20 Tips To Use Google Search
Efficiently
Millions of people use
Google search every day for a variety of reasons. Students use it for school,
business people use it for research, and millions more use it for
entertainment. Did you know that you may not be using Google search to its full
potential? Here are 20 tips and tricks to maximize your search efficiency.
1. Use the tabs
The first tip is to
use the tabs in Google search. On the top of every search are a number of tabs.
Usually you’ll see Web, Image, News, and More. Using these tabs,
you can help define what kind of search you need to do. If you need images, use
the Image tab.
If you are looking for a recent news article, use the News tab. It’s
rudimentary and most people use the tabs already. If you are not, then it’s
highly recommended to get associated with them. They can cut search times
dramatically if utilized properly.
2. Use quotes
When searching for
something specific, try using quotes to minimize the guesswork for Google
search. When you put your search parameters in quotes, it tells the search
engine to search for the whole phrase. For instance, if you search for Puppy Dog Sweaters, the
engine will search for content that contains those three words in any order.
However, if you search “Puppy
Dog Sweaters”, it will search for that phrase exactly as you typed
it. This can help locate specific information that may be buried under other
content if not sorted out correctly.
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3. Use a hyphen to exclude
words
Sometimes you may find
yourself searching for a word with an ambiguous meaning. An example is Mustang. When you Google
search for Mustang,
you may get results for both the car made by Ford or the horse. If you want to
cut one out, use the hyphen to tell the engine to ignore content with one of
the other. See the example below.
- Mustang
-cars
This tells the search
engine to search for mustangs but to remove any results that have the word
“car” in it. It can be wildly helpful when finding information about something
without getting information about something else.
4. Use a colon to search
specific sites
There may be an
instance where you need to Google search for articles or content on a certain
website. The syntax is very simple and we’ll show you below.
- Sidney
Crosby site:nhl.com
This will search for
all content about famous hockey player Sidney Crosby, but only on NHL.com. All
other search results will be removed. If you need to find specific content on a
particular site, this is the shortcut you can use.
5. Find a page that links to
another page
This Google search tip
is a little obscure. Instead of searching for a specific page, you’re searching
for a page that links to a specific page. Think about it this way. If you want
to see who cited a New York Times article on their site, you would use this
trick to find all the sites that link to it. The syntax is below.
link:nytimes.com
That will return all
pages that link to the New York Times official website. The URL on the right
side can be practically anything. Be aware, though, that the more specific it
is, the fewer results you’ll get. We know not a lot of people will likely use
this Google search trick, but it could be very useful for some.
6. Use the asterisk wildcard
The asterisk wildcard
is one of the most useful ones on the list. Here’s how it works. When you use
an asterisk in a search term on Google search, it will leave a placeholder that
may be automatically filled by the search engine later. This is a brilliant way
to find song lyrics if you don’t know all the words. Let’s look at the syntax.
- “Come
* right now * me”
To you or me, that may
look like nonsense. However, Google search will search for that phrase knowing
that the asterisks can be any word. More often than not, you’ll find they are
lyrics to The Beatles song “Come Together” and that’s what the search will tell
you.
7. Find sites that are
similar to other sites
This is a unique one
that could be used by practically everyone if they knew it existed. Let’s say
you have a favorite website. It can be anything. However, that website is
getting a little bit boring and you want to find other websites like it. You
would use this trick. Below is the syntax.
related:amazon.com
If you search that
above, you won’t find a link to Amazon. Instead, you’ll find links to online
stores like Amazon. Sites like Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, and others that
sell physical items online. It’s a powerful Google search tool that can help
you find new sites to browse.
8. Use Google search to do
math
As a college student,
I can attest that I use this one rather frequently. Google search can actually
do math for you. This is a rather complex one to describe because it can be
used in so many ways. You can ask it basic questions or some more difficult
ones. It is important to note that it won’t solve all math problems, but it
will solve a good number of them. Here are a couple of examples of the syntax.
