The Extreme Searcher's Guide to Web Search Engines: A Handbook for the Serious Searcher [Paperback]

Randolph Hock (Author), Paula Berinstein (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1999

Hock gives an "under-the-hood" look at such popular search engines as AltaVista, Yahoo!, HotBot, Dogpile, Northern Light, and more. In addition to information on how search engines work, what to realistically expect from a search engine, and search engine add-ons, there are tips and techniques for efficient and effective searching on every page.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Everyone knows how to call up a search site, tap in some keywords, and hope for something relevant. But to get valuable and speedy results from Web search engines, you need some advanced knowledge. The Extreme Searcher's Guide to Web Search Engines tells you what you need to know.

This book shows you how to assemble high-quality queries on major search sites. In addition to providing a general tutorial on composing Boolean searches--that's all the AND, OR, and NOT stuff--Randolph Hock shows you how to use each site's special search terms and characters. He explains how to do proximity searches on Lycos, for example, and how to limit a HotBot search to information no more than a week old.

If you're publishing information on a Web site and want to increase its chances of coming up in search results, be sure to check out Hock's information on how documents get pulled into the engines' databases and how they're indexed. Documented sites include AltaVista, Excite, InfoSeek, Lycos, Yahoo, and others. Hock doesn't pay enough attention to searches for nontext media--a search for MP3 files and clip art would have been helpful. Coverage of non-U.S. search tools is lacking as well. But what's here satisfies most needs. --David Wall

From Library Journal

With nary a hint of condescension, this solid video overview of the Internet discusses a fairly broad range of issues, making two important points: 1) the net is comparable to the biggest library ever owing to the linking of millions of servers full of information, and 2) no one actually designed the Internet, it just kind of happened an idea that might not come across clearly in a book. Other topics include standard terms, domain names, online auctions, and e-mail. Teachers could use this as a lead-in to a discussion or as a basic introduction for young or new users; recommended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Cyberage Books (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0910965269
• ISBN-13: 978-0910965262
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,190,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ran Hock divides his work time between writing and teaching. On the teaching side, he specializes in customized courses teaching people how to use the Internet effectively (through his one-person company, Online Strategies). His courses have been offered--in the U.S. and eleven other countries -- to companies, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, schools, universities, and associations. On the writing side, he has written The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook (now in its Third Edition, CyberAge Books, 2010), The Extreme Searcher's Guide to Web Search Engines (CyberAge Books, 1999, 2001), Yahoo! to the Max (CyberAge Books, 2005), and The Traveler's Web (CyberAge Books, 2007). He has also been a chemistry teacher, a librarian at two universities, and has held training and management positions with DIALOG Information Services and Knight-Ridder Information. He lives in Vienna, Virginia, with his wife, Pamela, and they have two sons, Matthew and Stephen, and one daughter, Elizabeth. One of Ran's passions is travel, and he hopes to someday also have time to return to his hobby of genealogy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes Finding Information Online a Much Easier Task!, December 7, 1999

By 

Jim Moran - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Extreme Searcher's Guide to Web Search Engines: A Handbook for the Serious Searcher (Paperback)

The availability of a lot of information on the Internet has made finding specific information a more difficult task to accomplish. Unless someone knows were to find something online they must make use of existing tools to find it. A number of elaborate search engine tools were created with this one goal in mind.

Randolph Hock has written The Extreme Searcher's Guide to Web Search Engines to provide us with helpful insight into how existing search engines can be put to use to help researchers find specific information online. A number of these search engines have been around for a while and have seen much use, but time, effort, and money can be saved by becoming more familiar with the major ones and using those that will get the job done!

This book covers the operation and use of major search engines such as Alta Vista, Excite, HotBot, Infoseek, Internet Sleuth, Lycos, Northern Light, WebCrawler, Yahoo, and others. Readers will find out that there are not only search engines that search the 'Net, but search engines that search multiple search engines themselves! Some of these are covered in the book as well!

Readers are introduced to each search engine covered in the book. Screen shots, entry fields, and information about special functions and use are provided. They will learn how each search engine operates and how they should be put to the best possible use. They are compared with one another and the author offers his own opinion of the strengths and weaknesses of each one. Readers are left to determine which search engines are best suited for their own particular needs. An accompanying Website provides updated information at their fingertips!

The book is ideally suited for professional researchers, students, businesses, and libraries. It can be read from cover-to-cover or opened up at any particular place as special needs arise. It is thoughtfully written and very readable. It will make finding information online a much easier and more enjoyable task!

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you search the Net, you need this book, March 21, 1999

By 

Mary E. Bates "[e-mail]" (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Extreme Searcher's Guide to Web Search Engines: A Handbook for the Serious Searcher (Paperback)

It's always hard to figure out which search engine to use when you're trying to find information on the Web. Hock's book does a great job at sorting out the strengths and weaknesses of each of the major search engines, as well as providing easy-to-read documentation of features such as phrase searching and searching for personal names. I especially liked the sections on "What Happens Behind the Scenes" and "Special Options," which show where each search engine excels. Any serious Net.searcher should have this book within arm's reach.