Better Searching, Better Results
One of the great things about AOL and the rest of the Internet is the amount of information instantly available to you. But sometimes, it's hard to find what you're looking for.
AOL Search automatically searches the best and most likely sources of relevant information. We start with:
- A precise set of recommendations to sites within AOL and around the web, prepared by our editors.
- Open Directory Plus, which features about one million of the best sites on AOL and the rest of the web, selected, reviewed and organized by an active community of tens of thousands of subject experts.
- If those sources don't contain what you requested, AOL Search quickly and thoroughly searches the full text of over 150 million pages on AOL and the rest of the web.
AOL Search is smarter and easier to use than other search engines.
Smart Searching: Dos and Don'ts
The easiest way to search is simply to type a few words that describe what you're looking for into the search box. Here are some examples:
The more words you use, the more precise your search will be. For example, if you're looking for a specific paella recipe you might type: If you're SURE that any document you want to see must contain a specific phrase, then indicate the phrase with quotes, as in:- Don't worry about capitalization, AOL Search treats upper- and lower-case characters the same.
- Don't use punctuation without checking the Advanced Search Techniques section for details. Question marks and other characters represent special codes for the search engine.
- Don't worry about ORs and ANDs. AOL Search assumes an AND between words, but even if you use ORs and retrieve lots of documents, the ones near the top of the list will tend to be the same documents you would have retrieved with AND.
- Be careful about using NOT - it's the easiest way to remove good documents from your results along with the bad ones. Only use it if you are SURE that you don't want to see any documents that contain that phrase.
For a big list of example queries click here.
Search-n-Browse -- Browse-n-Search
AOL Search lets you get information both ways. Searches bring back directory categories and other browsable links that will lead you to relevant information. While browsing, you can also type words into the search box.
When searching, AOL Search identifies directory categories and sites that most closely match your query. Items that contain more of your search words will appear first, with some consideration given to where and how those words appear.
Two routes to the same results:
- Browsing: First pick the most likely top category for your starting point. Under AOL Search Main Categories, each of the categories is divided into sub-categories and some sub-categories are further divided, and so on. For example, if you're interested in Arabian horses, navigate through the AOL Search Categories as follows: Recreation to Pets to Horses to Arabians.
- Searching: Type "Arabian horses" in the AOL Search box, and click Search.
- Either way, you'll get to a listing of Arabian horse-related sites. It's easy!
Searching is when you type words in the search box and AOL Search finds documents and categories that match your query. Browsing is when you click on links to see the items they point to. AOL Search lets you get information both ways. Searches bring back directory categories and other browsable links that will lead you to relevant information. While browsing you can always type words into the search box and proceed that way.
