Make Google behave: techniques for better results

10/04/23 www.rba.co.uk 1

Make Google Behave: techniquesfor better results

Tuesday, 30th April 2013Manchester

This presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Karen Blakeman, RBA Information Services

[email protected], http://www.rba.co.uk/search/

twitter.com/karenblakeman

Slides will be available on http://www.authorstream.com and http://www.slideshare.com/. Also available temporarily at

http://www.rba.co.uk/as/

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.rba.co.uk/search/

http://www.twitter.com/karenblakeman

http://www.authorstream.com/

http://www.slideshare.com/

http://www.rba.co.uk/as/

Fact sheets

The fact sheets are available at http://www.rba.co.uk/search/

Search Strategies - Top Search Tips– http://www.rba.co.uk/search/TopSearchTips.shtml

Search Strategies - Selected Google Commands – http://www.rba.co.uk/search/SelectedGoogleCommands.shtml

Search Strategies - Google Search Tips – http://www.rba.co.uk/search/GoogleSearchTips.shtml

Search Strategies - Search Tools Summary and Comparison – http://www.rba.co.uk/search/compare.shtml


http://www.rba.co.uk/search/

http://www.rba.co.uk/search/TopSearchTips.shtml

http://www.rba.co.uk/search/SelectedGoogleCommands.shtml

http://www.rba.co.uk/search/GoogleSearchTips.shtml

http://www.rba.co.uk/search/compare.shtml

Why do we use Google?

Often gives 'good enough' results with minimal effort from

the searcher

Great coverage

Personalisation

Problems?

Google thinks it knows best when it comes to the search

strategy

Too much information

Personalisation


Five things you need to know about Google

1. Google personalises your search

Personalises search based on– location

– past search history

– past browsing activity

– activity in other areas of Google e.g. YouTube, Google Reader

– content from contacts in your personal networks may be given priority

– what you and others have ‘liked’, g+1



1. Google personalises your search


Non-personalised search Personalised search

“Un-personalise” your search

Chrome - New Incognito window

FireFox - Tools, Start Private Browsing

Internet Explorer – Tools, InPrivate Browsing

Switch off web/search history

Log out of your Google account

Clear cookies



2. Google automatically looks for variations on your terms and omits terms



2. Google automatically looks for variations on your terms and omits terms

To force an exact match and inclusion of a term in a search prefix it with ‘intext:’ UK public transport intext:biodiesel statistics

“..” around terms does not always work

Verbatim – runs your search exactly as you have typed it in

Google Scholar does not drop termsGoogle Scholar – can still use ‘+’ before a term to force an exact match


Google Verbatim

Run your search

On the results page select Search tools, All results, Verbatim



3. Google web search does not search everything

Two indexes: main, default index and the supplemental index

Supplemental index may contain less popular, unusual, specialist material

Supplemental index comes into play when Google thinks your search has returned too few results

Using advanced search commands and Verbatim seems to trigger a search in the supplemental index



“Normal search”1,555,500

Search after Verbatim is applied35,500,000


4. Google changes its algorithms several hundred times a year

Some changes are minor and barely noticeable, others are more significant e.g. dropping search terms

How Google makes improvements to its search algorithm - YouTube http://youtu.be/J5RZOU6vK4Q


http://youtu.be/J5RZOU6vK4Q

http://youtu.be/J5RZOU6vK4Q


5. We are all Google’s lab rats

Google constantly tests changes on users in “live experiments”

Just Testing: Google Users May See Up To A Dozen Experiments : http://searchengineland.com/just-testing-google-searchers-may-see-up-to-a-dozen-experiments-141570

Mostly minor effects on search but sometimes totally bizarre results– Google decides that coots are really lions

http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/02/12/google-decides-that-coots-are-really-lions/

– Update on coots vs. lions http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/02/21/update-on-coots-vs-lions/


http://searchengineland.com/just-testing-google-searchers-may-see-up-to-a-dozen-experiments-141570

http://searchengineland.com/just-testing-google-searchers-may-see-up-to-a-dozen-experiments-141570



http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/02/21/update-on-coots-vs-lions/

http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/02/21/update-on-coots-vs-lions/

What does Google know about you

Sign in to your Google account and go to http://www.google.com/dashboard

Check your ad preferences at www.google.com/ads/preferences


http://www.google.com/dashboard

http://www.google.com/ads/preferences

Google tries to work out your location

Country based on your IP address

Town/city based on your IP address/network provider – Google can get this wrong

– Google switches between Bristol and Exeter for my location (I’m in Reading)

– Can tell Google your location in Search settings (hidden under the cog wheel in the upper right hand area of your results page)


