3 Truths of Search Engines

Search engines are not mind readers, although that would interesting if it could be done! Search engines can only offer results for websites it has collected and indexed and because of the indexing will only offer results based on what they think the keywords in the search box mean. Because search engines collect their own list of websites, without conferring with other search engines, there is very little overlap between their results.

These 3 reasons come together to explain why, when getting a "No Results Found" message after a search, a researcher needs to 1) alter the keywords or arrangement of keywords and/or 2) change search engines. Bottom line: make a change!

Change it up with different synonyms and/or related terms, and/or change search engines.

Figs as a keyword is pretty straight forward. However, synonyms could be exotic fruits, biblical fruits, Mediterranean fruits. Related terms fruit harvest, fruit trees and propagation, and perhaps Newtowns. Search engines to consider might include

Some of the search engines available online.