Using Google to Effectively Search For Hard-to-Find Information
By Pat Yevics

NOTE:  It has been quite some time (February 2000, to be exact) since we have done an article on using the Internet. In preparing for a presentation, I learned some very helpful tips for searching for information, and I would like to share some of that information with you. I have also included many websites which I hope will prove helpful.

To Bookmark or Not to Bookmark

One of the best ways to be able to find information is to bookmark sites that you think may be of help, then to create folders to manage those sites.

If you do not bookmark a site, however, you can still find sites that you have viewed within the last three weeks by going to the “History” command. In Netscape, click on “Go,” then “History.” You can then see all the sites that you viewed yesterday, the day before last, the day before that – as far back as three weeks. In Internet Explorer, hit “Control + H,” or “View,” followed by “Explorer Bar” and “History.”

(This function can also be used to view what sites others in your office or home have been viewing – not that you would do that!)

Organize Sites

Once you start to bookmark sites, organize them into appropriate folders so that they can be found more easily. You can sort them by category (or even by client). To manage sites in Netscape, click on “Bookmarks” followed by either “File” or “Manage.” In Internet Explorer, click on “Favorites,” then either “Add” or “Organize.”

Using Google Effectively

Although it is not designed particularly for law firms, Google is now one of the best search engines on the Web and a good place to start your search. The Google search engine allows a user to be very specific and find difficult information. At www.google.com you will find five different headings: “Web,” “Images,” “Groups,” “Directory,” and “News.” Each of these categories allows you to find information.

For detailed information on how Google works, click on “Jobs,Press & Help” at the bottom of the Google homepage.

Google Basics

Google searches are not case-sensitive – all characters are understood as lower case. Google does not support “stemming” or “wildcards”; Google will only search for the word in the way that you use it. A search for “book” will not return “books” or “booked,” etc. When in doubt, search on various forms. For more details on keyword searching, go to www.google.com/help/basics.html.

Google Cached Sites

A cached site is the way a site looked when Google indexed it. Google uses these cached sites as a back-up in case the original site is unavailable. It is the content on the cached site that Google uses to match results with your query.

If you click on “Cached Site” the header at the top will let you know that this may not be the most recent version of the page. It will also highlight your query terms on the page that caused Google to return this site. It will also link to the most recent page.

 Google Similar Pages

For many results, there will be a link for “Similar Pages.” These are sites that Google has determined are related to this result. According to the Google FAQ, if you are interested in researching a particular field, “Similar Pages” can help you find a large number of resources very quickly without having to worry about selecting the right keywords.

Google Web Advanced Search

• Keywords: If you search on a topic and receive an overwhelming number of sites, then you need to do an advanced search which is located on the right of the Google Bar. The next page will allow you find results with “all of the words,” “with the exact phrase,” “with at least some of the words” or even “without the words.”
• Language: You can limit your search to pages that only occur in certain languages; there are 35 from which to choose. Keep in mind that it is still best to choose “search for pages written in any language,” as your search can always be further narrowed if necessary.
• Safe Search Filtering: It is also possible to use a filter to limit the number of pornographic sites that will be returned when you enter a search. There are three levels of filtering, ranging from “strict” to “moderate” (probably the best for professional use) to none at all, with the best for professional use probably being the moderate filter. While those of you with children may want to use the strict filtering on your home computer, it will exclude a lot of sites which may feature words with double meanings, such as breasts, beaver, etc.
• File Format: This facet of the “Advanced Search” feature will allow you to search for sites in specific formats. Google currently searches sites in 12 different formats; unlike most search engines, Google can search for and find sites in PDF and PowerPoint formats.

Google will also convert all files to HTML or text documents, which will allow you open a file for which you may not have the software. Included in the results will be the type of file, followed by the choice to “View as HTML” or “View as Text.”

• Date: You can restrict your results to the past three, six or twelve months.
• Occurrences: You can specify where your search terms occur on the page: anywhere on the page, in the title or in the URL.
• Domain Only Search: If you know the website you want to search but aren’t sure where the information is located within that site, you can use Google to search only that domain. Simply enter what you’re looking for followed by the word “site” and a colon followed by the domain name. For example, if you wanted to find information on the MSBA website about courthouse identification passes, you could go to Google and type in “courthouse site:www.msba.org.” This will tell Google that you only want to search for information on the MSBA site. This is extremely helpful in finding information on a large site.

Google Preferences

• Language Interface: Google will also allow you to choose the language that you want to use for your results, enabling you to set your Google homepage, messages and buttons to display in your selected languages. There are currently 90 languages from which to choose, including Klingon, Elmer Fudd and Pig Latin. (I am not making this up.)
• Web Page Translation: Google will also translate pages from French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese into English. Clicking on “Translate This Page” will take you to a version of the page that has been automatically translated into English.
• New Results Window: If you prefer to retain the main Google search page, check this preference box to open your results in a new browser window. This is helpful when you want to keep the results page open rather than continuously hitting the “back” button.

Google Groups

Google Groups grants access to over 700 million Usenet postings from 1981 to the present. How could this help attorneys? Many people have used these Usenet groups, posting information about themselves that you may be able to use in a case. It may also help you to find people (and perhaps some incriminating information).

Go to www.google.com and click on “Groups.” To narrow your search to a specific time frame, click on “Advanced Search,” then simply enter the topic or name and hit search.

There is a story of a lawyer who involved in the Firestone tire litigation who put in the query “firestone tires” and set a particular time frame. He was hoping to find discussions from consumers about their displeasure with Firestone tires. Imagine his joy upon turning up a Usenet group result with the title “Firestone Tires Suck.”

In another example, I was certain that I had never been on any Usenet groups – I simply do not participate in anonymous chat groups. Certain that I would find nothing, I put in the query “Yevics.” Well, in 1996, I was in a discussion about black-eyed susans (the plant) and used-car salesmen (there is a moral here somewhere). Try your name and see what happens.

Google Tools

• Dictionary: You can use Google as a dictionary by typing in the word for which you would like a definition. Any or all parts of your query for which there is a dictionary definition will be underlined in the center text above the search results, as seen for the query “obtuse” in the following example: Searched the web for obtuse; Results 1-10 of about 237,000; Search took 0.21 seconds

Clicking on “obtuse” would take you to www.dictionary.com for a definition.

• Calculator: Did you know Google has a calculator function? Using the Google search box, enter your calculation and press search. The calculator can solve math problems involving basic arithmetic as well as more complicated math, units of measurement and conversions, and physical constants.

There is a lot of information out there. Knowing how to use tools like Google will help you to find some of it more quickly and easily.