Bing Help Home > Bing Table of Contents >

Search effectively

Having trouble finding what you want in your searches? Keep in mind that the quality of your results depends a lot on the words that you use. Here are some tips to make every search more effective:

Make sure that you spell search words correctly. Remember to leave a space between each word in your query.
Use words that you would expect to find in the websites that you're looking for.
Use the OR and NOT keywords to combine or exclude words. For example, if you use tree NOT evergreen, you will get results for trees but not for evergreen trees. This feature isn’t available in all countries and regions.
Vary your search terms. A different word or phrase will return different search results. Use fewer descriptive words, or try words that have a different but similar meaning. For example, try alloy instead of metal or steel.
Search for exact phrases by placing the search words within quotation marks. For example, "short evergreen tree."
When you use more than one word for your search, put the most important words first. For example, treehouse vacation California returns different results than California treehouse vacation.
Tabs at the top of the results organize results into relevant categories. Click a tab to see results in that category. For example, if you're looking for an online game, you might see categories for news, videos, reviews, cheats, and walkthroughs. Or for a musician, you might find categories for songs, images, albums, news, and videos. You can use these categories to quickly get to the result you have in mind.
When you're not satisfied with your results, try one of the Related Searches at the left. These might take a slightly different angle on your search and deliver better results.

Note
Basic searches aren't case sensitive. Common words, such as “a,” “and,” and “the” are ignored unless you use quotation marks around them. For example, "a" car, "and" car, or "the" car. If your search includes a date, type the name of the month instead of the calendar number. You don't have to type the word AND between your search words. By default, all searches are AND searches. You can type up to 150 characters, including spaces, in the search box. Some features and functionality described here may not be available in your country or region.

Note

Basic searches aren't case sensitive.
Common words, such as “a,” “and,” and “the” are ignored unless you use quotation marks around them. For example, "a" car, "and" car, or "the" car.
If your search includes a date, type the name of the month instead of the calendar number.
You don't have to type the word AND between your search words. By default, all searches are AND searches.
You can type up to 150 characters, including spaces, in the search box.
Some features and functionality described here may not be available in your country or region.

Search effectively

Related topics