Feb 3, 2011

Better searching with Google

According to the statistics at Wikipedia: 80% of web searches are made via Google.
Anyone can type a few words in a text box and click "Google Search".
But there are some ways to optimize search!



How can you "improve your search" 

If your "search term" is an objective term, you should try to keep your item as objectively as possible. ;-)
The search result for the search: "hay fever" will be much more objective than the search for "I think I am allergic to birch."
If you want factual information. But sometimes you wish to be "inspired".
The search: "Introduction contrast 'is not nearly so funny deliver results as the search for " jokes ".

With this method you are able to influence the "direction " of search results.

Another very effective method that are "qoutes".
With them, you can change the weight of search terms.
Just try:
How can I improve my search?
and:
How can I "improve" my "search"?

You will notice that the "quoted strategie" provides better search results.
With quotes you tell the search engine that "the term" must appear within the results.



Search on "Site"

Google offers a variety of operators, which help you influence your search.
Where do you put that operator in the query doesn't matter.


site:

"Where on that page can i find foobar?"
The "site:" operator can solve this problem easily.
The search for "Do not be evil site:http://www.google.com" delivers relevant search results.


cache:

With the cache: operator you can look at the last saved version of a page.
cache:google.de


(plus) + :

Yes, there is a + operator.
Sometimes you'd like to ensure a particular conjunction involved within a search.
If you want to search a conjuction you can put a + in front of a word.

For example:
You +and me


related:

The "related:" operator can look for something similar websites.
Just try it:
related:google.de


link:

The "link:" operator can show you sites re- linking on your "search site".
A very interesting operator wich helps you to find out who have a link to your site ;-)
link:selfhtml.de



Features

In addition to the Operators, Google also offers various functions to facilitate the search.
Most functions has to be the first search term in the google textbox
Function_Name Search
But there are exceptions.
everybody knows the spelling correction. ;-)


Weather

The
Weather searchterm
Function shows the weather for a specific region, with a 3-day preview
The search term can be both: a postcode or the name of a region.


Calculator

You can solve some calculation with google's search engine
For example:
21 +2
or
23 + (44 * 67-9 * (21 +2)) - (2 * 1382)


Cinema

With
Cinema Search
you can see the region's cinema program.
The search term could be both: region, or zip code.
For example:
cinema Paris


Converting units

With Google search, most compatible units can be converted.

Grammar:
Unit number in unit

For example:
1 dollar in euro
or
1 barrel to liter


Google Alert

With  Google Alert you coudl be notified if new search results appear via email or RSS feed.
You just type the keyword and your email address and when a new item appears, you will get an email a preview and a link to the page where your keyword appears. If you want to be up to date you could use this service.
Google Alerts can be found here: http://www.google.com/alerts


Google Desktop

Google Desktop is an extension of Google search, where you can index and search your PC and search on it as a normal search on Google.
Google Desktop connects to the indexed data of your Google Account. You can browse search items on  your home computer from work! Chat logs and HTTPS connections are disabled by default.
There are several plug-ins for Google Desktop, which allows to index a lot of different filetypes. You can use widgets with Google Desktop, as they are known for Windows Vista.
Google Desktop is available for Windows, Linux and Mac on following page: http://desktop.google.com

The methods show hopefully illustrate how the search with Google can be made much more effective.

Google search operators
Google search functions

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