At the moment, Google is the search engine powerhouse, and by following a few simple tips you can become a Google poweruser.
Grouping phrases
You can tell google that you are searching for a specific phrase as opposed to a set of keywords by enclosing the phrase in quotes. Example: searching for “chicken caesar” will return results where the words chicken and caesar appear next to each other and in that order.
Either Or
By default, Google searches for web pages containing matches to all of the keywords in a query with multiple keywords. If you’d like to see pages that contain only partial matches to your set of keywords, search for keyword1 OR keyword2 OR keyword3.
Synonyms
Say you want to search for pages matching not only a particular keyword, but pages matching synonyms of that keyword. Google has a method of accomplishing this as well; preceed the keyword with a tilde, like so: ~keyword.
Ranges
Number ranges are also useful and very easy to take advantage of: the query batting average 500..1000 will try to search for batting averages within the 500 – 1000 range. Ranges also work on specific types of numerical data like years and currency, so try something like 2000…2003 or $5..$500.
Exclusion and inclusion of words
Google automatically excludes common “noise” words like “and”, “i”, “the” from your search queries in order to improve the results. If you run into a special case where you need to include a common word, or you have a word that you want to require for all search results, preceed it with a +. For example, the top search results for Jack Johnson pertain to Jack Johnson the musician. If you’re looking for information about Jack Johnson the boxer, search for Jack Johnson +boxer.
Another way to search for Jack Johnson the boxer would be to exclude pages relating to the musician instead of including pages related to boxing. Searching for Jack Johnson -musician would get you the similar results to the previous “+boxer” query, but you’ve accomplished the same result with a different method.
Informational operators
By preceeding keywords with “operators”, you can give special meaning those keywords and return a very specific set of results.
- cache: A search for cache:http://www.example.com will show you what http://www.example.com looked like the last time that Google saved a copy of the page.
- link: A search for link:http://www.example.com scours the Google database for other website that have links to http://www.example.com/.
- related: Querying for related:http://www.example.com will bring back search results that are similar in content or subject matter to http://www.example.com.
- info: A search for info:http://www.example.com shows you what information Google has stored in reference to http://www.example.com.
- define: Google maintains a dictionary built from the information contained from many other online dictionaries; a search for define:example will give you Google’s definition of the word “example”.
- stock: Shows you the stock information pertaining to a certain symbol. For example, a search for stock:GOOG will show you what stock market information Google has stored for the symbol “GOOG”.
Modification operators
These modifiers will instruct Google to limit the results of your search query to only those matching a specific constraint.
- site: This operator allows you to restrict your search results to only one particular website. Querying for ipod site:ofzenandcomputing.com will search for web pages from www.ofzenandcomputing.com pertaining to iPods.
- allintitle: Querying for allintitle:windows print driver searches for web pages that have the words windows print driver in their titles.
- intitle: intitle:windows print driver will look for pages that match the query print driver, but only if those pages also have the word windows in the their titles. Notice the very slight but significant difference between intitle: and allintitle:.
- allinurl: Look for sites whose url contains a set of keywords, e.g. allinurl:digital camera will search for all web pages whose addresses contain the words digital and camera.
- inurl: Restrict a keyword search to only those sites whose URL contains a specific word. For example, inurl:digital camera will search for matches to the word camera from web pages whose addresses contain the word digital. Link intitle: vs. allintitle:, notice the slight difference between inurl: and allinurl:.
And there you have it – by remembering these search query tips, you’ll go from Google Grasshopper to Zen Master in no time.
Sources
- Google. “Google Help: Basics of Search“. March 24, 2006. Google Help Center.
<http://www.google.com/help/basics.html> - Google. “Google Help: Advanced Search Made Easy“. March 24, 2006. Google Help Center.
<http://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html>
