Asking Google Questions

byTriblu

6.9K followers

8 years ago

Back when I first started my publishing business, we had WebCrawler readily available as a search engine ... soon followed by (my favourite!) AltaVista. It was with AltaVista that I learned the value of asking search engines questions.

Picture this ... it was 2:30 a.m. and I had an official report that needed to be written by morning. This report need information I personally needed to supply, and one of the terms I was TOTALLY lost with. All I could think of was “what the heck is that?”... I’ve forgotten now what the term was, but my experience will not soon be forgotten.

That’s when I got the bright idea of entering the term along with “an example of _____” in AltaVista’s search so to discover not only the meaning (of the word) but also an idea of what information was expected. Good ole’ AltaVista did NOT fail me. That search engine provided me with a quality search result page offering several different examples.

When a search engine makes me feel like I can present my work as though a professional created it (after all I am ... right!), I soon learn to LOVE that search engine ... as I did AltaVista. That search engine NEVER let me down, and I was greatly disappointed to see it become overpowered, and eventually replaced.

Though slow to switch over to use Google, ultimately I didn’t have any other choice ... and, I’m not real sorry (thankfully, I no longer need the same sort of info!). However, I have found searching Google for common website issues or software prompts to be VERY helpful.

Now, when dealing with a WordPress theme issue like, say, a header issue (be it spacing or image size ... whatever) I first seek Google, and type in something like “[theme name] – remove space below header image” ... and then, I scan through ALL of the first page search results until I find what I think I’m looking for ... at which time I read the ENTIRE posting.

These sorts of search results usually bring me to wordpress.com solutions that others queried about and received help fixing. Many times, the first resolve suggested, doesn’t work and another is offered ... until a resolve is found. I’ve come across queries with NO resolve, which is why I look through all of the first page search results.

WOW! Are these types of query resolves ever valuable! Many time that’s how I come to learn about new IMPORTANT ideas too ... like installing a child theme if I intend on altering the theme’s styles. That way, when the theme is updated, my changes won’t be overwritten.

Internet search engines are a VERY valuable tool in serving up solutions for most of our common website issues. This way, you don’t have to wait on a forum to respond to common questions and so, you can solve your issues straight away! Unless, of course ... after doing a couple of different searches for what you need you don’t find a solution. That’s when forums (like this one!) become sooooo valuable.

Thank YOU WA members!