Google Instant

Tries to predict what you are searching for as you type and displays results as you type


Google Instant

Only displays 10 results at a time

Disable Google Instant in Search Settings under the cog wheel

(upper right hand area of a Google results screen) or go to

http://www.google.com/preferences


http://www.google.com/preferences

Country versions of Google and local information

Country versions of Google give priority to local content

Useful if you are researching a person, company, or sector in another country

Go to the relevant country version of Google, for example www.google.fr, www.google.de, www.google.no

Google International Domains - List of Country and Language Codes

– http://www.distilled.net/blog/uncategorized/google-cctlds-and-associated-languages-codes-reference-sheet/

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http://www.google.fr/

http://www.google.de/

http://www.google.no/

http://www.distilled.net/blog/uncategorized/google-cctlds-and-associated-languages-codes-reference-sheet/

http://www.distilled.net/blog/uncategorized/google-cctlds-and-associated-languages-codes-reference-sheet/

http://www.google.co.uk/


http://www.google.co.uk/

Google Knowledge Graph and carousel


Google carousel


New layout?


4-6 entries at the top of the page that supposedly match your search (but may not)

Related searches underneath with terms left out

New layout?


Second page of results a bit better

May need to use Verbatim to get best results

Yet more changes!

Results page preview with cached copy and similar pages has gone

Instead we now have .....


Google goes mobile


Google+

http://plus.google.com/

Personal accounts and business pages

Follow people/pages and add to circles

Do not need permission to follow and add people to your circles

Share postings and information with selected circles or make totally public

Communities – “owned” and moderated by an individual or business

Google web search starting to emphasise Google+ pages in results

Google places/local now part of Google+


http://plus.google.com/

Google = Google+ ?


All roads lead to Google+ ?

Recent Google special experiment

Can you share the information you find?


P R I V A T E

L i m i t e d

S e l e c t e d c i r c l e s


http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/bringing-google-comments-to-blogger.html



What I see on my screen will not be what you see on your screen, will not be what your colleagues see on theirs, will not be

what your users see.

Google Scholar more consistent?


Google's new Privacy Policy


"Our new Privacy Policy makes clear that, if you’re signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience."

Toward a simpler, more beautiful Google http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/toward-simpler-more-beautiful-google.html

"we're more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google"

http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/toward-simpler-more-beautiful-google.html

http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/toward-simpler-more-beautiful-google.html

Choosing your search terms

Google automatically looks for synonyms and variations on your terms

– biofuels will find biodiesel, biogas, bio-ethanol etc.

– but do not get the same results if you use biodiesel instead of biofuels

– run separate searches using alternative terms

– no information on how the synonyms are identified or implemented

The terms you use can radically change results– copper mining north wales vs. copper extraction north wales

– organ donation vs human transplantation


Changing your search terms


Two interesting tricks

Both of these often change the results and the order in which they are presented

Repeat important search terms in your search strategy

renewable energy biofuels wave wind wind wind

Change the order of your terms

renewable energy biofuels wave wind

wind renewable wave biofuels energy


Google Trends http://www.google.com/trends


Compare how often search terms are used over time and by location

http://www.google.com/trends

Google commands

" " around phrases

"Metadata mega mess in Google Scholar"

- to exclude a term Caversham –otago

* to stand in for one or more words

solar * panels

Picks up solar PV panels, solar photovoltaic panels,

solar water heating panels


Synonyms

Google automatically looks for variations of your terms

Switch it off using Verbatim but may want synonyms and related terms for just one of your terms

Use the tilde ~ before a term to look for what Google considers are synonyms

– ~energy will pick up oil, fuel, gas, electricity

No information/documentation on how synonyms are created

Very general, consumer focussed rather than scientific


Google commands

Think file format– PDF for research documents, government reports, industry

papers– ppt or pptx for presentations, tracking down an expert on a topic– xls or xlsx for spreadsheets containing data

Use the advanced search screen or the filetype: command zeolites environmental remediation filetype:pdf nasa dark energy dark matter filetype:ppt nasa dark energy dark matter filetype:pptx annual average global temperature 1960..2012 filetype:xls

annual average global temperature 1960..2012 filetype:xlsx


Google commands

Site searchFor searching large websites, or groups of sites by type for example government, NHS, academic

Can exclude sites using -site:

Use advanced search screen or site: command

organ donation statistics Wales site:nhs.uk

organ donation statistics Wales site:ac.uk

organ donation statistics site:wales.gov.uk

organ donation statistics Wales -site:au


Google commands

Numeric range search

Anything to do with numbers and quantities: years, temperatures, weights, distances, prices etc

