Yahoo!7 Search finds what you tell it to, so here are some tips for better results.
Choose Words Carefully
Use specific words to describe exactly what you're looking for. More general terms give a larger number of results, so try to narrow your search.
For example:
- Try "19th century chairs" instead of "old furniture"
- Use "digital camera reviews" instead of "electronics"
Watch for words with more than one meaning. If you're looking for information on modeling, make sure you specify "fashion" or "clay."
Including and Excluding Words
By default, Yahoo!7 Search returns only pages that include all of your search terms. The exception is very common words such as "it" and "how." These appear in so many places, they usually won't improve your results.
- Including Words: To include words, just type a plus sign + in front of each one. For example, if you want to see pages about the latest "in thing," search for "+in thing."
- Excluding Words: To exclude words, type a minus sign - in front of them. No pages containing those words show up in your results. For example, if you want to see pages about dogs with no mention of poodles, search for "dogs -poodles."
Either/Or
If you're equally interested in two or more alternatives, use OR in capital letters. For example, search for "new zealand kayaking OR biking."
Word Order
To search for an exact phrase, just put quotation marks around two or more words. For example, search on "to be or not to be" (typing the quotation marks into the box).
Related Searches
We'll make some suggestions, too. If other people using Yahoo!7 Search have looked for something similar, links to related searches appear under the search box at the top of your web results page.
Yahoo!7 Shortcuts
Yahoo!7 Shortcuts help you find what you're looking for in a flash. Shortcuts include a set of five keywords and one special character !. When you use Shortcut keywords as part of your Yahoo!7 Search, the information appears right on your search results page.
- For weather, the keyword is weather. (Use with a location.)
- For dictionary definitions, the keyword is define. (Use with any English word.)
- For news, the keyword is news. (Use with any topic.)
- ! — Add to any of the Shortcut key words to skip past results and take you right to the place on Yahoo!7 you want to go.
Search Meta Words
Here is a list of special keywords that give you results unique to that special keyword instruction. You can enter these Meta words directly into the Yahoo!7 Search box.
- site: Use to find all documents within a particular domain and all its subdomains.
Example: site:yahoo.com - hostname: Use to find all documents from a particular host only.
Example: hostname:autos.yahoo.co - link: Use to find documents that link to a particular URL.
Example: link:http://autos.yahoo.com/ - url: Use to find a specific document in our index.
Example: url:http://edit.autos.yahoo.com/repair/tree/0.html - inurl: Use to find a specific keyword as part of indexed URLs.
Example: inurl:bulgarian - intitle: Use to find a specific keyword as part of the indexed titles.
Example: intitle:Bulgarian