. A negative term is a word with a minus sign typed in front of it [–term]. If I search for [apple], I keep getting information about Apple computers, but I really want information about the fruit. I can try to use a negative term to help narrow my search [apple –computer]. If I search for [apple banana] I keep getting information about recipes using apples and bananas. I can try to use a negative term to help narrow my search [apple banana –recipe].
How will these tips help you search for more specific types of information? In this experiment we will measure the number of Google hits obtained by using each different strategy. Will these strategies increase or decrease the number of hits? Which strategy will work the best?
Experimental Procedure and Additional Information
Used with permission. Copyright © 2002-2007 Kenneth Lafferty Hess Family Charitable Foundation. All rights reserved.
Sohn, Emily. 2006. Internet generation. Science News for Kids (Oct. 25). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20061025/Feature1.asp .
______. 2005. The disappearing newspaper. Science News for Kids (Oct. 5). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20051005/Feature1.asp .
______. 2005. Setting a prime number record. Science News for Kids (March 23). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20050323/Note3.asp .
______. 2003. It's a small e-mail world after all. Science News for Kids (Aug. 20). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20030820/Note3.asp .
For more science project ideas, go to http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/areas_of_science.shtml .
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