Google Tips
Google search tips
1. Phrase search
If you want Google to return results pages including only the words you're looking for, in the specific order that you typed them in, enclose them in quotes.
Example: who is he and what is he to you
This is the title of a famous Bill Withers song. Normally, Google will search all the pages that contain each one of the words, returning millions of results. If you want Google to return only the results where these words appear together, then you must enclose them in quotes, like this:
"who is he and what is he to you"
If you want to make sure Google includes a particular word in its search then put a plus (+) sign in front of it. Equally, if you want Google to ignore a word, put a minus (-) in front of it. This eliminates a lot of hits you don't want.
2. Google synonym tool
Sometimes you may miss out on some useful results because you can't find the right words to express what you want to search for. This is when the Google synonym tool can be useful. Type the ~ (tilde) character before the words in your query and Google will not only return the results including the words you typed in, but also what it thinks are the synonyms for the keywords.
Example: searching for ~reptile will return results including snake, lizard chameleon, etc.
3. Searching for numbers (date, size, currency, height, etc)
Google has a useful tool, the number range operator, .. (two dots between numbers) which can be used to find results falling inside a specific number range.
Example: If you're looking for a laptop and you're willing to spend $400 to $600 for it, try searching for new laptop $400..$600 .
If you want to include a maximum value in your query (e.g. you don't want a laptop more expensive than $600) then try searching for new laptop..$600.
On the other hand, if you're looking to spend more than $500 on a laptop, then you can include a minimum value, e.g. new laptop $500..
You must always name or give a clue as to the range, be it kg, megapixel, size, etc.
4. Looking up phone numbers
Your query should start by typing in phonebook: followed then the number or name you need.
Example-phonebook: John Smith London
Remember that in this case searches are case sensitive so whereas when typing in phonebook: you will get results, not the same will happen if you type in Phonebook: (notice the capital P)
If you want to restrict your search to residential phone numbers, then try rphonebook: and bphonebook: for business listings.
5. Definitions
Don't be lost for words when someone mentions a word and you have no idea what they are talking about. Whatever the word, find out what it means by using define:
Example- define: conspicuous
Your first Google search result will probably be a definition of the word from one of the many web dictionaries.
6. Soople
Google has evolved from the simple search engine it used to be and now offers numerous other features, such as calculators, converters, dictionaries, stock symbol search, etc. It would be difficult to remember the syntax for all these features so the easiest way is to go to http://www.soople.com. There you will find different specialty interfaces, allowing you to filter your search. Soople also features calculators (incredibly detailed, covering different mathematical functions), translation tools, etc.
7. Searching specific parts of the web pages
If you want to search only certain parts if the web pages, in order to narrow your search results, you can use special syntax or advanced operators. For instance, you can make Google search only web pages where your query word appears only in the title or URL.
Here are the special syntax elements:
intitle: restricts your search to the titles of web pages.
allintitle: finds pages where all the words you specified appear in the title of the webpage
intext: searches only the the body text, ignoring titles, URLs, etc.
inanchor: searches for text in a page's link anchors (descriptive text of a link)
site: narrows the search by either site or top level domain (e.g. site: edu or site: gov.uk)
inurl: narrows your search to the URLs of web pages
link: returns pages linking to the specified URL (for instance, searching for link: www.greenwichmeantime.com will return a list of pages that link to this site)
cache: finds copy of a page indexed by Google even if that page no longer exists at its original URL or has changed the content completely
daterange: allows you to limit your search to a particular range of dates. A daterange search will only show results from when that page was indexed by Google, not when it was created. Also, for a daterange: search, it is essential that you use Julian dates (Julian dates converters can be found online). The daterange syntax is simple-daterange: startdate-endate (both dates must be expressed as Julian dates)
A complete list of Google tools and services can be found at: http://www.google.com/options/index.html .
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