As I move through my frames, if the frame has only necter or necter/pollen, I don't bother even looking for the queen there. If the frame contains capped brood, but no larvae, same deal. It's the frames with eggs, or eggs and young larvae where I find my queens the most. If she is on a frame with capped brood, then most of the time, that frame is directly next to the one with most of the eggs.
Beyond that, it was explained to me like this: You know those posters where you have to blur your eyes to see the picture? It's kind of like that. Take a deep breath, scan over the frame, but do not try and look at each and every bee.
I know it sounds crazy, but it worked for me, and I've gotten really good at figuring out which frame a queen should be on, and looking until I find her.
Oh, yea! I almost forgot to remind you to take two frames out and set them aside (#1&2 or #9&10) to give you room to create gaps between the frames as you search. If you don't, you can further complicate your issue with the fact that a disturbed queen can jump from frame to frame and really frustrate your efforts.
