Most search engines allow for the refining of a search by using certain Boolean Logic Operators to include and exclude various words and phrases. The "NEAR" (always capitalize in almost all search engines) search for two words and/or phrases that appear near each other, usually within 10 to 15 words of each other. AltaVista requires the two words be within 10 words of each other. If one searches "archibald campbell" one would only get "archibald campbell" . What about "campbell, archibald" and "archibald w. campbell" just for a few alternatives. With AltaVista, one must have "archibald" and "campbell" coming within 10 words BEFORE or AFTER each other or even BOTH. Both terms must be present.

For example, a search for "archibald w campbell" would include both name (and leaving the "w" out because "w" is very common). Notice the results on the following pages. Click on AltaVisa Advance Search to see the results.

Notice both "campbell" and "archibald" both went into the search box and were treated equally in the ranking of their importance. However, the Boolean expression box contained both "campbell" and "archibald" and the Boolean Logic Operator "NEAR", so both words must appear on a web page within 10 to 15 words apart in any order to be listed in the results. Notice on the last page near the bottom, the word "archibald" appeared on 94,621 web pages and the word "campbell" appeared 1,229,869 times. But on the first page of the results the two words appeared on the web pages at least 1,222 times.