- 8
* 5 + 5
- Planck’s
Constant
If you search the
first one, it’ll return 45. It will also show a calculator that you can use to
find answers to more questions. This is handy if you need to do some quick math
but don’t want to do it in your head. If you search the second term, it will
return the number value of Planck’s Constant. So it can do math, but it can
also help you solve math problems by showing values for known mathematical
terms.
9. Search for multiple words
at once
Google search is
flexible. It knows you may not find what you want by searching only a single
word or phrase. Thus, it lets you search for multiples. By using this trick,
you can search for one word or phrase along with a second word or phrase. This
can help narrow down your search to help you find exactly what you’re looking
for. Here is the syntax.
- “Best
ways to prepare for a job interview” OR “How to prepare for a job
interview”
By searching that, you
will search both phrases. Remember the quotes tip above? It’s being used here
as well. In this instance, these two exact phrases will be searched. It can be
done by word too, like the example below.
- chocolate
OR white chocolate
This will search for
pages that have either chocolate or white chocolate!
10. Search a range of numbers
Searching for a range
of numbers is another tip we don’t anticipate a lot of people using. The people
that do use it, though, will probably use it quite a bit. People interested in
money or statistics will find this tip particularly useful. Essentially, you
use two dots and a number to let Google search know you’re looking for a
specific range of numbers. Like the syntax below.
- What
teams have won the Stanley Cup ..2004
- 41..43
In the first instance,
the search will toss back the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2004. The two
dots with only one number will tell the search that you don’t need anything
before or after 2004. This can help narrow down searches to a specific number to
improve search results. In the second, Google will search for the numbers 41,
42, and 43. It is obscure, but wildly useful if you happen to need to search
for numbers like this.
11. Keep it simple
Now we’re getting into
the general tips. Google search knows how to search for a lot of things. What
this means is you don’t need to be too specific. If you need a pizza place
nearby, use this to search.
- Pizza
places nearby
Google search will
grab your location and deliver a variety of results about pizza places that are
near you.
12. Gradually add search
terms
There will come a time
when Google search doesn’t shovel out the results you expect. In this instance,
keeping it simple may not be the best option. As Google
itself suggests, the best method is to start with something
simple then gradually get more complicated. See the example below.
- First
try: job interviews
- Second
try: prepare for job interviews
- Third
try: how to prepare for a job interview
This will gradually
refine the search to bring you fewer, more targeted terms. The reason you don’t
go straight from the first try to the third try is because you may miss what
you’re looking for by skipping the second step. Millions of websites phrase the
same information in a number of different ways; using this technique lets you
search as many of them as possible to find the best info.
13. Use words that websites
would use
This is a very
important one. When people use Google search to hunt the web, they generally
search for things using the same language that they would use for speaking.
Unfortunately, websites don’t say things the way people do; instead, they try
to use language that sounds professional. Let’s look at some examples.
- “I
have a flat tire” could be replaced by “repair a flat tire.”
- “My
head hurts” could be replaced by “headache relief.”
The list goes on and
on. When searching, try to use terminology you would find on a professional
website. This will help you get more reliable results.
14. Use important words only
The way Google search
works is to take what you search for and match it with keywords in online
content. When you search for too many words, it may limit your results. That
means it may actually take you longer to find what you’re looking for. Thus, it
is apropos to use only the important words when searching for something. Let’s
see an example.
- Don’t
use: Where can I find a Chinese restaurant that delivers.
- Instead
try: Chinese restaurants nearby.
- Or:
Chinese restaurants near me.
Doing this can help
Google find what you need without all the clutter. So remember, keep it simple
and use important words only.
15. Google search has
shortcuts
A number of commands
can be entered to give you instantaneous results. Like the math example above,
Google can immediately give you the information you need that is displayed
right at the top of the search results. This can save time and effort so you
don’t have to click a bunch of bothersome links. Here are a few examples of
some commands you can enter into Google.
- Weather
*zip code* – This will show you the weather in the given zip code. You can
also use town and city names instead of area codes, but it may not be as
accurate if there are multiple area codes in the city.
