Search Better

Introduction to search engines

Search engines are specialized websites that can help you find what you're looking for. You've probably heard of some of the most popular ones—including Google, Yahoo!, and Bing—even if you've never used them.

With these three search engines in mind, you may be wondering, "What's the difference?" They all have access to the same information (i.e., the contents of the Internet), so they should return the same results, right?

Not necessarily. Different search engines can yield different search results. Google is the most popular search engine because it's the most effective at finding what you're looking for. On average, it produces more relevant results than Yahoo! or Bing, and it's better at organizing and filtering them. For this reason, we will focus on Google in this tutorial.

Your browser's search bar is probably set to Google by default. However, if it is set to something else (for example, Yahoo! or Bing), you can easily change it to Google. To find out how, visit Make Google my default search engine on Google's support site. The steps are different for each browser, so make sure you follow the instructions for the one you're using.

Types of websites

When you're looking for information online, it's a good idea to be aware of what types of websites are available and what kind of information they contain. Depending on what you're looking for, you may find that certain types are more relevant to your search than others.

Review the interactive below to learn more about the information available on various types of websites.

To see more types of websites, check out Google's Types of Webpages document.