Making The Most Of Google™
Contributed by Jay Schroyer
Most Google users simply jump to the web site, type in the terms they’re searching for, and sift through the hundreds of results that pop up in seconds. Imagine how much more time you could save if you didn’t have to spend so much time scrolling through the results, many of which have nothing to do with what you’re actually searching for. Because Google is so instantly easy to use, not many people are aware of the extremely helpful features that can be used to narrow your search and make it more specific. Take five minutes to read the following commands and then keep them handy by your computer. I guarantee you will save yourself hours of time that would normally be spent sifting through less than desirable search results.
Avoid Vagueness
The best way to improve your Google search is to be as specific as possible. You need to know what you’re looking for if you want to get quality results from your search. You can’t be vague and then expect pinpoint accuracy with Google’s returns. Think of keywords that are both specific and most likely to appear in the site types that you are looking for. For example, if you’re searching for “violins,” you shouldn’t type in “stringed instruments” and expect all of your search results to be about violins. This sounds like such a simple thing, but amazingly enough, many people overlook this piece of common sense. Although you want to be specific, don’t worry about articles in your search terms like “a,” “an,” and “the.” Google is intuitive and doesn’t need to be told where these words belong in a search string. If you feel really confident about your search and need fast results, you can hit the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button which will immediately take you to the first web site that comes up as a result of your search.
Quote Me
Let’s use our “violin” example again. If you simply type in “violin” and hit enter, you will receive loads of hits. Some have the word highlighted within the context of a news article or a biography about someone. More than likely, you will get sites that sell musical instruments, as these companies have paid for the privilege to be the top results for the search term “violin.” Sometimes, you will be amazed at the quantity and types of hits that you will receive for your search term, both desirable and undesirable, but this is by no means a flaw in Google’s famed algorithm. Next time you search for violins, type the word in quotes. The quotes act as a concrete “if-then” command for Google’s search. If you’re looking for violin lessons, try “violin lessons,” and only sites that have that exact phrase will appear in the results. This is a very simple example, but you can imagine how effective this could be on search terms that may have double meanings or are used in different contexts resulting in alternate meanings.
Add and Subtract
Now that you understand the use of quotes, you can try using the addition and subtraction symbols in your search terms to provide accurate Google searches. The addition sign allows you to add the word that immediately follows to your search terms. So, in our example, “violin lessons”+cheap should result in very concise and specific results that feature inexpensive violin lessons. If you were looking for lessons that you could actually attend and receive personal instruction one-on-one, you could use the subtraction sign to search for something like this: “violin lessons”-home instruction. This will prevent sites that might feature online web training for the violin or feature CD-ROMs that you watch for instruction. The combinations and results are limitless and only delimited by your choice to try them.
What’s Left
In addition to quotes and addition and subtraction symbols, you can use the following terms to increase the odds of a highly-successful search. By adding the specific address of a web site after your search term, you can search within a specific site that doesn’t already have that feature available. For example, you’ve found a great web site about violins, but would like to see if they have any postings concerning the best brands to purchase. You could type: “best violin brands” site:www.violinheaven.com. This will force Google to search for the best brands of violins, but only within the specified web site. If you found out through the grapevine that the Violin Heaven web site was suspect and wanted to conduct a worldwide web search of best violin brands, you could then type: “best violin brands” site: www.violinheaven.com. The results would feature all web sites that contain the phrase “best violin brands,” but would not show www.violinheaven.com in the results.
If you’re still not finding what you’re looking for, you can try the “Advanced Search” and “Preference” links to the right of the box on Google’s web site. There are features contained within the “Advanced Search” that allows you to limit searches to specific time periods or sites that have been more recently updated. The “Preferences” option will allow you to choose language preferences for results as well as filter results for the safety of your computer.
Making the most of Google is not only a time-saver, but will eliminate the frustration that sometimes accompanies obscure Internet searches. Whether your search provides you with pricing on a new car or articles on how to improve your golf game, knowing how to use Google to its fullest extent allows the Internet to help you on your endless search for information.
Google is a trademark of Google Inc.
About the Author:
Jay Schroyer has worked in the client and customer service end of business for over five years in retail, advertising, and printing. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree in English writing and communication.
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