Refining with must not


Tutorial Home >Internet >Basics >How to Find People Online >How do I refine an Advanced Search?
Tutorial Home >Internet >Online services >How to Find People Online >How do I refine an Advanced Search?
Tutorial Home >Internet >Basics >How to Find People Online >Find Your Friends >Refining with must not
Tutorial Home >Internet >Online services >How to Find People Online >Find Your Friends >Refining with must not

  Step 1:  Add minus signs to your query

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As you look through the results, you may find that some of the matches are totally irrelevant. Check to see what they have in common. For instance, I might be looking for someone named Seltzer, but the results have lots of references to Alka Seltzer and Bromo Seltzer. In that case, on the main Search page, I would add to my query -alka -bromo. Then pages on which either of those words appeared would not be included as matches, even if everything else in the query was a match.
  Step 2:  Eliminating terms

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To do the same thing in Advanced Search, put the words AND NOT in front of the terms you want to exclude, or even in from of a series of terms separated by OR and grouped together with parentheses.
  Step 3:  Eliminating entire Web sites

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You might see in the results many pages from a few sites that you know could not possibly help you. In that case, on the main Search page, add to your query -host:domainname, where the domain name is the first part of the Web address, after the www. For instance, -host:microsoft.com or -host:harvard.edu. In Advanced that would be AND NOT host:harvard.edu.
  Step 4:  Eliminating entire countries

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Domain names of Web sites inside the US typically end with .com, .org, .gov, .net, or .edu. Sites in other countries typically end with a two-letter country identifier (e.g., uk = United Kingdom, de = Germany). If you see numerous matches with the same country identifier and the results look irrelevant (your friend has a German name, but never lived in Germany), eliminate that country in simple search with -domain:countryidentifier, (e.g., -domain:de). In Advanced, that would be AND NOT domain:de.