The Internet today is a storehouse of information on a planetary scale, where every inhabitant of the Earth is able to find almost everything he needs. Possessing unthinkable amounts of data and information, humanity also has all the necessary means for the fastest and most comfortable search for what everyone needs at a certain point in time. These tools are the search engines that each of us uses daily: Google, Yandex, Rambler, Yahoo and many other technologies with their own unique capabilities for different preferences.
And they are united by absolutely one simple property - none of the systems is a kind of super-technological center that stores in its resources an unimaginable amount of information for all occasions. All of them, in essence, are guides for users through the vast expanses of the Internet and work according to certain software algorithms.
Query language of the Yandex search engine: basic fundamentals
Yandex's functionality allows you to quite flexibly sort all the results you get, taking into account specific domains, regions, languages, and many other parameters. The format of the input data and the results obtained can be customized and filtered by users using simple combinations of characters. This greatly improves search efficiency and convenience.
Each request from the user is first sent to the most free server (immediately after automatic analysis of the system load), after which the Metasearch program is engaged in its processing. The software in real time analyzes the information entered in the search line for linguistics, the geographic location of the user, whether the query belongs to the “most popular” / “recently asked” categories, etc. The search results for these cases are stored in the Metasearch cache for a while”, making the necessary information available faster.
In the case of searching for more rare information, information about which is not available in the cache, the request processing is redirected to another program mechanism - "Basic Search". It analyzes the entire database, divided into various duplicate servers to speed up search processes, and returns the information found back to Metasearch.
All received data is eventually sorted and presented to the user in a ready, conveniently perceived form. The whole process takes an average of 1-2 seconds maximum.
Correct search in Yandex: search query language and syntax features
The presence of certain words in the results, as well as their relative position, can be easily adjusted usingspecial operators that form the language of Yandex search queries.
| Operator | Function | Use example |
| + | Displaying results for those resources that must contain the word indicated by the operator. The query language of the Yandex search engine allows multiple use if there are two or more words in the query. |
world+web+Internet "Yandex" will return those results that exactly contain the words "web", "internet" and, possibly, "worldwide". |
| " | Search for a specific form or sequence of characters. |
"goes far into the crimson sunset" Search results will definitely contain this phrase without changes. |
| Used only with the previous statement. This character allows you to search for quotes with missing words. |
leaves into the crimson sunset The search engine will return results with this quote and the missing word. leavingsunset The search engine will return results with this quote and missing words. |
|
| & | Search for results with sentences that contain words combined with this operator. |
beautiful & interior & home The user will be presented with results in which at least one sentence contains this set of words (they can be set by an operator from two or more). |
| && | Search for resources that simply contain a given set of words. |
referendum && UK && Europe & crisis All results containing these words will be displayed regardless of distance and location to each other. |
On signs of service information
There are Yandex search query operators to refine information on such parameters as: titles, file types, host, domains, last modified date of the results pages and their language.
| Operator | Function | Use example |
| title: | Search for documents containing query words in titles. |
title: mechanical engineering Documents with the word "engineering" and its word forms in the title will be found. title: (German mechanical engineering) Documents with titles containing the words "engineering" and "Germany" will be found (for queries in which you need to combine two or more words to search, you must put brackets). |
| mime: | Search by documents of a specific format. |
resume template mime:docx Search results will be all.docx documents that contain the words "template" and "resume". |
| host: | Search through pages hosted on a specific host. |
draft bill host:www.yandex.ru The www.yandex.ru host will search through all documents containing the word “draft law”. |
| domain: | Search across pages of the entire domain. |
Hilary Clinton host:www.whitehouse.gov The www.whitehouse.gov domain will be searched for all documents containing the words "Hilary" and "Clinton". |
| date: | Search through pages based on the date of their last modification (using the Yandex query language also provides for the absence of the day and month values if they are replaced by the symbol). |
event of the day date:20160624 All documents containing the words "event" and "days" and their word forms will be found, the last modification date of which corresponds to 2016-24-06 summit date:20150819..date20150909 Search for results whose last modified date is between 2015-19-08 and 2015-09-09 cruise date:>20160611 Displays all results that were last modified after 2016-11-06
|
| lang: |
Search pages in a specific language:
|
green card lang:en Search for English-language documents on a givenrequest. |
Practically any foreign counterpart has a similar query language. The language of Yandex search queries, in turn, differs from competitors by and large in slightly more advanced features and functions.