- What
is *celebrity name* Bacon Number – This is a fun little one that will tell
you how many connections any given celebrity has to famed actor Kevin
Bacon. The popular joke, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, is that no actor is
more than 6 connections away from Kevin Bacon. Mark Zuckerberg has a Bacon
Number of 3.
- The
math example posted above is another one.
- What
is the definition of *word* or Define:
*word* – This will display the definition of a word.
- Time
*place* – This will display the time in whatever place you type in.
- You
can check any stock by typing its ticker name into Google. If you search
for GOOG, it
will check the stock prices for Google.
These quick commands
can take a web search that is usually multiple clicks and condense it into a
single search. This is very helpful for information you need repeatedly.
16. Spelling doesn’t
necessarily matter
Google search has
gotten a lot smarter over the years. These days, you don’t even need to spell
words correctly. As long as it’s pretty close, Google can usually figure out
what it means. Here are some examples.
- If
you search “Nver Gna Gve Yo Up” Google will automatically assume you mean
to search for “Never Gonna Give You Up.” If by chance your misspelling was
intentional, Google gives you the option to search for the misspelled term
instead.
This trick is great if
you happen to forget how to spell something or are not altogether sure how
something is spelled. It can also be helpful when searching for obscure words.
This applies to capitalization and grammar as well.
17. Use descriptive words
Pretty much everything
can be described in multiple ways. Take our namesake, the “life hack.” The
terminology “hack” refers to a computer programmer breaking security on a network
or system. However, when used in conjunction with the word “life”, it alters
the meaning to tips and tricks people can use to improve their lives. If you
have trouble finding what you’re searching for, keep in mind that people may
search or define what you need in a different way than you do.
- You
may search “How to install drivers in Ubunut?”
- When
you really mean “Troubleshoot driver problems Ubuntu.”
There really isn’t a
good specific example for this one. If you search for something and you can’t find
an answer, try asking the same question using different words and see if that
helps the results.
18. Find a specific file
An often forgotten
feature of Google search is the ability to search for a specific file or file
type. This can be infinitely useful if you need a specific PDF or PowerPoint
file that you previously viewed or need to use for another project. The syntax
is quite simple.
- *Search
term here* filetype:pdf
In the above example,
you simply replace the search term with whatever you’re searching for. Then use
the filetype command and enter the extension of any file type you can think of.
This can mostly be useful for scholarly purposes, but business presentations
and other assorted presentations can benefit from this kind of search as well.
19. Money and unit
conversions
Google search can
quickly and accurately convert both measurement units and currency value. There
are a variety of uses for this, like checking to see the conversion rate
between two currencies. If you happen to be a math student, you can use it to
convert from feet to meters or from ounces to liters. Here’s how to do it.
- miles
to km – This will convert miles to kilometers. You can put numbers in
front to convert a certain number. Like “10 miles to km” will show you how
many kilometers are in 10 miles.
- USD
to British Pound Sterling – This will convert a US dollar to British
pounds. Like the measurements above, you can add numbers to find exact
conversions for a certain amount of money.
It’s true that this
tip is geared toward math students and international business people. However,
you’d be surprised how often these tips are used by regular people.
20. Track your packages
Our last trick is to
use Google search to find out where your packages are. You can enter any UPS,
USPS, or Fedex tracking number directly into the Google search bar, and it’ll
show you the tracking information about your package. This is much easier than
going to the specific sites, waiting for them to load, then searching for your
packages there. No examples are really needed for this one. Just type your
tracking number in and see where your package is.
Google Search wrap-up
Google search is a
very powerful search tool. Using the tips outlined above, you can find anything
and everything you could ever need on the World Wide Web. Whether it’s avoiding
Wikipedia for a school essay project, finding the latest stock prices, or even
finding song lyrics, there is a way to make Google search work for you.
Joseph Hindy
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/20-tips-use-google-search-efficiently.html?ref=mail&mtype=daily_newsletter_v2&mid=20171218&uid=687414&hash=707e797f7e757e6d794c856d747b7b3a6f7b79&utm_source=daily_newsletter_v2&utm_medium=email&action=click&user_type=member&sub_time=796
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