Image courtesy: graphjam.com
Setting Google Search Engine as a homepage is a common practice for internet users. Quick results and efficient performances has made Google an integral part of our daily lives. No matter what the keywords are, Google will produce over millions of search results within the time span of a single second. However, only a limited number of pages provide the relevant information. The orthodox way is to keep changing the keywords until the desired results are obtained but there are other ways as well to get more useful and quicker results.
Integrating the following operators into your search would make Google much more effective for you.
Keywords based Searches
Image Courtesy: steps-to-make-your-own-website.com
The following operators will enhance your keywords search skills.
-
“ ” –> “Mobile Applications”
Using inverted commas around keywords would help in searching for the whole phrase and not the words individually.
-
~ –> ~Android
The tilde or squiggly when used before a keyword would add all the related words in the search results.
-
– –> -iOS
a minus sign with the word would exclude that word from the search.
-
.. –> 2008..2010
Using this, you can designate a range of time for the search results.
-
Intitle: –> intitle:maps
Using this term before a keyword would specify Google to search for that particular word in the titles.
-
* –> *Europe
Adding it before a keyword would produce search results for all the terms common to that keyword.
Domain based Searches
Adding the following terms to your searches would enable you to search through a specific field or domain of your interest.
-
Site: –> site:amazon.com
Adding a site name after this, would specify Google to search through the pages of that site only.
-
Filetype: –> filetype:pdf
This would stipulate the searches for a particular filetype only. For example: .doc files, .pdf files, .ppt files etc.
-
Author: –> author:Green
To search for the papers of a particular author only, add the name of the author after this term in your search.
Other helpful Google trick
image courtesy: digourideas.com
-
Define: –> define:metabolism
This can be used to search for a definition of a word more quickly.
-
Calculator: –> (5*5)+6/3-1
Google offers a very quick way to perform your calculations. Simply add an equation using the standard operators for calculations.
-
Unit conversion: –> 50 miles in kilometers
You can simply convert the units of a quantity using Google.
Adding these Google tricks to your daily internet use will improve your search skills thereby saving more time and making you more productive.