When a seasoned searcher initiates a search they may make up a complex Boolean expression to minimize the number of results displayed. Words typed into the search for dialogue box may be separated by or grouped together with brackets and operated on by the different Boolean operators to achieve the desired results. There are only three Boolean operators namely OR, AND as well as NOT.

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•  OR Boolean operator

The or operator will include all pages which contain any one of the words, or all of them or any combination of the words typed into the search for dialogue box in the results. If you do not specify an operator between words then many search engines treat the whole group of words as an OR expression. This may result in an exceptionally high number of pages returned by the search engine, as the returned results will include all pages which contain any one of the words within the search for dialogue box.

• AND Boolean operator or + (plus or addition sign)

• (check search engines advanced search faclities)

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The AND operator will include all pages which contain all of the words typed into the search for dialogue box with the  AND operator between them, in the search results, and exclude those pages which may contain words which are excluded by the NOT operator if applicable. Most of the Bigger search engines such as google, bing  or Yahoo nowadays treat a Boolean search query as if the and operator was used between words entered into the search dialogue box.

• NOT Boolean operator

• (check search engines advanced search faclities)

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The not operator will exclude all pages which contain the word or words or expressions to the right of the  NOT operator as specified within the search for dialogue box from the search results. This is useful to separate those that waffle from those that get straight to the point. The NOT operator is also useful in eliminating specific subjects from a larger group so as to minimize the number of pages returned in your search results.

A complex Boolean expression produces fewer results to search through and this needs to be evaluated when using search engines.

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recommended search boxes and search engines

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