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SALT LAKE CITY — Google search has become one of the most popular go-to sources of information. It receives more than four billion searches per day. “To Google” is now a verb in many English language dictionaries.
Learning to master Google can save you a lot of time. There are many hidden options to allow greater control of your search. Mastering these tips and tricks will help put the results you're looking for at the top of the list, and make you a full-fledged Google Ninja.
This list is by no means comprehensive — it is simply a collection of some of the most-used tricks.
Note: While other search sites like Bing and Yahoo have been growing in popularity over the past year, Google still remains the most used, with more than 70 percent of Internet searches performed on Google. Therefore, this guide is written for Google searches, although most of these tips work on other sites.
1. Use double quotations
One of the most useful tricks for advanced Google searching is the double quote. By default, Google will use every word you give it individually and all of their synonyms as search terms. Using double quotations will limit Google to searching for Web pages with all terms in the quotations, without synonyms.
Example: Web design scholarships will return results for many types of design scholarships. Searching for "Web design scholarships" will only return results with all of the search terms together, or scholarships regarding Web design.
If you are searching for IBM advertising budget, Google will also return results on the words marketing and ad. To limit Google results with the word advertising, put it in double quotes, like this: IBM "advertising" budget.
2. The word “OR”
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The capital word OR is used by Google to find results using only one word or another, but not both.
Example: Utah population 2010 OR 2012 will find results for Utah population 2010 and Utah population 2012. It will not show Web pages that have both 2010 and 2012 in them.
3. Search one site only
Have you ever tried to find that one article you read a long time ago on a certain site, but just can't seem to find it? You can perform a Google search that returns results from just one website with the term site followed by a colon. This can be added before or after your search terms.
Example: surgeon's knot site:fieggen.com will return results about the surgeon's shoelace knot from Ian's Shoelace Site at fieggen.com.
4. Exclude results
Results containing specific words can be excluded from your search results. The syntax for this is the minus sign, directly followed by the word you want to exclude — be sure to leave a space in front of the minus sign.
Example: If you would like to find something to do in Salt Lake City but are tired of seeing results about the museums, search for what to do in salt lake city -museum.
5. Check the current time anywhere
The "time:" operator can be used to find the current local time of any city in the world. An operator is a piece of code Google uses to customize your search results. By typing this operator in the search box, followed by the name of a city, Google will find the current local time of that city. This can be useful, as daylight savings adjustments are handled differently country by country, and it can be hard to find out the time of international cities.
Example: time:shanghai will tell you in a box at the top of the results what the current time is in Shanghai, China.
6. Check the current weather anywhere
Similar to the "time:" operator, "weather:" can be used to find the current weather conditions and an eight-day forecast of any city worldwide. While there are a plethora of sites that can give you the weather, Google is nice because it can be quicker to access, and has a clean layout.
Example: weather:montevideo will tell you the current weather conditions of Montevideo, Uruguay. It also returns search results that can be accessed for more weather information about that location.
7. Track a flight
Google can be a quick way of tracking any flight. By using the name of the airline, the word flight and the flight number, Google will show you the current status, departure and arrival gates, and any delays for the flight.
Example: Delta flight 1208 will bring up information about the flight from Portland, Ore., to Salt Lake City, Utah.
8. Find flightsBesides tracking flights, Google is great at finding flights. To find flights, search the names of two cities (or their airport codes) with the word to between them.
Example: Salt Lake City to Oakland allows you to select dates and find flights between the two cities. It also includes prices from a few travel-booking sites — slc to oak shows the same results.
9. Search for any number in a range
Separating two numbers with two periods in between will allow results containing any number between the two you specified. This is particularly useful when searching within a set of years or a price range.
Example: 2012 Kia Soul $11000..$14000 for sale will help you find a 2012 Kia Soul for sale within the price range specified.
10. Convert any units
Instead of opening the converter app on your phone, or finding a website to convert units for you, try typing it into Google. Google can interpret natural language requests for conversions, so no special syntax is needed. It works for currency, dimensional measurements, weight measurements and temperatures.
Example: convert 1.4 tons to pounds will tell you that 1.4 short tons (used in the U.S.) is 2,800 pounds.
11. Define words
A quick and easy way to find the definition of a word is using "define:" Google will define the word using its own dictionary and provide quick links to the corresponding entry in many popular online dictionaries. Google also shows a pronunciation guide and has an option to hear the word spoken.
Example: define:lexical shows that it is an adjective, meaning "of or relating to the words of a language."
12. Check a stock
By typing only a stock ticker abbreviation into Google you can see any stock's current value and trends. While there are many other places you can go on the Internet to find this out, Google's solution is quick and simple. It shows the current value, the daily difference, and has a graph to display its price over anywhere from 24 hours, five years, to all time.
Example: aapl will show you plenty of relevant information on what many believe to be the most followed stock.
Bonus — capitalization doesn't matter
If you forget to capitalize a proper noun in your search it doesn't make a difference. Google will search for all words in the search box regardless of capitalization. The only exception is the search operator OR, explained in tip two above.
Try some of these tricks out yourself. You will find that your search results will be more relevant.
Do you have a favorite search trick? Let us know in the comments.
Taylor Wilson is an IT professional at a small Utah company. He has a passion for helping people with technology. Email: taylorwilson@testonetwo.com Online: www.testonetwo.com or twitter.com/twil6
