We’ve talked about portals and vortals and search engines and search directories. Let’s talk about how well informed we are about Google’s new acquisition or MSN’s latest website addition, but so ill informed about how to use search services like these and other directories more effectively. According to a study on www.pewinternet.org, “Internet searchers are confident, satisfied and trusting—but they are also unaware and naïve”.

If you ask most marketers what Boolean Search Logic is, at least one might think its soup. The rest will either think it has something to do with calculus or shoot you a dumbfounded look paired with a high pitched “Boo-whaat!?”. If you ask anyone where they go first to search for information, it’s probably the same place you go—Google. And if you ask the technology savvy young adult if there are other ways to search for what they are looking for, they’ll tell you to use related keywords.

What most people don’t know is that there are simple commands and techniques that can be used to help you better find what you’re looking for in a search service. Just like there are shortcuts on your computer keyboard, there are shortcuts in searching, and that’s what this article is all about.

In earlier Issues articles, we’ve discussed where to go to begin your research or search mission—industry specific vortals and common portals like Yahoo!. But what happens next? Most people would immediately type in keywords related to what they are looking for, and what they don’t realize is the way they type in those keywords are just as important as using the right search engine to get what they need.

Boolean Search Logic is a set of commands or “Logic Operators” that you can use to narrow down your search to a more qualified list of related links. These commands are simple to use and can save you from a search results page filled with obscure topics and foreign web pages. Here are the basic commands:

Logic Operator (Full Boolean)	Example	Other Ways to Use Command (Implied Boolean)	Search Results
OR	Mice OR Men	n/a	1 or both terms are present
AND	Mice AND Men	+mice   +men	All terms are present
NOT	Mice NOT Men	+mice   -men	1st term is present, but not the second
XOR (Exclusive OR)	Mice XOR Men	n/a	1st or 2nd term is present, but not at the same time

Using Parentheses can further filter your search. If you are using more than one Logic Operator in a search query, the search engine operates by order of precedence: AND, NOT, OR, XOR (OR and XOR equal). Therefore the NOT command will be preformed before the OR command. You can use parentheses around the command you want to operate first in order to override this default, and narrow down your search to exactly what you need. This is better described in the Venn Diagram below, where the difference in the number of results between a search query without parentheses and a query with parentheses are significant.

Search Query: Mice OR Men AND Home
Search Result (shaded in blue):

Search Query: (Mice OR Men) AND Home
Search Result (shaded in blue):

There are other useful operators like “adjacent”, “near” or “followed by” that allows you to search for keywords that are of course adjacent, near or followed by another keyword. Another operator called Truncation uses the symbol * after a term to find results that contain that word. For example, if you search for “Market *”, the results would include Marketing, Marketers, Markets, etc.

Most search engines and directories support Boolean Search Logic, whether in full Boolean or in its implied language. Most, as well, default to the AND and Truncation logic operators when no commands are used at all.

For more information on Boolean Logic and a list of sites which support it, we highly recommend checking out www.internettutorials.net. There you can find a listing of engines and directories and more helpful tips to make your search mission it’s most effective.

There you have it. It’s not soup or complicated algebra. It’s Boolean Search Logic and it helps you find exactly what information you need. Less search result pages filled with useless info means more time for you to focus on what you need to get done, quickly and more efficiently.