Use the advanced search screen or type in your two numbers separated by two full stops as part of your search

world oil demand forecasts 2015..2030

world oil demand forecasts 80..100 mb/d 2015..2030

toblerone 1..5 kg


Google commands

Words in the title – can be single words or phrases

Ensures subject is the main focus of the article

Use advanced search screen or intitle:intitle:”diabetic retinopathy”

Words in the URL – can be single words or phrases

Use advanced search screen or inurl:inurl:”diabetic retinopathy”


Google Reading level

Changes the type of material that is returned

Nothing to do with publishers assigned reading age

Run the search and from the menu above the results select Search tools, All results, Reading level


Google Reading level


Basic Advanced

Translated foreign pages

For information on an industry, government policies, business practices in other countries

For a different perspective on a topic


Translated foreign pages


If your preferred language is not in the list click on ‘Add language’ and select from the list. Then click on the number of results to the right the language you want to use.

Google translates your search into the selected language, runs the search and translates the results into your own language.

Warning: machine translation!

Exclusive to Google.com – recipes!


Date

Restrict your results to information that has been published within the last hour, day, week, month, year or your own date range

Search tools, Any time and select an option


daterange:

Date restriction does not work with the ‘All results’ options Verbatim and Translated Foreign Pages

Use daterange: command instead

Uses Julian date format (fractions omitted)

Julian Date Converter http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.php/

Syntax– for example pages mentioning Cameron and housing benefits

between June 20th and June 26th 2012 daterange:2456098-2456104 housing benefits Cameron


http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.php/

daterange: the easy way

Third party tools for the daterange: search, for example http://gmacker.com/web/content/gDateRange/gdr.htm then apply search options to results


http://gmacker.com/web/content/gDateRange/gdr.htm

Google can seriously damage your news

Experiment by Mary Ellen Bates

Is Google really filtering my news? - Librarian of Fortune

– http://www.librarianoffortune.com/librarian_of_fortune/2011/09/is-google-really-filtering-my-news.html

Google can seriously damage your news

– http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/09/03/google-can-seriously-damage-your-news/

Highlights

– More than a quarter of the stories showed up in only one

searcher’s results

– Almost one in five searchers saw a story that no one else saw

– Only 12% of searchers saw the same three stories in the same

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http://www.librarianoffortune.com/librarian_of_fortune/2011/09/is-google-really-filtering-my-news.html

http://www.librarianoffortune.com/librarian_of_fortune/2011/09/is-google-really-filtering-my-news.html

http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/09/03/google-can-seriously-damage-your-news/

http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/09/03/google-can-seriously-damage-your-news/

Google News http://news.google.co.uk/


Can personalise news content when signed in to a Google account.

Hidden underneath the cog wheel on the news home page.

Change your location (automatically identified by Google), topics covered, sources and frequency of articles from sources.

http://news.google.co.uk/

Google News


Can limit results to a time period.

Time options don’t always work in the ‘Archives’

Older material may be priced

Can create email and RSS alerts for a search but unreliable

Google News – advanced search


Hidden under the arrow in the search box

Blogs


Run search and then click on More, followed by Blogs

Once blog results are displayed can click on Search tools, Any time and select a time period

Discussion boards and forums


Click on More, DiscussionsNo indication of how discussions and forums are identified

Google Videos


Not the same as YouTube

Google Video

YouTube

Google Videos

Run search, then select More, Videos


Google Videos


Limit your search by duration, time, quality, source

Google Finance - https://www.google.co.uk/finance


https://www.google.co.uk/finance

Google finance historical share prices


Can only display and download one year at a time

Images - copyright

Always, always check and double check the copyright - images may have a digital watermark and be tracked e.g. Digimarc

Creative Commons does not mean you can do what you like with an image

– six licences http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

“Open-licencing your images. What it means and how to do it.” Andy Mabbett aka pigsonthewing

– http://pigsonthewing.org.uk/open-licencing-images-what-how/

Karen Blakeman's Blog “Free-to-use images might not be”

– http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2009/07/16/free-to-use-images-might-not-be/


http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

http://pigsonthewing.org.uk/open-licencing-images-what-how/

http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2009/07/16/free-to-use-images-might-not-be/

http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2009/07/16/free-to-use-images-might-not-be/

Google images – “free to use....”

Google advanced image search - use the usage rights, but

always double check the licence on the web site

Licence may be assigned to another image on the page rather

than the ne you want to use


Images


Images – more sizes


Images - colour



Images – not always what you expect

Search for patent and select the colour red (Thanks to Arthur Weiss for the example)

Images – use an existing image


Click on the camera icon in the search box and then either enter the URL of an image or upload the image

Who is the artist?


