Find it faster on the internet

Crafts 4.0: "Your search returned 58.911 results." The sheer volume of information on the internet is often overwhelming when searching for keywords. However, with the right search strategy, businesses can find information much faster.

This article is part of the special feature on digital craftsmanship.

For many craft businesses, searching for information, suppliers, and materials online is now second nature. Most internet users only think of one search engine: Google. According to the statistics portal Statista.de, Google's market share has been over 90 percent in recent years. While there are many other search engines, meta-search engines, and web directories that can sometimes make finding certain information faster, most businesses hardly use them.

Another obstacle to tailoring results lists is the exclusive use of keywords. There are a variety of search parameters that can be used to narrow down the results in advance. Therefore, the right search strategy is crucial to saving time in everyday life.

Make optimal use of search tools

There are basically three types of search tools: web directories, traditional search engines, and meta-search engines. Web directories are thematically organized listings, usually maintained by an editorial team. They are particularly suitable for quickly finding information on specific broad topics. Examples include the digital business directory Onlinestreet.de or the telephone and company directory of Das Oertliche.de.

Traditional search engines like Google.de , Bing.de , or Yahoo.de, on the other hand, work with enormous databases containing a large portion of the internet. Therefore, search engines usually deliver far more results than web directories. However, these directories are neither editorially pre-sorted nor ranked, so sifting through the results lists takes more time. Meta-search engines like Metager.de or Metacrawler.de provide even more results : These constantly search multiple search engines simultaneously for the desired keywords. This saves you the time of using different search engines one after the other.

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Targeted restriction of hits

Those who primarily search for information on Google should take advantage of the many options for limiting search results using parameters. For example, there are commands for excluding search terms, for exact phrase searches, and for searching within documents (see Google search tips). Capitalization of words can also play a role in your search—some search engines can distinguish between spellings. Most results are usually found when the search term is written entirely in lowercase.

There's another peculiarity to note with Google: The results lists can vary significantly depending on whether the search is being performed on a desktop PC or a mobile device. This is because Google always prioritizes showing results on the smaller screens of smartphones and tablets with websites optimized for mobile devices. This can cause truly relevant pages to slip further down the results lists. To display results from a specific region, Google also always tries to determine the searcher's current location. Therefore, businesses sometimes see completely different results depending on their current location.

Regional search for service providers

For targeted regional searches for service providers, banks, and restaurants, local search services can be an alternative. These services fill a niche between printed business directories and traditional online search engines. Providers like GoYellow.de , 11880.com , and GelbeSeiten.de , for example, specialize in regional business searches. These services can also help locate companies that don't have their own website—and are therefore sometimes not found by Google.

Almost all providers display search results on city maps and offer route descriptions after just a few clicks. Google also now offers its own business directory, "Google My Business" : Companies and tradespeople can register for free at Google.de/business.

Search tips for Google

01 Phrase search
Put a search phrase in quotation marks to find results with a literal match – e.g.: “Handwerk 4.0”
02 Exclusion search
By placing a minus sign (“-”) in front of the search term, you exclude pages containing specific terms – e.g.: tax tips - employees - pensioners - students
03 Alternative search
With the control command “OR” (or) you can find pages that contain at least one other term in addition to the main search term – e.g.: Bargain Tablet OR Smartphone
04 Document search
Results in specific documents (such as DOC, PPT or PDF) can be found using the control command “ext:” – e.g.: Tax tips ext:doc or Crafts Journal ext:pdf
05 From-to search
With two dots (“..”) you specify that the search result is in a certain number range – e.g.: Smartphone price 100..200
06 Definition search
Definitions of desired terms can be found using the command “define:” – e.g.: define:digitization
07 Place/Street search
When you enter a location and street, Google displays a corresponding map section, e.g., Königsallee Düsseldorf. Clicking on the map then takes you directly to Google Maps.
08 Weather search
When you enter the word “weather” with any city, Google will show you the eight-day weather forecast with temperature, precipitation and wind – e.g.: Weather Cologne
09 Converter
Google automatically converts units (such as currencies or units of measurement). The input follows the pattern: Number UnitA to UnitB – e.g.: 1000 euros to dollars
10 calculators
Simply enter calculations into the search field—e.g., 396 x 3 + 30. Learn more about Google Calculator:http://bitly/2E5BRF9>

Search with security
Data protection advocates view search engines like Google with skepticism. These search portals not only provide helpful results lists, but also secretly collect a wealth of data in the background. This includes, among other things, the IP address, internet browser used, operating system, date and time. And, of course, search terms entered – because this allows search engines to display relevant advertising and optimize search results in the future. Data protection advocates believe that it becomes even more critical when Google links search engine data with other collected information – for example, browser histories, the location of an Android smartphone, or Gmail messages. This way, an individual profile of the user is created over time. Those who prefer to keep their data private can switch to other search engines. There are now numerous providers that adhere to specific security guidelines – such as Ixquick.de orDuckduckgo.comUsers cannot be identified here because no IP addresses or other data are stored.

Data collector Google

Google activities:
If you want to know which activities Google stores, just take a look at https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity. There, you can filter your searches by clicking on "Filter by data & product."
Recently used devices:
On which devices do you use Google? The list is available at https://myaccount.google.com/device-activity reveals it. Clicking on a device provides further information, such as the operating system or the last location.
Google Locations:
Where did you use Google? The company records this in detail – at Google.com/maps/timeline. Their locations are marked with red dots.
Google profile:
What conclusions does Google draw from the information it collects? https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated you will find information about your presumed gender and age.

search engines

Selected German-language search engines:
ask.com
bing.de
google.de
yahoo.de

Search engines with special security policies: 
deusu.de
duckduckgo.com
ixquick.de
qwant.com
swisscows.com
unbubble.eu

Selected German-language metasearch engines:
apollo7.de
ixquick.de
metacrawler.de
metager.de