Morphological clarifications
By default, the search engine offers the user a wide range of output results for the entered query, which is based not only on the entered word/phrase itself, but also on its various forms (case, gender, declension, number, etc.). Variations of the part of speech (be it a noun, verb, adjective, etc.) and case of the first letter are also taken into account. For example, when entering “attacked” in the search string, the user will also receive information on other verb forms: “attack”, “attack”, “attacked” (but single-root words like “attack”, “attacked” will not be taken into account). This will show the results both with the capital first letter in the requested word and with the small one.
Practically all features of the query language of various search engines are based on similar operating principles. In Yandex, the restriction on morphological features can be useful for more accurate work of the search engine:
| Operator | Function | Use example |
| ! | Search for a word only in the given form. The Yandex search query language allows multiple use of the operator if there are two or more words in the query. |
!internet "Yandex" will return all results in a given query form with an uppercase and lowercase first letter. !Internet "Yandex" returns results for a given query form, starting exclusively with a capital letter. |
| !! | Slightly wider search for a word and its derivatives. |
!!stump Results will be returned for any form of this word ('kick', 'kick', 'stump', etc.), but results with a similar word form of the verb 'kick' will be excluded. |
Special methods for selecting keywords for contextual advertising
Search query languages also extend far beyond the user segment, rewarding advertisers with simple working tools. In particular, for such purposes, Yandex is armed with a number of algorithms and operators that allow you to effectively promote your sites and services in the search engine.
The logic of displaying contextual advertising for user requests is based on the selection of words that are thematically related to the subject of this ad, as well as on their other word forms. For example, such methods allow displaying an ad about legal services not only in response to “legal services in city N”, but also to those users who made similar requests (be it “lawyers city N prices”, “lawyer offices”, “lawyer city N cheap ", etc.). As a result, ads will be displayed to a wider audience of users, and this, accordingly, will potentially attract more attention to them.
However, ads should only be shown to users who make thematically related queries in the search engine. For example, advertising for law courses will not be effective if it is shown to users who need the services of a lawyer at the moment. The regulation of such moments is carried out using a whole list of operators in the Yandex search engine. The description of the query language for advertising tasks in general will be as shown below.
| Operator | Function | Use example |
| - | Exception for words in queries when the ad will not be shown. You can use the operator multiple times if you want to set two or more exceptions. |
lawyer-courses-cheap Your ad will show on all queries containing the words "lawyer" and "cheap" but excluding those containing the word "courses". lawyer-courses-practice In this case, ads will be visible to users for queries containing the word "lawyer", but will not be displayed for queries with the words "courses" and "practice". |
| + | Display ads for queries that contain a specific word/words. |
+rent +apartments+Sochi cheap Advertising is displayed in queries containing the words "rent", "apartments", "Sochi", and may be displayed in queries containing the word "inexpensive". |
| ! | The operator serves as a definitiona specific form of the word in requests, according to which the message will be shown (or vice versa). |
!Club !Lepasso Advertising is shown only for queries that contain at least one of these two words in a specific form. At the same time, "Lepasso" in the request must begin with a capital letter to display the ad. !Club !Lepasso-!Paintball Same as above, but ads will not be shown for queries containing the word "paintball", which helps weed out the wrong audience. |
| () | Group words for complex queries consisting of several words (Yandex's search query language allows using this function for two or more words). |
car-(rental) Ad will be shown for queries that contain the word "car" but do not contain the words "rent" or "rent". +(car buy Vladivostok) cheap Advertising is displayed for queries that necessarily contain the words "car", "buy", "Vladivostok" and which may contain the word "cheap". |
| "" | Show ads for queries containing only quoted words or word forms. |
"programmer" Advertising is shown for requests for this word and its word forms like "programmer", "programmer". At the same time, the ad will not be shown for user queries such as "cheap computer repair programmer", "website hack programmer". |
Lessons in comfort and simplicity from Yandex search suggestions
Simplifying the process of entering search information with the help of hints is already perceived without any excitement. This technology is now available in every popular search engine, it is based on the preliminary issuance of popular queries similar to the letters entered by the user in the search box.
