Search Techniques

Recently in class, we learned about marketing research online and how search is a valuable way to find information. We discussed several techniques that can be used to refine a search and get better results. One technique is entering a minus sign in front of a keyword that is not wanted, which solves the problem of words with double meanings. I admit that I have a guilty pleasure for celebrity gossip, so the first word applicable to this situation that came to mind was “Paris.” I wondered whether there would be more sites about Paris Hilton or Paris, as in the city, if the just the word “Paris” was googled.

I began my experiment by googling “Paris.” The first three results were websites about the city (the link is the site that was the first result). However, the fourth listing was the Wikipedia article on Paris Hilton. Then, I used the technique we learned in class by searching “Paris –city.” The first result was a casino site, the second was the same Wikipedia article about Ms. Hilton, and the third was the Wikipedia article about the mythological character named Paris. The majority of the rest of the results were sites about Paris Hilton.

To go along with another topic of class discussion, I feel my search experiment supports the idea of the Database of Intentions. The fact that a Paris Hilton website is fourth on the results page of a “Paris” search shows that society is quite absorbed in celebrities' lives.