Think like a search engine: Tips on searching the Almanac

There's a number of ways to find one's way around the whole Wilson's Almanac project. Some readers heap glowing praise on the Almanac for its navigability and searchability -- and some readers say it sucks.

I have to search the Almanac myself, several times a day, and like to believe the project is highly navigable and searchable, but there are ways to do it and ways not to -- like any catalogue search at a library. My advice: Try to think like a search engine.

The SiteMap
Most of what's in the Almanac can be traced here. There is a link to the SiteMap in the menu bar on almost all Almanac pages.

The Search engines
There are different parts to the Almanac project. The search engines search The Book of Days (more than 3,390,000 words of folklore, calendar customs, On This Day, etc), The Blogmanac, and the Scriptorium (the rest of the project; the wilsonsalmanac.com domain, excluding the Book of Days). If you want current events, you'll be more likely to find it in the Blogmanac than the BoD. All the guidelines you need are on the search page.

There is also a menu bar on top of most pages.

Unwise search queries
I get weekly reports from the search engines and get really saddened when I see how badly some of the searches are performed, knowing that the searcher will have gone home empty handed. Here are some typical examples, and my suggestions alongside each.

"how many tuesdays have been the 1st from 1860 until 2005"
(This is the most common kind of error --- I wonder if people ask questions of Google. People can think like search engines, but search engines can't think like people, so don't ask the search engine a question, type in one, two or three keywords.)

"autobiography and picture of guy de maupassant" (Way too much info. Just try "maupassant".)
"thanksgiving on 24th of november" (Go to Book of Days for November 24, or just search "Thanksgiving")
"lord byron to william s" (Spelling: Williams)
"anzac slouch hat history" (Too specific. Just try "anzac hat")
"alchemists in the almanac" (Try "alchemist" or "alchemists")
"australian all hallows eve" (It will more likely say Australia than Australian. Try "australia halloween".)
"holy grail march 5 arthurian book of days" (Try "grail arthur" or go to March 5 in the Book of Days")
"a midsummers nights dream" (If you leave the apostrophe out, the search engine might not find "night's")
"kriss kringle" (Try kris, or just kringle. Why make it harder for the engine?)
"may 1" (No need to search for it. Go to May 1 in the Book of Days)
"canadian thanksgiving" (Try "canada thanksgiving", that's more likely)
"november folklore" (The overall folklore of the month will be found at November 1 in the Book of Days)
"may 11 1987 first heart lung transpla t" (Spelling! Try "heart lung transplant". Better still, go to May 11 in the BoD)
"pope woman intercourse" (I hope you found something)
"quotes quotations" (Use the SiteMap: we have a quotations page)
"wolrd s last whale" (Spelling! Apostrophe!)
"mustafa kemal atatürk was he one of the heroes of gallipoli" (Bloody hell! Try "atatürk" or "ataturk")
"the month of october" (October lore: October 1 in the BoD)
"23october1992" (D'oh! This one-word search term will get you nowhere.)
"1oo myths facts" ( the letter "o" is not a zero. Try "100", but it's so vague a search term, don't hold your breath)

In short, please read the Search guidelines, and get to know what is here at the SiteMap (gateway to almost 4,000 pages) -- and think like a search engine, dear reader. If all else fails, email your almanackist and I will try to help.

Request to teachers of the world
Do your students ask Google questions like the one in red above, or do they know how to search? Please take an hour this week and teach kids how to search, because with that skill alone, they can go a l-o-o-o-ng way.

Tagged: search+terms, search+engine, atomz, search+engines, google, teaching, education, seo, school, schools, library, libraries