"Yandex" implements this system through some proprietary features. All sets of hints are processed and grouped from among the most massive user requests. Scientific terms from encyclopedic articles, movie titles, musical works and other thematically relevant content are also used. As a result, from the moment of entering the very first letter in the search string, the user receives under it a whole list of options for the most popular queries starting with the same characters.
In addition, hints can immediately indicate links to the desired sites or the answer to a question. For example, it is enough to enter half of the query "circumference", as in the corresponding field under the search line, the user will be presented with a ready-made calculation formula. Asking "the capital of Australia", you will not have time to complete the phrase to the end, as "Yandex" will immediately give this information in the list of tips.
If the link to any site is a relevant response to the request, then this address will be available immediately in the same field. This approach will allow you to quickly go to the desired resource, bypassing the listall results found.
Filtering obscene content
Yandex's functionality also provides for the exclusion of "18+" resources from search results, regardless of the query language tools used. This feature will be useful primarily to protect young users from "materials for adults" on the Web. And even if a child does not hesitate to use in action all the means that the Yandex search query language is rich in, then this still will not help him overcome the barrier from such sites.
There are 3 content filtering modes for users in Yandex search:
- "No protection" - there are no restrictions on the output results.
- "Moderate" - if the user's request is not explicitly directed to search for "18+" sites, then they are then removed from the search results.
- "Family" - obscene content is completely excluded from search results.
All these options for protecting against non-child content are controlled in the corresponding Yandex settings menu.
Additional search engine features
In addition to a wide range of different query language operators, Yandex also offers a couple more ways to search for information:
"Advanced" is a nicer service with an intuitive structure for those who need to use query language facilities. You just need to enter the necessary parameters in the appropriate fields (search for a specific resource,region, search query accuracy, heading search, language, document format, date of last update, etc.) without resorting to the less comfortable manual input of operators. "Advanced Search" and the "Yandex" query language are the same functionality, but with the difference that the first one offers the use of the same operators in a more convenient form
Zen Search. Based on the history of the user's search queries, Yandex offers the latter a service of publications in the media. Available only for mobile devices and outwardly it is a set of news previews, selected according to the viewing history. The user can choose any publication he likes, read the first few paragraphs and, if he is interested, go to the publisher's website for this material. Otherwise, it is enough to select "Dislike" in order not to display a specific news or mark the entire resource in this way, excluding it from your news feed
Mechanisms to protect against unwanted and malicious information
The main property of any search engine is not only the various search query operators. Yandex is also characterized by a high level of security for all results found. This search engine introduced basic page checking and warnings about malicious sites in 2009. Threat detection is carried out by two technologies:
- Antivirus protection purchased from Sophos and based on a signature approach:When a user accesses a web page, the anti-virus system accesses a database containing information about known malware. Despite the high speed of work, this technology is almost completely useless in the event of a collision with new virus threats. Therefore, Yandex additionally uses the second technology.
- Proprietary anti-virus complex, which is based on the behavioral factor. First, protection when accessing the site analyzes whether it makes a request from the browser for additional files, whether it redirects to an outside resource, etc. is added to the blacklist of dangerous sites and the virus signature database. The owner of the site itself will also be notified of these threats, and all subsequent checks will be carried out periodically until all security problems on the site are completely eliminated.
Such an approach to the analysis of provided pages with search results, combined with Yandex's proprietary technologies, made it possible to minimize the percentage of infected sites in this search engine to just a few. Yandex's daily checks cover a total of up to 23 million resources, and in a month this number reaches approximately 1 billion.
