5 Tips On How To Improve Your ‘Google Search’ Skills
Most times, we use Google without a second thought. However, finding something can be a headache when you’re a writer working on a specific topic because there are simply too many options. There are billions of web pages, and scouring thousands of results for a single search can waste your time. Sometimes, the results don’t give you any useful information on your area of interest.
However, you can avoid a bad experience by knowing how to control what you get from Google search. The search engine gives you the power to set parameters for your results based on your search entry. It’s important to know how to avoid overloading your search results with unnecessary data.
Read on to learn a few search tips and shortcuts you can apply to get credible and accurate searches, reduce your search time, and sharpen your research skills.
Top 5 Google Search tricks and tips
1. Use quotes to search for exact wording
The set of words you type in the search bar determines the results you get. Most times, you get a mixed search containing similar words and other variations of the separated words.
However, you can restrict the search to your exact wording by using quotation marks. Quotes command Google to show results where the phrase appears exactly. This tip helps when you’re hunting sources for your research and want to exclude unnecessary data.
Say you want to find out what other researchers have said about a certain literary quote, quotation marks will help you to look for an exact match. For example, “It doesn’t matter what someone is born, but what they grow to be” will return much better results and correct attributions.
If you don’t remember a particular word within the phrase, replace the unknown with an asterisk. For example, searching “* is the father of invention” will show the results of all possible variations of words that replace the asterisk.
2. Narrow your academic search with Google Scholar
A literature search is a vital part of the research process. Improvements in technology have reduced the number of users of physical libraries. If you want information from books, peer-reviewed journals, research publications, and other scholarly materials, you get better searches on Google Scholar.
Google Scholar gives you the feel of a physical library. You can search published papers in your field using keywords, article titles, or authors. Also, click related articles to get additional scholarly materials related to a useful result. The recommendations help when you’re low on sources.
You can also get automated citations by clicking the cite option represented by double quotation marks at the bottom of each resource.
3. “OR” gives you options
Google uses “OR” (in capital letters) as the operative term for searching one term or another term. It will return searches that contain either word but don’t have to include both. This strategy works well when you have similar subjects or words that you want to learn. It’s also appropriate when you’re searching for something that can vary in meaning depending on the sources.
For example, a search for “how to draw OR paint” shows more results than a search for “how to draw AND paint” because OR gives freedom to show content where either word is used, while AND restricts the search to include both words.
Another example is “global warming” OR “climate change”. Different sources will use the terms interchangeably. Using OR tells Google that you’d like information on both phrases since it doesn’t matter the word used.
4. Use the hyphen (minus symbol) to exclude options in your results
Putting a hyphen before a word tells Google that you don’t want pages containing the word to appear in your results. Put a space before the hyphen.
This tip applies when searching for words with double meanings. For example, if you’re searching for antiviral medications, searching for “anti-virus” mostly shows results for the software, whereas the query [anti-virus –software] excludes results related to software.
If you’re researching reviews of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, but you don’t want sources that mention other adaptations of the text, you can search for [To Kill a Mockingbird -film –movie]
Similarly, say you want to search for the company Apple, but you don’t want to see results related to the fruit, you can do this by a search like this [apple -food –fruit].
5. Use site and country code to limit searches
Using the keyword “site:” (with the colon) and then typing the website limits search results to the specified site. This comes in handy when looking for information on a site that doesn’t have its own search function or when the website’s search function does not give very useful results.
For example, a search for [site:forbes.com technology] will return searches for the word technology from the Forbes.com website.
Another way to limit results is to search from a type of source, such as using “org” for nonprofit organizations or “edu” for academic institutions. This can help you to get credible sources for your research. For example, you can search [site:edu healthcare cost]
Other times, you want to explore sources from a particular country. You can include both the site and country code in your search. For example, if you want to find out what Canada is doing to address the GBV issue, you can search [site:CA GBV] to get results only from Canadian sources.
Other useful Google Search tips
- Be specific with what you want.
- Use double asterisks to filter your search to a range of numbers.
- Get definitions of words from various sources by simply typing “define” before the word.
- Calculate with Google by simply typing your equations and conversions.
- Type “related” before a site to find results from similar sites.
- Add @ to the name of a social media platform after the search words to get results only from that platform.
- Type “intitle” to return results with the word in the title.
Final words
Understanding how to effectively use Google search is a powerful skill for any writer. The search tricks above can help you to return more specific results and make Google work for you. Make the strategies a part of your study and writing routine to improve your writing experience.
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