sean_orourke - 3:53 pm on Apr 21, 2001 (gmt 0)

Marcia,

I felt bad about not being more help last time... hopefully, this will put you on the fast track to more keywords.

~ WHAT'S RELATED ~

Source (Max # Suggestions?)
-- insructions & information
<!-- my observations -->

Excite (20+)
-- click "Zoom In" from the main search box -- a little popup will appear with suggestions.
<!-- often very, very good... also, often shows (sp) by suspected typos-->

Ask Jeeves (10), DirectHit (9), Mamma (9)
-- Jeeves results appear towards the bottom of the page.
-- the butler shows an extra result, plus he has a cleaner format than the others.
<!-- fairly solid suggestions -->

AltaVista (7)
-- "Related Searches" appears below the main search box.
<!-- either spot on or way off, rarely of mixed quality -->

Lycos (8), HotBot (8)
-- both appear directly below the search box.
-- Lycos sometimes shows more listings than HotBot.
<!-- perhaps the most likely place to find suggestions not including the search term -->

NBCi (40?)
-- initial suggestions are directly below the search box.
-- hit "MORE" for the super-duper extended list (i.e. the jackpot).
<!-- often shows more suggestions than the others... combined -->
<!-- a good mix of suggestions with/without the original search term -->

~ WHAT'S NEXT ~

The suggestions will typically range from the blatantly obvious to the truly bizarre (the latter kept me from fully utilizing these tools until recently -- thanks Brett for the 'light bulb').

* Grouping the results in an Ixquick-like manner can give a better picture of the strongest search terms for one-size-fits-most optimization.

* You may also want to follow the strongest search terms to their related terms.

Does that help?