Photo taken in the courtyard of Museum Kampa, Prague, Czech Republic

Google web search, image search and Flickr search only told us that it was called the Red Rider or the Red Horseman

Who is the artist?


1. Ran a standard web search on red horseman statue czech

2. On the results page selected “Translated foreign pages” from Search options, All results

Note: Easiest and quickest way to identify the artist would have been to contact the museum via their website!

Google Art Project

http://www.googleartproject.com/


http://www.googleartproject.com/

Google Public Data Explorer

http://www.google.com/publicdata/

One of Google's best kept secrets!


http://www.google.com/publicdata/

Google Public Data Explorer


Google Maps

Post code areas, locations, directions

Public transport for some countries

Cycle routes for some areas

Towpaths in conjunction with Canal and River Trust +

Estimated fuel costs

Satellite, Street View, photos, weather, videos

Only as good as the underlying data – double check location


Google street view

As well as for personal use, useful for assessing location of a business (but remember out of date images)


Google Places


Run search and then select More, Places

Looking for an expert on a topic?

Boolean Black Belt-Sourcing/Recruiting for tips– http://www.booleanblackbelt.com/

Academics– use keywords with site:ac.uk or with site:edu

Presentations at conferences, lectures, seminars – use keywords with filetype:ppt or with filetype:pptx

– use keywords with filetype:pdf

Google Scholar– http://scholar.google.com/


http://www.booleanblackbelt.com/

http://scholar.google.com/

Google Scholar


“Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Google Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research”.

• Search all scholarly literature from one convenient place

• Explore related works, citations, authors, and publications

• Locate the complete document through your library or on the web

• Keep up with recent developments in any area of research

• Check who's citing your publications, create a public author profile



Google Scholar

Does not cover all key journals in all subjects – no source list

Top publications for subjects and languages under Metrics link on home page or http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en

Scholar indexes the full text but you may have to pay to view the whole article

Groups different versions of an article together


http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en

Google Scholar

Includes open access material, pre-prints, institutional repositories (but not necessarily author self archived repositories)

Includes material that is NOT peer reviewed but is structured and looks like an academic article (title in large font, authors, affiliations, abstract, keywords, citations)

Pre-prints and IR copies may differ from final published version – charts and images may be redacted because of copyright restrictions


Google Scholar

Very good that Google Scholar covers Open Access journals, but Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have had to weed out 188 titles that were of poor quality.

Even Hartmann Flood førstebibliotekar, UBiT, NTNU, Trondheim

“Google Scholar på godt og vondt” Foredrag på fagreferentkonferansen 7/6 2012 http://folk.ntnu.no/flood/foredrag/gsfagref.ppt (in Norwegian so use Google translations)


http://folk.ntnu.no/flood/foredrag/gsfagref.ppt

Google Scholar


Does NOT use the publishers’ metadata

Date and author search looks in the area of the document where those elements are usually found

Page numbers, part of an address, data item may be mistaken for publication year

Sometimes gets the author wrong

Communicating with postgraduate research students: some themes from the library literaturehttp://www.chuukaku.com/blog/2013/01/communication-with-pgr.html


http://www.chuukaku.com/blog/2013/01/communication-with-pgr.html

http://www.chuukaku.com/blog/2013/01/communication-with-pgr.html

Jacsó, Péter. “Metadata mega mess in Google Scholar.” Online Information Review 34.1 (2010): 175-191.

Jacsó, Péter. Newswire Analysis: Google Scholar’s Ghost Authors, Lost Authors, and Other Problems http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6698580.html

Jacsó, Péter. “Google Scholar Author Citation Tracker: is it too little, too late? “Online Information Review 36.1 (2012): 126-141.

Jacsó, Péter. “Using Google Scholar for journal impact factors and the h-index in nationwide publishing assessments in academia–siren songs and air-raid sirens.” Online Information Review 36.3 (2012): 462-478.

