Part 5.3
Search Index/Google

Search Results

Google search results contain quite a bit of information, and are of high quality. First, a couple results from our Civil War Generals search:

First is the title of the web page (1). Next is an excerpt from the page's text that contains the keywords (2), which are listed in bold text. The third line lists the URL of the website in green (3). A link to a cached copy of the web site is provided (4), and is one of the little details that sets Google apart from other search sites.

Many times a search site will index a page, and then the page will be moved, changed, or removed. The search site thinks the page is still there, but going to the page reveals the information has changed, or has gone missing. Google's cached link will take you to a copy of the web page in the form it was found when Google first indexed the page.

This way, if a page has changed, you can still see the earlier version. Very handy for sites that are updated every month, but do not keep archives of older information.

Notice the second search result is indented (5). Google does this so you can see how search results relate to each other. Google indents subpages of a site, if they contain the search keywords. The first result is for a page called "The American Civil War Homepage". The second result is "US Civil War Generals" and is part of The American Civil War Homepage. Another nice Google feature!

At this point, we have 10 good results for our search for "Civil War Generals. But Google also offers a way to get to what it considers the "best" site for our search.

Let's Get Lucky

Remember the two buttons below the keyword box?

Entering keywords and clicking the "I'm feeling lucky" button does not return search results. Instead, Google takes you straight to what would be the first result on its list. More often than not, Google gets you to a site that is exactly what you are looking for. Of course, if the site doesn't have what you want, you can always click the Back button on your web browser and do a standard Google Search.

With that quick introduction to Google, you can go try a practice search, or move on to the last page of this section to learn some advanced features of Google.