Virtually everyone that has a smartphone or owns a computer has had to use Google Search. Sometimes, we get the right results from our search queries, other times we don’t. Google Search has its own algorithm and pattern for displaying search results, one we’ve found to be accurate in most cases.
However, if you want to use Search like a pro, utilizing a few helpful tricks that’ll improve the results you get, read down for some of those tips.
Use quotation marks
Using quotation marks will help you search for an exact set of words such as song lyrics, quotations, a line from a book, etc. Putting the phrase you want to search for in quotes restricts your search to a lesser number of pages that contain that exact term, making your searches instantly more efficient. The words will also appear in the exact order you typed them.
Use asterisk for words you don’t know
If you forget things and words easily, * will help Google get them for you. Use an asterisk in place of an unknown word in a search query to get back the word that you can’t remember. You can use it to search for popular quotes or sayings that you don’t remember in full. Example ‘flying * wings’.
Search for a title
If you want a particular string of words to be included in the title of the webpage you are searching for, use ‘allintitle: ’, or ‘Intitle: ’. Example ‘allintitle: Ankara beads’ will return results with ‘Ankara beads’ in the title of the returned web pages.
Use file extensions to get specific documents
Adding the specific extension of the file you want to search for or download will bring up results with links to sources with that file type. This is helpful in finding Word documents, Excel sheets, pdfs, media files and so on. Common file extensions you can add include; mp3 for songs, mkv or mp4 for videos, doc, pdf, ppt (power point), and .exe for executable files and programs.
You can type ‘filetype:ppt “social media marketing”’ to find a PowerPoint slide on social media marketing.
Search within a site
You can search for something within a specific website by using the keyword ‘site:’.
Example: ‘How I Work site:lifehacker.com’
This works on any site and is a great way to use the power of Google to find what you’re looking for.
Find related websites
If you’re looking for websites that are related to a specific site, you can use ‘related:’
Example:related:connectnigeria.com