Most Search Engines recognize "Syntax Characters," (i.e. quotation marks, plus symbols or minus signs) to assist users in finding good search results more quickly. This system is often referred to as "Search Engine Math." (To find out what characters a Search Engine recognizes, refer to the "help" links on the Search Engine's homepage.)

When using the plus (+) symbol within a Search Engine's key word search field (shown to the right), users can considerably shorten the search results to a more pertinent, concise list of sites from which to choose. In this example, the (+) symbol reduces the search results to include only those web pages containing the words "college" and "football," though not necessarily in that order.