Search engines help find things on the Internet, but often they are far more complicated than they need to be. Over the years, I have gone from one search site to another, changing my allegiance every time a search tool was a little easier or a little better than the competition. Right now my favorite search tool is not a Web site at all; it is a toolbar. The Google toolbar is available free of charge. Just surf to http://toolbar.google.com, download a small program, and you are ready for some easy searching. The Google toolbar works with Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, or Me. You must also have Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.0 or greater installed. Unfortunately, there is no Mac version, but Windows users will find Google's toolbar a great little program to try.
After installation, the Google toolbar will appear under the Internet Explorer toolbar. If it doesn't appear automatically, just click on View, Toolbars, and then click on Google to turn it on. Those of you who know me, know that I hate to give up any of my precious screen space, but I have acquiesced for this product since I find it very useful.
The toolbar allows you to access Google's search technology from any Web page. Google says that their search index contains over one billion URLs (Internet addresses). Whether Google's success is due to the size of their index or the method of indexing, in most cases I've found that Google simply lists Web pages that are more relevant.
The first thing that you see on the Google toolbar is the place to enter the item or phrase to search for. Once you enter that phrase, you can search the entire Web or just search the Web site that you are on. This is one of the toolbar's most impressive features. I have visited many Web sites that have no search capabilities, and I have also encountered many sites whose search engines are almost completely useless. The Google toolbar is different. Simply enter what you want to search for and search only the site that you are on. Google also gives you the ability to highlight the search words wherever they are found in the text by clicking on the Highlighting pen on the toolbar.
The toolbar includes a small visual bar that gives you an idea of the Web site's PageRank. Google's somewhat unique way of ranking Web sites relies on the Web's link structure as an indicator of the value of an individual page. Google assumes the more times a page is linked to other pages, the more popular it is. There is also a somewhat complicated method that gives more credence to the importance of Web page links. Google supposedly combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. While I am not convinced of the significance of this type of "scoring," Google seems to do a pretty good job of finding pertinent matches. One thing that I like about Google is that it does not sell placements within the results themselves. This is a common practice with some search engines, but Google allows no one to buy a better placement.
The PageRank button is only enabled if you choose the advanced functionality option when you install the toolbar. If you choose the advanced options, the Google Toolbar automatically sends URLs of the sites you visit to Google. The Toolbar Privacy Policy explains the type of information that Google is collecting. This function can be enabled or disabled at anytime. If you have any privacy concerns, you can easily skip the advanced functionality without losing other important features.
The Google toolbar includes a "Page Info" button that offers access to more information about a page such as similar pages and pages that link back to that page. One very nice feature is the cached snapshot of the Web page in question. Google takes a snapshot of each page examined as it crawls the Web. Google then saves or caches these pages as a back up in case the original page is unavailable. When you click on the "Cached" link, you will see the Web page as it looked when Google indexed it. This feature can be very useful. Nothing is more disappointing than to return to a Web site and find that it has changed and the old information is no longer available. Sometimes the saved Google copy will have the information that you need.
The Google toolbar can also be customized with several other features like "I'm Feeling Lucky," Google Web Directory, and a button that takes you directly to the Google Web site. With Google and the Google toolbar, finding information on the Internet has just gotten easier.
