Recently, Internet For Lawyers principals Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch shared some of their favorite secret Google search tips and ways to access expensive research databases for free with Sam Glover over at the Lawyerist Podcast.

In his introduction to the interview, Glover says:

I’ve written before about the really amazing internet research tips Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch have been teaching to lawyers for years.

If you’re thinking “hey, I know how to use Google so I’m good,” think again. You don’t know anything. You can find out just about anything you might want to find out about a client, opposing party, lawyer, or judge if you know how to look for it.

After you listen to the podcast, you will want to get one of their books. I would start with the Cybersleuth’s Guide to the Internet. And if you ever get a chance to go to one of their seminars (or to book them), do it. You’ll be glad you did.

The interview offers a preview of the types of research methods and resources Levitt and Rosch discuss in their live MCLE seminars and webinars.

Their interview begins at the 5 minute 22 second mark.

The post Internet Ninja Research Tricks | Lawyerist Podcast Interview With Carole Levitt & Mark Rosch appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

First, Bing and Yahoo no longer recognize the Boolean connector NOT to exclude terms from a search. To exclude a keyword, multiple keywords, or a phrase, you must type a minus sign immediately to the left of each term you want to exclude. For example, If you wanted to search for results that included President Barack Obama and Iraq but wanted to exclude results that included Angela Merkel, Germany, and Iran, you would enter your search into the Bing (or Yahoo) search box this way:

"Barack Obama" Iraq -"Angela Merkel" -Germany -Iran

Previously, you could use the minus sign in this way or preceed the terms you wanted to exclude with the Boolean connector NOT (in all caps). Bing and Yahoo no longer recognize the NOT Boolean connector.

Second, you can once again exclude results from a particular site (or multiple sites) from your Bing and Yahoo search results. For example, if you wanted to locate Web pages that included information about President Barack Obama and Iraq but did not want to see any results from the Web sites of The Washington Post or Newsweek, you would enter your search into the Bing (or Yahoo) search box this way:

"Barack Obama" Iraq -site:www.washingtonpost.com -site:www.newsweek.com

Owner's of the 13th edition of the new "The Cybersleuth's Guide to the Internet" (IFL Press, 2015) book should update these functions as discussed on pages 52 and 77, respectively. Owners of earlier editions may want to check the index to see where these concepts are discussed.

The post Yahoo! and Bing Make Changes to Their Exclusionary Search Connector appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

USA.gov provides no search tips and we were unable to easily find any at Bing. However, on USA.gov’s Advanced Search page (which you can only find once you run a search), if you click the “You can also use advanced search operators to help limit and focus your searches” link, you will be taken to the “Advanced search keywords” page. But that page only explains how to use various instructions such as how to limit your search to a specific file type. The more useful help page, where you learn how to search with Boolean connectors, is found by clicking the “Advanced search options” link at the bottom of the “Advanced search keywords” page.

Let’s take a look at how searching Bing/USA.gov and Google is the same for some searches but very different for others.

Phrase Searching

There are no differences when phrase searching at Google and Bing/USA.gov. Phrases are surrounded within quotation marks.

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Connecting Keywords with the And Boolean Connector

There are no differences when connecting keywords and phrases with the And Boolean connector at Google and Bing/USA.gov. The default Boolean connector is AND. Leaving a space between words automatically connects your keywords/phrases with the AND Boolean connector so there is no need to type the word AND.

Connecting Keywords with the OR Boolean Connector

There are no differences if you are only searching your keywords using one Boolean connector, such as nevada OR oregon. Your Bing/USA.gov and Google search would look like this:

nevada OR oregon.

(Yes, the OR must be upper case at Google and Bing/USA.gov.)

However, there are differences between Bing/USA.gov and Google if you are combining your OR search with other Boolean connectors in a search. At Bing/USA.gov, you need to enclose your OR terms in parentheses, so your search would look like this:

"homeland security" (nevada OR oregon)

The same search at Google would look like this:

"homeland security" nevada OR oregon

Exclude a Keyword with the NOT (MINUS SIGN) Boolean Connector

If you are excluding a word at Google and Bing/USA.gov, you would place a minus sign before the word without any space. Your search would look like this:

"homeland security" nevada -oregon

However, there is one difference between Bing/USA.gov and Google when excluding words. Bing/USA.gov also recognizes the Boolean connector NOT, but it must be in upper case. Google does not recognize NOT. So to search at Bing/USA.gov for the phrase "homeland security" and the keywords nevada NOT oregon, your search would look like this:

"homeland security" nevada NOT oregon

Conclusion

As you can see, knowing how to search correctly makes all the difference in the world. You can’t assume that every search engine is the same. We have created a chart comparing some of the most useful, but little known, search features of the major search engines.

The post Searching Bing/USA.gov | Sometimes Very Different Than Searching Google appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Yahoo! does still recognize an asterisk as a proximity connector representing the concept of "within one word." To conduct a "within one word" search at Yahoo!, the search would be expressed as follows: "Mark * Rosch" (including the quotation marks).

We have updated our Search Engine Features Comparison Chart to reflect this change.

The post Yahoo! Drops Proximity Connector appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.