Search and search engines are the glue that binds the WWW together.
Search engines bring us to the doorstep of the right information resources.
But very frequently, we need to dig deeper into a single site to harvest its information.
That is why most well designed websites/blogs/directories have internal site-specific search engines.
There have been sites which I could have loved more but alas for a search box of its own.
Then there are sites which do have a search box but you aren’t quite getting what you want.
So it’s worth a second try with some deep digging of your own.
So for such crunch times, here are some workarounds to do aninternal searchon a specific website or blog.
The ol' favorite reminds us the value of memorizing advancedGoogle searchoperators.
For instance, the queryantivirus site:makeuseof.comwill return results for the keyword antivirus but only from MakeUseof.com.
(Their shouldn’t be a space between the colon and the domain name).
Thesite:operator can also be used to restrict searches within one top domain.
For instance,keyword site:netorkeyword site:edu.
This works on Yahoo and Bing too.
According to a little poll we had some while back, it is the third most liked Google operator.
Here’s where you get it in these two popular (one upcoming) search engines.
ForGoogle
ForYahoo
ForBing
Search Siteis an experimental Firefox add-on which makes site-specific searches very easy.
Or by clicking theSearch Sitegreen icon on the search bar.
you might use the search engine of your choice to do the site-specific search.
Also check out the use of Firefoxsmart keywords.
Though the interface is plain, the Newtechusa.com search interface does the job intended using the Google search engine.
Specify the domain URL in the first field and then use the second step to query the specific domain.
Pick the sites you want to search, and Rollyo creates a custom search engine for it.
you’re able to create a search engine for one specific site or a max of 25 sites.
AnyRollyo Searchrollcan be added to Firefox for one click access.
Kaly’sposton creating your own search engines with Rollyo looks into in with more detail.
Sometimes we miss the trees because of the forest.
So, it helps to dig deep into its coffers with specific searches.
What do you do if you come across a site which lacks a search box?
Do you browse merrily away or you fall back on a utility like Google for advanced searching?
