How do search engines deal with boolean operators?
The short answer to that question is – “not consistently”. Some engines allow the use of just a few operators while others provide access to a wide range. Some require you to enter the operator yourself while others have you select the operator from a pop-up box. Some allow you to do any kind of search from the main search page while others require you to go to an “advanced” page to conduct boolean searches. Some engines allow you to enter several words into the search term WITHOUT a boolean operator. However, some search engine will assume that there is an “or” operator between the words while others assume the desired operator is “and”. Check what the engine’s default operator is before you elect not to enter boolean operators. Most search engines are pretty easy to use if you read their help information.
