Well, we all know that Google
is really a very powerful search engine on the web. But most of the
people don’t actually use it to the best of its advantages.
But google is really a powerful tool that can enhance your internet
exploration. Let’s look at some of Google’s lesser-known options.
Syntax Search Tricks
Using a special syntax is a way to tell Google that you want to restrict your searches to certain elements or characteristics of Web pages. Google has a fairly complete list of its syntax elements at
Using a special syntax is a way to tell Google that you want to restrict your searches to certain elements or characteristics of Web pages. Google has a fairly complete list of its syntax elements at
Here are some advanced operators that can help narrow down your search results.
Intitle: at the beginning of a query word or phrase
(intitle:”Three Blind Mice”) restricts your search results to just the
titles of Web pages.
Intext: does the opposite of intitle:, searching
only the body text, ignoring titles, links, and so forth. Intext: is
perfect when what you’re searching for might commonly appear in URLs. If
you’re looking for the term HTML, for example, and you don’t want to
get results such as
www.mysite.com/index.html
, you can enter intext:html.
Swiss Army Google
- Google has a number of services that can help you accomplish tasks you may never have thought to use Google for. For example, the new calculator feature
(www.google.com/help/features.html#calculator)
- Suppose you want to contact someone and don’t have his phone number handy. Google can help you with that, too. Just enter a name, city, and state. (The city is optional, but you must enter a state.) If a phone number matches the listing, you’ll see it at the top of the search results along with a map link to the address. If you’d rather restrict your results, use rphonebook: for residential listings or bphonebook: for business listings. If you’d rather use a search form for business phone listings, try Yellow Search
(www.buzztoolbox.com/google/yellowsearch.shtml).
Extended Googling
Google offers several services that give you a head start in focusing your search.
- Google Groups indexes literally millions of messages from decades of discussion on Usenet. Google even helps you with your shopping via two tools.
- Froogle which indexes products from online stores.
- Google Catalogs which features products from more 6,000 paper catalogs in a searchable index. And this only scratches the surface.
- You can get a complete list of Google’s tools and services at www.google.com/options/index.html
- Google Alert (www.googlealert.com) monitors your search terms and e-mails you information about new additions to Google’s Web index. (Google Alert is not affiliated with Google; it uses Google’s Web services API to perform its searches.)
- If you’re more interested in news stories than general Web content, check out the beta version of Google News Alerts (www.google.com/newsalerts).
Thanks to its many different search properties, Google goes far beyond a regular search engine. Give the tricks in this article a try. You’ll be amazed at how many different ways Google can improve your Internet searching.
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