Searching effectively

Dealing with difficult searches

[MatthewHSE]

I have to admit I'm not great with searching. I can usually find the information I want, but now and then I come up against a search that really proves difficult.

Normally, this involves topics where most of the information will be pretty much the same, but one or two results might be different, and it's the one or two that you need, yet all the results will use all the same terms.

Case in point: My mother seems to have some sort of heart condition that no specialist has been able to diagnose so far. Normally, heart trouble is made worse in high altitude, but in Mom's case, it actually gets much better (to the point of just disappearing). Hoping to find some useful information that might help her do better here in Illinois, I tried a few searches trying to find results of other people who experience better heart health in high altitudes. The problem is that I can't think of any specific terms to use (or exclude) in order to find the results I need. All the results I've found so far just say how much worse heart trouble will become in high altitude. That's not very helpful to me.

And this is just one example. I've had similar searches before, where basically the only way to find the information I'm after seems to be to just dig through all 52,391,082 results until I find the three needles in the enormous haystack.

So does anyone have any tips to share on how to search effectively under these conditions?

Thanks,

Matthew

[Automan Empire]

Perhaps consult a thesaurus, or in this particular case a medical glossary, for different, perhaps better focused search terms. If I find myself on the fourth SERP with no luck, I'll usually refine the search based on what I've come up with so far, rather than slogging through more results.
Use negative search terms to eliminate duplicate inappropriate results. When I do a search on my own name, for example, I have to exclude pages in French, that mention a particular French city, and "museum." If I see the same basic article more than a few times, I will choose negative search terms accordingly. Sometimes, if a general topic to exclude doesn't come to mind, excluding a short snippet in quotes will eliminate the same article on dozens/hundreds of sites from cluttering the search.
Depending on the search, I've had good luck filtering only pages updated within X months.
-Automan

[iamlost]

There are many health problems alleviated by altitude.

One instance is ischemic heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease or coronary heart disease, in which narrowed heart arteries restrict blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. Altitude induced hypoxia (insufficient oxygen in blood or tissue) activates the sympathetic nervous system increasing cardiac function while constricting peripheral circulation which maintains blood pressure ensuring sufficient oxygen supply.

The above information is from a two minute search initiated by your post.

Steps:
* goal is find information on heart health improving with altitude.
* tried several search queries that included [heart]: the initial results were mainly concerns/warnings with a few hints that there are benefits.
* dropped [heart] and simply queried [altitude health benefits]: the results were full of relevant information including 'heart' benefits.
* discovered additional terms such as 'hypoxia' for supplementary searches.

Whether your mother's condition is specifically addressed is for you to determine. That the health benefits of altitude are known and apparently can be replicated at home without climbing may be helpful.

Addressing your general question:

topics where most of the information will be pretty much the same, but one or two results might be different, and it's the one or two that you need, yet all the results will use all the same terms

Using your example likely search terms include 'heart problem'. However, such a search is deluged by the massive information forest that is heart disease. To find a specific, especially an unusual, result you must ommit the overwhelming term(s).

In your example that means searching the general health benefits of altitude, i.e. [altitude health benefits], rather than the organ or disease itself. Some potential results appeared almost immediately as did some additional pertinent search terms.

Good searching is like like good reporting: knowing that a question has not been appropriately answered and reframing the question until it is.
One should rarely have to go past a half dozen results without knowing whether the returns are relevant. If not rephrase the query. Also watch for terms that might help narrow the search (keep an online dictionary in an open window).

What is ommitted can be as critical as what is included in a query.

[MatthewHSE]

Thanks guys, these are useful tips. I'll remember these next time I'm in this situation.

iamlost, if I'm understanding correctly what you did, your second step was actually to use a broader search term, then narrow subsequent searches based on what you learned. That's a paradigm shift for me. Normally I try to think of ways to make a query more specific if I can't find the results I want. Your technique is very interesting (and apparently useful) so I'm going to try to work it into my future "search strategy."