Google: Search Terms

The material  on this page is from the source:  Beginner 1: Picking the right search terms

Search Terms: the individual or set of words used to query a search engine.

As a student you will need to develop the ability to choose these terms to achieve the best search results for your needs.

Example #1

For each of the searches, notice the number of results and the number of poor results on the first page of results.

Question 1: 

The Back Story:

A student is studying a Percy Jackson novel and needs the answer to the question "what food does Tyson like best?"

Question 2: 

The Back Story:

A friend really liked a Eric Walters novel with a main character named Ethan, but could not remember the title of the book. What is the title of the book?

Question 3:

The Back Story:

You have a cow with blisters on its tongue. What wrong with it?

Question 4:

The back Story:

Your turn to decide on search terms

• I heard there is an abandoned city in the San Francisco Bay. What is it called?

• What is the name of the area below the nose and above the lip?

• What is the name of the thing that hangs down at the back of the mouth?

A multi-step search maybe required:

Search 1:  

    Are there any diseases that involve the area below the nose and above the lip?

Search 2:

    Find the medical name for the the area below the nose and above the lip.

Search 3:

    Now search again for diseases that involve this area, but this time use the correct medical name for this area.

Notice how different the results are.