Jacso – Savvy Searching Columns, Online Information Review http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jacso/savvy-mcb.htm


http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6698580.html

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jacso/savvy-mcb.htm

Bad Google Scholar Results | Academic Librarian https://blogs.princeton.edu/librarian/2012/10/bad-google-scholar-results/

Gray, Jerry E., et al. Scholarish: Google Scholar and its Value to the Sciences. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. Summer 2012 http://www.istl.org/12-summer/article1.html

Hamilton, Michelle C, Janz, Margaret M and Hauser, Alexandra. Can librarians trust resources found on Google Scholar? Yes… and no. Impact of Social Sciences: Maximizing the impact of academic research .17 September 2012. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2012/09/17/can-science-students-and-researchers-trust-resources-found-on-google-scholar-yes-and-no/

Kramer, Bianca and Sieverts, Eric. Beyond coverage #ili2012. Slideshare. 27 October 2012. http://www.slideshare.net/bmkramer/beyond-coverage-ili2012

HLWIKI International. Google scholar bibliography. UBC HealthLib Wiki - A Knowledge-Base for Health Librarians. http://hlwiki.slais.ubc.ca/index.php/Google_scholar_bibliography


Google Scholar advanced search commands

Use advanced search screen or commands as follows:

+ sign before a search term to force an exact match, for example +norne

“....” around phrases for example “environmental remediation” intitle: to search for a single word in the title, for example intitle:zeolites environmental remediation allintitle: to search for all of your terms in the title, for example allintitle:zeolites environmental remediation author: to search on an author’s name, for example zeolites environmental remediation author:rhodes site: to limit your search to specific institution for example marcellus shale site:psu.edu Commands can be combined for a precise search, for example author:wolford site:psu.edu allintitle:marcellus shale


h-Index

h-index developed in 2005 by Jorge Hirsch, University of California in San Diego

Attempts to quantify productivity and apparent scientific impact of a scientist.

“A scientist has index h if h of his/her Np papers have at least h citations each, and the other (Np − h) papers have no more than h citations each”.

For example, an h-index of 20 means that the researcher has 20 papers each of which has been cited 20 or more times

Calculated by Scopus, WoS, Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic Search (?) but only for those papers within the database


g-Index

g-index - distribution of citations received by a given researcher's publications

Devised by Leo Egghe in 2006

“Given a set of articles ranked in decreasing order of the number of citations that they received, the g-index is the (unique) largest number such that the top g articles received (together) at least g2 citations.”

g-index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-index


Other indices

i10 Index i10-index is the number of publications with at least 10 citations

e-Index PLOS ONE: The e-Index, Complementing the h-Index for

Excess Citations http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005429


Google Scholar h-index


Author creates a profile and claims papers

Google Scholar h-index


ScholarHIndexCalculator - mWiki

https://www.mat.unical.it/ianni/wiki/ScholarHIndexCalculator Add-on for Chrome (development of new features stopped for Firefox)

Google Scholar - Scholarometer


Scholarometer: Browser Extension and Web Service for Academic Impact Analysis http://scholarometer.indiana.edu/

Firefox and Chrome

Google Scholar - Scholarometer


Google Scholar – Publish or Perish


Publish or Perish - Anne-Wil Harzing http://www.harzing.com/pop.htm

Desktop application

books.google.com

Or use the Books option in the menu on the left hand side of the screen. Includes magazines, journals, newspapers


Create your own Google custom search engine

http://www.google.com/cse/

For– regularly searched sites

– selected sites on a subject or type of organisation

Cannot include password protected sources or sites where you have to fill in a form to access the information

Information on setting up a Google Custom Search Engine (CSE)http://www.rba.co.uk/search/GoogleCSE.pdf [TO BE UPDATED]

Google's blog on custom search http://googlecustomsearch.blogspot.com/

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Google’s free alerting services

Google email and RSS alerts are seriously broken– do not alert you to everything that is new

– alerts sometimes ‘die’

– often bring up old material that you’ve already seen

– duplicate information

Email alerts becoming a rarity– some web sites and blogs offer email subscription to new

content – often use RSS to email conversion tools such as Feedburner (how long will that be around?)

RSS feeds on news sites often all or nothing

Need an RSS reader e.g. Netvibes, Feedly, FeedReader– Phil Bradley's weblog: 20 Alternatives to Google Reader

– http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2013/03/20-alternatives-to-google-reader.html

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Keeping up to date

Inside Search http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/

Official Google Blog http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

Google Scholar Blog http://googlescholar.blogspot.com/

SearchReSearch : http://searchresearch1.blogspot.co.uk/

Search Engine Land http://searchengineland.com/

Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com/

Boolean Black Belt-Sourcing/Recruiting http://www.booleanblackbelt.com/

Karen Blakeman’s Blog http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/

Phil Bradley's weblog http://philbradley.typepad.com/

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1. Remember that Google is continually changing

2. Personalisation is a key element of Google’s algorithms

3. Explore and make use of the options in the menus on your results pages

4. Get to know the advanced search commands

5. If you want to keep Google in check keep up with changes and new developments at Google....

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Make Google behave: techniques for better results

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Transcript of Make Google behave: techniques for better results