The sixth edition of Search Strategies for the Internet is now available. Further details are available on the RBA web site and, as with previous editions, updates can also be downloaded from the web site. Although the price of the publication itself remains the same – GBP 35 for the ring binder version and GBP 22 if you only want to purchase the pre-punched loose leaf pages – we are now having to charge for postage and packaging. In the past we have been able to absorb these costs but rates have increased considerably over the last two years and a new pricing structure is about to be introduced by Royal Mail.

With this edition we are offering an additional purchase option. You can immediately purchase and download a PDF version of the publication via Lulu.com, price USD 27.50.

The structure of the publication remains essentially the same with section I outlining search tool essentials and key search techniques, section II details the major tools currently available, and search strategies are covered in section III. The summaries and comparison table, which are freely available, are in section IV.

I had a quick look at the contents pages of previous editions and when it comes to the major search engines the fifth edition covered Google, AlltheWeb, AltaVista, Gigablast, Teoma and HotBot. This time we have AlltheWeb Livesearch, Ask, Exalead, Gigablast, MSN Search and Yahoo Search. The first edition (published in early 1998) included Yahoo (as a directory), AltaVista, HotBot, Excite, Infoseek, Northern Light, Lycos, Euroferret and DejaNews. Google, officially launched on 7 September 1998, was just a glint in Larry and Sergey’s eye!