SEARCHING STRATEGIES USING ALTAVISTA.COM

1. Never us one word for a search. Use quotes for phrases. If you really want to find "fiction stories" (and not just pages with those words) put the phrase inside quotation marks. The search:
"fiction stories" –science
“types of poetry” +haiku
will yield many fewer hits. It will be more manageable.

2. Use the "+" and the "-" operators between words or phrases (Boolean search) Prefix your search words with the "+“ to indicate that they MUST occur in a page to be considered a hit, and use "-" to exclude pages. For example
“Haiku poetry” +flowers
will find only pages that contain Haiku poetry including flowers. By adding an exclusion term as shown below, the number of hits drops will be greatly reduced.
“fiction stories” –science

3. You can also exclude a website or an entire domain from a search by requesting a specific domain.
“types of poetry” +haiku +domain:edu (if you only want sites that end in edu”)
This example eliminates all documents from an entire domain (commercial), and the addition of other domains eliminates those as well. (or you can exclude domains)
“Haiku poetry” -domain:net -domain:org

4. Use the "host" keywords
Try looking for a specific word or word at just one website by using a search like this: (no space after host)
"George Washington" +host:www.timeforkids.com
“George Washington” +host:www.whitehouse.gov
This will find articles about George Washington published only at the Time For Kids website.

5. Use the "image" key word
Looking for a special photo or icon? Try something like this:
image: George Washinton.jpg
or click the "image" tab at the top of the Search Engine to request images

6. Use the "title" keyboard if you're looking for pages on a specific topic, instead of pages that just contain certain words, try limiting your search to: (no space after title)
title:“types of poetry"
This often helps to weed out unwanted hits. The fact that someone bothered to categorize their page with a TITLE keyword should help you get better quality matching documents. Of course, some words will be specific to get results.

7. The "url" keyword finds pages with specific characters in the address. Here are some examples:
url: language arts worksheets - finds pages with "language arts worksheet" in the address
url: algebra lesson plans – find pages with”algebra lesson plans” in the address

8.Use the "link" and "URL" keyboard
The "link" keyword finds pages that contain a link to another page, and
link: schoollink.org/twin - finds pages linked to Sheila Gersh’s website
url: worksheet - finds pages with "worksheet" in the address