Google search is the most used search engine in the world accounting for about 67.4% of all searches. It’s hard to ignore such numbers (and flattery), so I guess it makes sense that we all have a few Google search tips and tricks up our sleeves. But you probably want to know why they should be any better than anything you already know, right? Here are five Google search tips and tricks you probably don’t know.
01 Use Quotes
Using quotes is a huge time saver. When you use quotes in a search, you’re telling Google that it should look for the exact phrase inside of the quotes. Using quotes will help you focus your results and not have Google show you things that have similar words to your target phrase. There are many ways to use quotes in your search. Here are some examples: If you want to search for a phrase with an apostrophe, put the apostrophe inside the quotes: “don’t panic.” If you want to see the word from one specific point of view, put it in quotes: “The End.” If you want to see all of the possible variations on a word, put them in quote marks: “backlinks.” If you want to search for something that is misspelled, put it in quotes: “missinng,” will return pages where the word is spelled incorrectly. If there is a specific brand that you want to search for, put it in quotes: “Nike.”
02 Use a hyphen to exclude words
Using a hyphen to exclude certain words is a great way to narrow your search. For instance, let’s say you’re looking for a specific product and want to make sure you don’t get results for similar but different products (like “blue dress” and “black dress”). Adding “-blue” or “-black” to your search will remove any results that contain those words.
If you’re not sure if you need to include or exclude words, try searching without the modification first. If that doesn’t give you the results you want, add it in.
03 Use a colon to search specific sites
A colon (:) can be placed before a search term to restrict results from a specific site.
If you want to search for information on dogs:
google [:dog]
This will return only pages from Google that contain the word dog. To search for photos only, try:
google [:image]
You can mix and match terms as well. If you want to search for information about cats on YouTube:
google [:video :cat]
To search for fan fiction using Wikipedia:
Wikipedia [:fans :fiction]
04 Find sites that are similar to other sites
One of my favorite hidden Google searches is the related: command. This will show you websites that are similar to whatever site or topic you’re searching for. For example, if I want to see what other sites like Lifehacker, I’d go to Google and type in “related:youtube.com” (without quotes).
This will give me a list of similar sites with an option to look at even more related results right below it.
05 Use Google search to do math
If you’ve ever wanted to do a quick calculation without pulling out your calculator or looking it up, Google search can be a great tool. Just type in the math problem like you would any other search term and hit “enter.” Google’s calculator will provide the answer.
The trick works for just about anything: simple addition (4+4), multiplication (2*2), more advanced equations and more. The calculator even supports advanced functions like square roots, exponents and factorials.
If you want to see the answer expressed as a fraction, all you have to do is add a “/” after your equation. So if you’re trying to figure out how many inches there are in one foot, type in 12/12 and Google will tell you there are 12 inches per foot.
Google’s calculator also includes conversions between units of measurement, so if you’re trying to convert between feet, inches, yards and meters, just separate the numbers by a forward slash.
I hope the above has been helpful to learn some google search tips and tricks. Keep in mind that although there are a lot of advanced search options, it's important not to get too bogged down into using them. When entering a query into Google, try to strike a balance between getting correct results through the use of specific operators with keeping things simple. After you enter your query, make sure also take advantage of the "Refine this search" section on the right hand side and check if you're missing anything. For more valuable tips and tricks subscribe pktechguru.com