Appear early in text , or Appear close together . I've tried using the Pro Power Panel a number of times, but it hasn't improved my results. You might have better luck. For an explanation of these operators, click on Quick Reference in the Advanced Search box or go to the Help pages. The default for the NEAR operator is a 25-word separation.
Most search engines allow the use of the asterisk for stemming or truncation.
This means that when an asterisk is placed at the end of a word or string of letters, your search will capture items that contain that word plus any words that are formed by adding additional letters. If you're not alert, it's easy to misuse the asterisk, and end up with lots of irrelevant results. Petrarch - well, you get the idea. All of the major search engines except for Infoseek and Northern Light offer the option of using the asterisk for truncation. You can't use an asterisk in a phrase that's enclosed with quotation marks in HotBot, Lycos, or Deja News.