Google Search is the most visited website on the Internet. It’s so popular the company’s name has turned into a verb. Most users just type their query in the Google text box and try to navigate the first page. Typically, there is something of use on that first page, but sometimes there isn’t. Today, we’d thought we’d give everyone a few tips on how to get the results you are looking for with your Google search queries.
Use Quotes
The first tip is the simplest. If you are searching for a phrase, you can get a wide variety of answers that may not be of much help, but if you search for a phrase that you put in quotes, you will return only pages with that exact phrase in that order. It is extraordinarily useful when looking up specific quotes or passages.
Example: “have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”
Use Asterisks
When searching using an asterisk, replace a word that you may not know. This also works inside quotes. Say you heard a song that you like, but don’t know the name of it or the artist who plays it. If you search a bit of lyrics in quotes and put an asterisk in there where the word you couldn’t make out would go, you will surely get the answers you are looking for.
Example “I am the eggman. *”
Use Minus Signs
A lot of words in the English language are used for many different things. When you are searching for a term that returns ambiguous results, try eliminating content by shifting context. If you search for a term and then enter a minus sign followed by topics you may want to eliminate. This will work to narrow down your results.
Example: shark -fish
Search Websites with Keywords
You can use the power of Google search to search any individual site for specific content. This can come in handy when you want to find information about a specific topic from a specific resource.
Example: Halloween site:nytimes.com
Flip a Virtual Coin
By entering “flip a coin” or pressing on the microphone logo in the search bar and saying it into your microphone, Google will bring up a random coin flip generator. It allows you to solve the ultimate debates when you don’t have access to any physical change.
Google Search is one of the great resources of our time. If you want to learn more tips and tricks about how to get the most out of today’s most important technology, subscribe to our blog.