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Here are our tips for newbies on how to get the most out of search engines.

Every Netizen tends to have their favourite search engine. You can read reviews on the net about them and other tips on searching at these places.

How to search on the Internet:

There are literally millions of sites on the Web. The problem is finding the places which cover the subject you're interested in.

What are search engines?

There are several search engines which give you a guide to those places. All you do is type in the subject and in a matter of seconds it will give you a list of Web sites where the subject gets a mention.

Are there different search engines for different areas?

The international search engines are for searching the whole World Wide Web for topics you are interested in. These may not fully cover New Zealand Internet sites so you may need to use a search engine which covers New Zealand sites. Xtra provides a search engine that searches our NZ Web Directory. If you are specifically after content on the Xtra site that you want to locate, we have a specific search engine that covers only material on Xtra, not on the whole Internet itself.

How helpful is the list you get back from the search engine?

Although the search engine often displays the information in order of relevance, you may still have to click on a number of sites in the list before you find exactly what you want. Often the only information which accompanies the list is from the first few words on the Internet site, not a summary of what is in that site.

Are the sites in any helpful order?

Some of these search engines rate the sites in order of relevance, but it may be the judgement of a computer rather than a human and you still have to plough through the list to find the best sites which may not be on the first 10 sites you get.

How many suggestions do you get?

Usually search engines give you the list in batches of 10 at a time. This makes it easier for you to check the sites out as there may be literally thousands of thousands of places found with the subject matter you listed. If you get to the bottom of the page and there is more, click for the next 10 and just keep trying!

What happens if you don't find what you want?

If your initial search doesn't produce the sites you were hoping for, try again with more specific words about the subject. If you type in "war" for example you will get back an index of thousands of sites covering all sorts of wars or subjects with the word war in them- possibly even people's names which start with the letters War! If you name a specific war, you will increase your chances of finding something.

Which is the best international search engine to use?

Every Net user has an opinion on this and it is a matter of personal preference. On our search page we give you the choice of several different search engines so you can make up your own mind. Or you can try them all as each takes a different approach on providing search results. Each search engine will find sites that other engines don't find.