How to Use Google Search: 30 Tricks

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Here's how to find the information you need quickly and easily.

1. Finding the exact phrase

Sometimes it is necessary to find a phrase exactly in the form in which we enter it. Let's say when we are looking for the lyrics of a song, but we only know one sentence. In this case, you need to enclose it in quotation marks. For example like this:

"Feel as though nobody cares"

2. Search for a specific site

Google is a great search engine. As a rule, it contains much more settings than the built-in search on sites. That is why it is more rational to use Google to find information on some resource. To do this, you need to enter site:, specify the domain name of the site and write the required request. For example, this is what a Wikipedia search would look like:

site: wikipedia.org masonic lodge

3. Search for words in the text

If you want all the words of the query to appear in the text of the results found, enter before it

allintext:

… Like this, for example:

allintext: how to quickly sober up

If one word of the request should be in the text, and the rest - anywhere else on the page, including the title or URL, put before the word

intext:

and write the rest before that. For example:

intext: coronavirus in animals

4. Search for words in the title

If you want all the words of the request to be in the title, use the phrase

allintitle:

… Let's say like this:

allintitle: workout of the day

If only part of the request should be in the header, and the rest should be elsewhere in the document or page, just put

intitle:

5. Search for words in the URL

To find the pages that have your request in the URL, enter

allinurl:

and the desired text.

6. Search for news for a specific location

If you need news on a specific topic from a specific location, use the operator

location:

in the request. For example, like this:

sales location: moscow

7. Search with multiple missing words

You need to find a sentence in a document or article, but you only remember the words at the beginning and end. Enter your request and specify using the operator

AROUND (number)

how many words were between the words that you remember. It looks like this:

Near the curvaceous AROUND (5) oak tom

8. Search with an unknown word or number

Forgot some word from a proverb, song, quote? No problem. Google will still help you find it - just put the symbol

*

(an asterisk) in place of the forgotten word.

9. Search for sites that link to the resource you are interested in

This item is useful for blog or website owners. If you are wondering who is linking to your resource or even to a specific page, then just enter the address in the search bar and put the operator in front of it

link:

… For example, like this:

link: lifehacker.ru

10. Exclude results with unnecessary word

Let's imagine a situation. You have decided to go on vacation to the islands. And you don't want to go to the Maldives at all. To prevent Google from showing them in search results, you just need to enter

Holidays on the islands - Maldives

… That is, put the symbol in front of the name

-

(hyphen).

11. Search for similar sites

You want to find all your competitors. Or you really like the site, but there is not enough material on it, and you want more and more. We introduce the operator

related:

and admire the result. It looks like this:

related: wikipedia.org

12. Search for "either-or"

If you want to save time, you can get results from two requests at once. The results will contain information related to one or both of the specified words. This is done using the operator

OR

which can be replaced by the symbol

|

… For example,

bezos OR mask

or

bezos | mask

13. Search for different words in one sentence

To find connections between objects or just to find the mention of two personalities together, you can use the symbol

&

… Example:

Freud & Jung

14. Search by synonyms

To cover more results, you can add the symbol to your query.

~

and get results not only for a given word, but also for its synonyms. For example, if you write

~ cheap smartwatches

then the search engine will also display information that contains the words "cheap", "inexpensive", "affordable" and so on.

15. Search in a given range of numbers

A very useful search engine secret. It is useful if you need to find, for example, events that occurred in certain years, or prices in a certain range. Just put two dots between the numbers. Google will search exactly in this range.

16. Search for files of a specific format

If you need to find a document or just a file of a certain format, then Google can help here. It is enough to add at the end of your request

filetype: doc

… Instead of

doc

you can substitute the desired format.

17. Search for cached pages

This is a useful function that helps a lot in situations when you need to read a deleted news item or open a page of a temporarily inoperative site. To use it, you need to add the operator

cache:

before the resource name or page address in the search bar.

18. Search by picture

Google can search not only pictures, but also by pictures. That is, use not text, but an image as a request. This is useful in cases when you need to find a product from a photo or a higher-quality version of a picture in high resolution. Switch to the "Pictures" tab, click on the camera icon in the search bar and drag the image file into the special area. You can also just insert a direct link to the picture.

19. Search on social networks

To narrow your search when you need to find information from social media, use the operator

@

and the name of the social network. For example, to search on Twitter, put after the request

@twitter

20. Search by hashtags

If you need to find any posts in social networks, united by one hashtag, then this trick will come in handy. Just precede the request with the symbol

#

… It looks like this -

# ps5

,

#New Year

Bonus: 10 more useful Google features

1. Google can do a pretty good job of calculating it. To do this, simply enter the desired operation in the search bar. Supports arithmetic operations, functions, areas of figures, as well as calculation formulas, theorems and graphing.

2. Google may replace the explanatory dictionary. If you want to find out the meaning of a word, and not just look at pages on the topic, add to the word

define

or

meaning

3. You can use the search engine as a converter of values and currencies. To call the converter, type a request with translation, for example

60 miles to km

4. With Google, you can check the weather and time without having to go to websites. Type requests

weather city

,

time city

… If you do not specify the city, the search engine will show the local weather and time.

5. To view the results and schedule of matches of a sports team, simply type its name in the search engine.

6. To translate a word into any language, write in the search bar

translation word

and select the language you want.

7. On request

sunrise city

Google shows the time of sunrise and sunset (for the latter - the corresponding request).

8. Google contains a wide variety of reference information - from physical quantities to astronomical data. You can directly ask the search engine

density

lead

temperature

Sun,

distance

to the moon and much more.

9. If you enter a flight number in the search box, Google gives you full information about it.

10. To see a table with quotes for a specific company, just enter your query

company shares

for example

apple stock

Text updated on February 2, 2021.