Domain+limits+and+links

from an article by Lisa Guernsey NYT
 * Domain Limits and Links**

__Using site:edu__ Sometimes it seems like overkill to search the entire Web when all you really want is an academic or noncommercial take on a topic. Say you only want results from the .edu domain. Try using the syntax tool called "site:" and restrict the results to those in the .edu domain. (This works with [|Google], [|AlltheWeb].com and [|Teoma/Ask], among other engines.)

A search like "Chocolate addiction treatment site:edu" pulls up only those pages posted at university sites. (Of course, there are still plenty of .com options in the advertisements on the right-hand side of the results page.)

When using a syntax like "site:" be sure that there is no space between the colon and the next word. If you accidentally put a space there, the search engines will think that "site:" is a word you're looking for.

__Using link: (to find other similar sites)__ If you are digging deeply into a topic, it may help to know which sites are linking to the page that you are reading. Knowing those connections can bring you a step closer to understanding the community that has coalesced around your subject.

For example, by typing "link:www.chocoholic.com" into Google's search box, you'll find other sites like the Chocolate Corner and a list of "Choco-Links."

But Google is not the easiest means for conducting searches for links (technically known as Uniform Resource Locators, or URL's), and many search experts avoid it, preferring the [|AlltheWeb] engine. At AlltheWeb, you do not need to remember to use "link:" syntax. Simply plug the URL into the search window and you will get a link to a list of the 391 pages that link to Chocoholics. But you will also be pointed to sites that contain the URL in their text, pages that are indexed under that URL, information on who owns the URL and an image of how the page used to look. That last option is a link that takes you to the [|WayBack Machine], a service of the Internet Archive, where you can view pages as they were rendered as far back as 1996.

Other search engines and lists to try: [|Hakia] [|searchenginecolossus] [|a guide to searching the web]