Showing posts with label Tricks For Better Search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tricks For Better Search. Show all posts

Friday, March 13, 2009

Google Search Tips And Tricks

Search is an art, to searching anything using search engine.
Google Search engine is one of the search engine that is most popular as called " Khoji no. 1".
The Google search engine has more functions and uses than just everyday searches.

I will catagories the search into two catagories:

1. Google Search Basics
2. Google search using Advanced Operators

1. Google Search Basics
  • Search is simple, just typed whatever in your mind in the search box and press Enter or click on the Google Search button, and Google will search the web for pages that are relevant to your query.
  • Most of the searching time you'll find exactly what you were looking for with just a basic query. However the following tips can help you refine your technique to make the most of your searches.
Some Basic Facts:
  • Every word matters. Generally, all the words you put in the query will be used. There are some exceptions.
  • Search is always case insensitive. Searching for [ new delhi ] is the same as searching for [ New Delhi ].
  • With some exceptions, punctuation is ignored (that is, you can't search for @#$%^&*()=+[]\ and other special
  • characters).

Tricks For Better Search:
  • Keep it Simple: If you're looking for a particular company or place, just enter its name, or as much of its name as you can recall. If you're looking for a particular concept, place, or product, start with its name. for example if your looking south indian restaurant than just type [south indian restaurant] than location. you can get the exact result as well as relevent.
  • Explain what you need with as few terms as possible: The goal of each word in a query is to focus it further. Since all words are used, each additional word limits the results. If you limit too much, you will miss a lot of useful information. The main advantage to starting with fewer keywords is that, if you don't get what you need, the results will likely give you a good indication of what additional words are needed to refine your results on the next search. For example, [ weather mumbai ] is a simple way to find the weather and it is likely to give better results than the longer [ weather report for mumbai]
  • Choose descriptive words: The more unique the word is the more likely you are to get relevant results. Words that are not very descriptive, like 'document,' 'website,' 'company,' or 'info,' are usually not needed. Keep in mind, however, that even if the word has the correct meaning but it is not the one most people use, it may not match the pages you need. For example, [ celebrity ringtones ] is more descriptive and specific than [ celebrity sounds ]
  • Phrase search ("") : By putting double quotes around a set of words, you are telling Google to consider the exact words in that exact order without any change.
  • Search within a specific website (site:) : Google allows you to specify that your search results must come from a given website. For example, the query [ india site:abc.com ] will return pages about india but only from abc.com. The simpler queries [ india abc.com ] or [ india abc Times ] will usually be just as good,
  • Words you want to exclude (-) : Attaching a minus sign immediately before a word indicates that you do not want pages that contain this word to appear in your results. The minus sign should appear immediately before the word and should be preceded with a space. For example, in the query [ anti-virus software ], the minus sign is used as a hypen and will not be interpreted as an exclusion symbol; whereas the query [ anti-virus -software ] will search for the words 'anti-virus' but exclude references to software. You can exclude as many words as you want by using the - sign in front of all of them.
  • Fill in the blanks (*) : The *, or wildcard, is a little-known feature that can be very powerful. If you include * within a query, it tells Google to try to treat the star as a placeholder for any unknown term(s) and then find the best matches. For example, the search [ Google * ] will give you results about many of Google's products (go to next page and next page -- we have many products).
  • Search exactly as is (+): By attaching a + immediately before a word (remember, don't add a space after the +), you are telling Google to match that word precisely as you typed it. Putting double quotes around the word will do the same thing.
  • The OR operator : Google's default behavior is to consider all the words in a search. If you want to specifically allow either one of several words, you can use the OR operator. For example, [ San Francisco Giants 2004 OR 2005 ] will give you results about either one of these years, whereas [ San Francisco Giants 2004 2005 ] (without the OR) will show pages that include both years on the same page. The symbol | can be substituted for OR. (The AND operator, by the way, is the default, so it is not needed.)

How To Read Search Results
Google's goal is to provide you with results that are clear and easy to read. The diagram below points out four features that are important to understanding the search results page:


1. The title: The first line of any search result is the title of the webpage.
2. The snippet: A description of or an excerpt from the webpage.
3. The URL: The webpage's address.
4. Cached link: A link to an earlier version of this page. Click here if the page you wanted isn't available.

All these features are important in determining whether the page is what you need. The title is what the author of the page designated as the best short description of the page.

[For "Google search using Advanced Operators" will come next blog]

[Source: Google Help]