Opening Search Results

Learning Outcomes

  • Open the first web search engine result.

Identifying Search Engine Categories

Each search result is categorized into a variety of subjects. Being able to navigate to the different types of search results is an important skill to have when searching the internet. A browser has a small menu above the search results indicating these categories.

Lets say that you are put in charge of creating a sales flyer for Rowan Retail store. It is suggested you use graphic design to make the flyer stand out. This is the first time you have heard of graphic design and you wish to learn a little more about it. Using the Google search engine, you can conduct a search on graphic design.

First open a browser window by clicking on the desktop icon or the icon on the computer desktop’s taskbar, then type in www.google.com in the address bar and press the Enter (or Return) key on the keyboard.

The Google home URL is in the address bar. There is a green arrow pointing at the address bar which is highlighted by a green box.

In the Google search bar, type graphic design definition and press the Enter (or Return) key. The webpage displays the results of your search. Above the displayed search results there is a small menu bar with six choices.

A Google search has been performed for, "graphic design definition". There is a green box showing where the search box is and another below it highlighting where you want to search specifically. The options include search all, images, news, videos, shopping and more.

Search results are defaulted to All which means that every type of category (i.e. images, news, videos, shopping, etc.) is listed in the search results displayed on the page. This menu is used when choosing to narrow a search by different categories. The More option when selected drops down a small menu with additional category options. Now let’s explore how these categories work.

A Google search has been performed for, "graphic design definition". There is a green box highlighting where the more options feature is. A new dropdown menu has come from the options tab which now include, Maps, Books, and Flights.

Open First Web Search for All

With a browser window open and the Google search bar ready, type in retail development. Notice how the menu defaults to the All option. The page displays maps of retail stores, a book about retail development, and various other websites. Locate the first search result with an article or website and open the result by clicking on the left mouse button.

 

The Google search engine is open, with a search for, "retail development" entered in the search box. A green box shows that the search has been run for all search results. There is another green box showing what the first results is.

This opens the link to a webpage about the 2017 Global Retail Development Index which lists countries indicating their standing in the retail development business. If this fits the search you are looking for, you can continue to read through this article. Nice job!

The 2017 global retail development index is open.

Practice Question

Open First Web Search for News

Now we’ll to try a different category for search results by returning to the previous screen with search results for retail development. Click on the back button at the top of the browser. When the page returns to the results, click on News in the search category menu. The page will now refresh and appear with the latest news articles about retail development. Notice the blue bar under the word News. This is used to visually indicate which category is currently being displayed.

The Google search engine is open, with a search for, "retail development" entered in the search box. A green box shows where the back button is in the top left corner. There is another green box showing that this search has been run specifically for news.

Now identify the first news search result and click with the left mouse button to open that news article.

The Google search engine is open, with a search for, "retail development" entered in the search box. A green box shows what the first result is from running this search in the news section.

The hyperlinked article webpage will now be displayed. In this case, the link opened an article in the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise news about the strong industrial and retail development this last year. You are now on your way to finding more news items that fit the search.

An article from the Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise is shown.

Open First Web Search for Video

Once again we’ll return to the previous screen with search results for retail development by clicking on the back button at the top of the browser. When the page returns to the results, click on Video in the search category menu. The page will now refresh and appear with the latest videos about retail development. Notice the blue bar is now under the word Video.

The Google search engine is open, with a search for, "retail development" entered in the search box. There is a green box showing that this search has been run specifically for videos.

One more time, identify the first search result at the top of the list and click on the first link to open this video on the webpage.

The Google search engine is open, with a search for, "retail development" entered in the search box. There is a green box showing the top search result.

This link navigates the webpage to a Huntington, West Virginia news channel website containing a video about plans for a retail development site. Some videos begin to play as soon as the webpage is loaded, but others like this video, will have a circle with an arrow in the center of the video. This play button must be clicked to start the video playing.

A Huntington, West Virginia news channel website containing a video about plans for a retail development site.

Often with videos there are commercials that play before the video content. Be sure to wait through the commercial (or click on a skip button if that appears) and then watch the content video.

Practice Question

Review

There are different ways that search results are categorized. Decide which type may be most relevant to the search you are conducting. If you are unsure which might be most effective, select a few different types and click on additional results to explore and learn. Take some time to experiment and become comfortable with finding results and exploring the focused categories on a search engine.

Contribute!

Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input.

Improve this pageLearn More