Some useful Google search tricks

Now these days, it's hard to find a person who still doesn't know about Google or even didn't heard the word. We all are familiar with Google.

Google Search, also referred to as Google Web Search or simply Google is a web search engine developed by Google LLC. It's the most used search engine on the World Wide Web across all platforms, with 92.3% market share as of September 2018, handling more than three billion searches each day. The order of search results returned by Google is based, in part, on a priority rank system called "PageRank". Google Search also provides many different options for customized search, using symbols to include, exclude, specify or require certain search behavior, and offers specialized interactive experiences, such as flight status and package tracking, weather forecasts, currency, unit and time conversions, word definitions, and more. It was originally developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1997. In June 2011 Google introduced "Google Voice Search" to search for spoken, rather than typed, words.

You may think that why we are discussing Google or Google Search. Actually, we are trying to explore some lesser-known tricks of Google search that could make your life easier when you will use google search in future.

Google Search is among the most widely used tools in the world. It’s used so often that the act of using Google Search has become its own verb. Here are some tricks to search smarter so you can find what you’re really looking for.

So, let's get started -

First of all, don't worry about spelling

It's a fact that not everyone can be master of various languages. Sometimes we spell a word wrong. Thankfully, Google Search can correct bad spelling for you and still help you find the terms you need. In the event that your misspelling was intentional, Google will give you the option to search for the misspelled phrase too.

Find your IP address

Your IP address is the address or logical location of your computer when it's connected to the Internet. Ask Google for your IP address to quickly get it in a time of need.

Use double quotation "Google"

In order to have an exact match search results use the double quotation with your search term, it will refine the results.

Use minus sign "-"

Using the minus sign “-” will enable you to exclude a term or a phrase.

Use double dots ".."

Double dots help you to search within a range of two numbers, with a number on either side of the dots stand for the lower and higher ranges. This operator is a neat way to search for a product within a given price range or to find a timeline for an event.

Use either AND or "+"

Using either AND or + forces Google to include a particular keyword in the search. Using either of these operators you can combine two keywords in one search. Google includes all pages where both keywords occur. The “AND” must be in caps and there is no space after the “+”.

Use the asterisk symbol (*)

Using the asterisk symbol (*) is handy when you are sure of one or more words but are missing a few more. The wildcard operator fills up space and enables you to search with the known words. The asterisk represents a missing word which Google tries to fill in. You can also use it within double quotes for more precise searches.

Use a “filetype:”

Google’s search results mainly concentrate on web pages, but it also indexes publicly available files. You can look for them using a “filetype:” command at the end of your normal query.

Remember, this will only work for publicly available documents and files uploaded to the web. You’re not going to suddenly come across some secret government files…

Cache tool

We all know Google Cache can be a great tool, but there’s no need to search for the page and then hunt for that “Cached” link: just type cache: before that site’s URL. If Google has the site in its cache, it’ll pull it right up for you. If you want to simplify the process, even more, this bookmarklet is handy to have around. It’s great for seeing an old version of a page, accessing a site when it’s down, or getting past.

To find similar sites

This is a unique one that could be used by practically everyone if they knew it existed. You want to find other websites similar to your favorite website. You would use this trick - E.g. related:semrush.com. If you search like that, you won’t find a link to the well-known SEMrush Seo tool. Instead, you’ll find links to online tools like SEMRush. Sites like Moz.com, Keyword Spy and Wordtracker.com. It’s a powerful Google search tool that can help you find new sites to browse. This trick is really useful if you want to find similar website content to another website you already know.

Use Allintext syntax

Sometimes, you might want to restrict your searches to only the text of websites and ignore all the links, titles, and URLs. Allintext: is Google search syntax for searching only in the body text of documents and ignoring links, URLs, and titles. It’s similar to the intext: search command, except that it applies to all words that follow, while intext: applies only to the single word directly following the command.

Use Intitle syntax

Instead of searching the text body, you wanted to search through website titles. Intitle: is Google syntax that restricts web search results to only list websites that contain a keyword in their title. The keyword should follow with no spaces.

Search an older article or NEWS

If you’re looking for an older article that was never posted online, Google has a whole separate site set up for just that. Go to news.google.com/newspapers to look through scanned copies of old newspapers and search for specific topics.

To see who’s sharing your article

If you run a website or published an article online and you’re curious to see who’s sharing it, there’s an easy way to find out. Just copy the URL in question and paste it into Google’s search bar with quotations marks on either side. The results will reveal any other sites that are sharing your content.

Use Google search as a calculator

The next time you need to do a quick calculation, instead of bringing up the Calculator applet, you can just type your expression into Google.

Set a timer

Google “set timer for x amount of time” and Google pulls up a timer. Push start, and it will beep when the time runs out.

Explore nearby

You can quickly search on google with "restaurants near me" which will bring you the nearby restaurants and the distance from you.

Find sunrise or sunset time

To quickly identify the sunrise or sunset time of whatever city you are in, simply search it and the almighty Google will tell you.

Written numbers

Type any string of digits into Google with an “=English” or "in English" to follow and Google will write the number out for you.

Currency converter

It's a useful travel trick! Ask Google to convert from one currency to another.

Search for flight or train

Ask Google to find a flight from one destination to another. Google will suggest some top flights and can even track these flights for price changes and send an email to your inbox to notify you of the flight changes.

Google Search has been getting only better over the years. It can help you find the perfect answer to your homework, and literally anything else that you can think of. Sometimes you just have to know how to type it in to get the answers you want! Google search is a very powerful search tool. Using the tips outlined above, you can find anything and everything you could ever need on the World Wide Web. You can share your searching experiences with us in the comments below. Thank you!

Photograph by silvabom