8 January, 2004

Google Search tips

As The Guardian notes, few people exploit the full power of Google searching, so a few tips are worth repeating.  See the original article for elaboration.

• Imagine what you want - "it may sound obvious, but you have to search Google for the words that will be on the page you want, not for a description of the page or website."
• Use quotation marks.
• Use the + sign.
• Use the - sign. A particularly valuable usage is '-merchant' to eliminate vendors from a search for information alone.
• Try a wild card.
• Use the 'site:' command.
• Use the operators - 'filetype:', 'author:' 'location:', etc. These were new to me!
• The 'Advanced Search' page offers much of the functionality noted above, saving the need to memorise syntax or shortcuts.
• Other enhanced searches are being developed.
• Try a different search engine, too.