Exercises: How to search the internet

Explain in your own words what a keyword is, and choose two or three keywords to search for information on each of these topics: (a) the train timetable between Madrid and Segovia, (b) a recipe for Spanish omelette without onion, and (c) the highest volcano in the world. Justify why you leave out words like "the", "of", or "want".

These four searches are out of order: "nocturnal birds of Spain", "birds", "eagle owl", "birds of Spain". Order them from the one that would return the most results to the one that would return the fewest, and explain the relationship between how specific a search is and the number of results it returns.

When you type a search, something happens before you see the list of results, as shown in the diagram, but one of the boxes in the process is covered up.

State what happens in the covered box and explain what role the index plays in the search.

In a search engine results list, each entry usually shows three parts: the title in blue, the web address, and a short snippet. Explain what each of these parts is used for when deciding whether a result interests you, and give an example of a title and snippet that would make you dismiss a result without opening it.

When using voice search, we speak in full sentences ("how long does it take to boil an egg?"), but when typing, it is better to use keywords ("boil egg time"). Explain the difference between both search methods and convert these spoken questions into effective typed searches: (a) "what is the longest river in Spain?" and (b) "how can I get to the museum by bus?".

When you start typing, the search engine suggests complete phrases before you finish. Explain what autocomplete is, where these suggestions come from, and how you can use them to improve a search for "types of rocks".

You want to know how long a canary lives and whether it can eat fruit. Write down the two searches you would carry out using keywords only, without full questions, and explain which words you have removed and why.

A classmate wants information about chess for a project and types into the search engine: "interesting chess things for my project". Identify two problems with this search and rewrite it so that it returns useful results.

A classmate searches for "cheap second hand electric cars price" and gets millions of results, but hardly any are useful to her. Rewrite her search to make it more precise, and explain at least two specific changes you made and why they improve the results.

Explain what each of these search tricks achieves and give an example of a search where it would be useful: (a) enclosing a phrase in quotation marks, (b) placing a minus sign in front of a word, (c) adding the file type or the site to search in.

Two classmates type exactly the same search into their mobile phones, but the top result on the list is not the same for both. Explain at least two reasons why this might happen, and propose a way to check which of those reasons is the actual one.

The diagram shows three results from a search on the electricity consumption of data centres, along with the information displayed by the search engine for each one.

State which result you would choose for a school project and justify your choice by explaining what each piece of information on the page tells you (the "Ad" label, the authorship, and the date).

Image searching allows you to filter by size, colour, and type of usage licence. Explain what each of these filters is used for and reason why the licence filter is especially important if you are going to use the image on the school blog.

You want gluten-free pasta recipes, but you are annoyed by results for Italian restaurants. Construct a single search that combines quotation marks and the minus sign to achieve this, and explain what each part of your search query does.

A local community website was created yesterday and does not yet appear in the search engine, even though it works perfectly if you type in its web address. Using what you know about crawlers and indices, explain why this happens and what needs to occur for it to start appearing.

In addition to general search engines, there are academic search engines and digital school libraries. Compare the types of results offered by each, and choose which one you would use for each task: (a) the price of a pair of trainers, (b) a reliable article on volcanoes for a project, and (c) cinema showtimes.

You have to do a project on the electricity consumption of data centres. Design your complete search strategy: the first search query you would type, how you would refine it based on the results, which tricks or operators you would use, and how you will decide that you have enough information.

A classmate claims: "the first result in the list is always the best; that's why it's first". Explain why this statement can be false, what factors place a page high up in the results, and what you would check before trusting a result.

When searching for information for a project on "how to repair a broken phone screen", the first three results are links to commercial repair shops offering their paid repair service, instead of step-by-step technical guides or tutorials to do it yourself.

1. a) Justify why the search engine places these pages in the top positions over free or collaborative tutorials.
2. b) Explain which search engine interface elements allow you to identify that these are sponsored content and not organic results.
3. c) Design an advanced query using search operators or specific terms to filter out shops and commercial repair services and exclusively find technical guides or repair manuals.

Two students search from their own laptops in the classroom for the exact phrase "environmental impact of the electric car". One of them gets almost exclusively articles about the pollution from lithium mining, while the other gets comparisons on the reduction of CO2 emissions.

1. a) Interpret what search engine mechanisms and browsing history factors of each user have caused them to obtain such disparate results for the same search query.
2. b) Predict what bias each student's final project will have if neither of them cross-checks their sources.
3. c) Design a two-action technical procedure that both should apply in their browser to break this "filter bubble" and gather balanced information.

You search for "how many bones are in the human body?" and the search engine shows a featured snippet at the very top that says "more than 300". That figure corresponds to a baby, not an adult. Explain why a search engine might display a misleading featured snippet, and what you would do to verify it before using it.

The word "mercury" can refer to the planet, the chemical element, or the Roman god. Design three different search queries that yield results for only one of the three meanings each, and explain what technique you used to disambiguate.

The school wants to recommend a search engine for the computers in the IT room. Establish four comparison criteria (for example: privacy, advertising, quality of results, filters) and, using them, write a justified recommendation without needing to mention specific brand names.

You are looking for reviews of a very new board game and there are hardly any web pages: almost everything is on social media and private forums that the search engine does not crawl. Explain what limitations search engines have regarding this content, and propose two alternative ways to find that information.