Thread: Tips to Google

Originally Posted by smoothvibes

yes yes you can say LOL again n again n again n again :lol:

INDEED..... STRIVE FOR IT !!!....and everything shall fall on place.

I am guessing i am the only screw using google for checking out spellings


You know : Did you mean xxxx

How to make your search work better

There are some simple tricks that can enhance your search results. A technique here, and one there, can go a long way in getting you the desired results. Here's a look into some of the simple ways that can refine your search and make your experience happier.

How to exclude specific terms from search?
Most search engines recognise the plus (+) and minus (-) signs as operators that allow you to narrow search results. When you use the plus sign directly in front of a word, you're telling the search engine that search results must include that word.

If you use the minus sign directly in front of a word, you are telling the search engine that results returned should not include that word.

As an example, let's say you want to search for pages that inClude ‘Bill Clinton’ in them but not ‘Hillary.’ Using the plus and minus operators, the search phrase would like this: +Bill Clinton -Hillary. Note that there must not be a space in-between the plus or minus sign and the term to which it is attached.

Also, if the search term that must be included in search results contains spaces, as in ‘Bill Clinton’ above, put quotation marks around the term. Quotation marks, when used with or without the plus or minus signs, tell a search engine that the exact phrase must be included in results that are returned.

Can I use 'and', 'or' while searching?
Many people think that search engines get confused with these words with what are called Boolean ‘operators,’ which are specific words that one can use to help refine your queries in search engines and thereby return more relevant matches.

But there's little chance of that happening these days. Some search engines do not recognize Boolean operators and those that do require that you use call capital letters to designate them.

Boolean operators recognised by most search engines are And, Or and Not. Using Boolean operators is simple. Type `And' between two or more terms to link them and narrow a search. With `AND,' only pages that have each and every one of your key words will be listed.

Type in `Or' between search terms to find any documents that include either of the terms. Type in `Not' to exclude a term from a search, as in ‘Hemingway NOT Ernest.’ Boolean operators must be typed in upper-case letters; this is how they are distinguished from. Boolean operators work with most but not all popular search engines.

How can I find pages from a specific site?
One way is to log on to the Website and see whether there's a site map listed. Some sites provide one.

If not, though, you can use several tricks to search for pages within a particular domain or web site. First, you can use the `site' command in most search engines to get a listing of pages that are indexed by the search engine you use.

Here's how. Log on to Google, Yahoo or MSN and in the search field, type the word `site,' without quotation marks, followed by a colon ( and the Web address of the site itself.

If you want to find all of the pages on Microsoft.com, for example, you would type site:Microsoft Corporation. Then press Enter or Search and the search engine will return all the pages of that site that are indexed.

Is there a way to find similar sites?
Yes. You can use the prefix `related,' followed by a colon ( and then the site in question. Do not include spaces before or after the colon.

The `related' limiter is, in fact, a seldom-used but a very good way to locate websites that are similar to those that you want to see. It is a better way than trying to hunt down similar sites with a more general search term.

If, for example, you're addicted to the site YouTube.com, you can go to Google or another search engine and type `related:youtube.com' and press Enter. What you'll get is a list of sites that the search engine has categorised in the same way that it has categorised the site you include after the colon.

Just to add to the good tips provided in this thread:

For a list of advanced operators like site: etc.. see Advanced Google Search Operators

Also Google Calculator is pretty handy!
Google Shortcuts: Calculator - Google Guide

examples:-
256 kbps in kBps - Google Search
( 256 kbps x 7 days ) / 2 - Google Search

((256 kbps) x 7 days) / 2 = 9.22851562 gigabytes ( i.e downloading at continuous 256 kbps for 7 days at 12 hours a day)

50 mpg in km/litre - Google Search

Other cool google tools:
Google Trends
Google Trends: Oct 29, 2008 (most popular google searches for today)
Google Insights for Search

Originally Posted by smoothvibes

its really very informative thread... repo points for you

i got google book at home will update some more tips tommorow

post some tips itself smoothy, or just give some examples from the book!
Instead of having to download it from the attachment you gave!

Good info Ramesh!

Originally Posted by ShAdOwCoN

I am guessing i am the only screw using google for checking out spellings


You know : Did you mean xxxx

Me too. I also use Google to check spelling.

Originally Posted by Archer

Me too. I also use Google to check spelling.

that makes us three...

Hello everyone,

I will upload one book titled "Google:Missing Manual for webmasters" very soon.

That contains superb info for each and every Google product including effective search techniques.

My favorite Google tricks


1. Search "Time" to find the exact Time of you zone. If you add the name of the country, then you can also find the time of that country.

eg: "New Zealand Time" (Use Country Name or State name)

2. Search "Place Name weather" to find the weather of the place.

eg: "New Delhi weather" (Use State Name or District name)

3. Search "define:keyword" to find the meaning of a word from multiple websites.

eg: "define:dragon"

4. Search "256 Kb in KB" to convert from Kilobits to Kilobytes. Also works for all kinds of calculation and conventions.

5. Search "site:site-address keyword" to search inside a website.

eg: "site:indiabraoaband.net broadband problem"

6. Search "filetype:fileformat keyword" to find a file of particular format.

eg: "filetype:pdf dataone"


Note: No quotations and replace words in red & green with the keyword you want. And words in Blue are important.

Thats some nice information archer... 4 Rep points for u... (remember my rep power is 4 now )...

Originally Posted by itsmemad

Thats some nice information archer... 4 Rep points for u... (remember my rep power is 4 now )...

The first two tips, I found out myself.
4 repo points. Thanks. :w00t:

Originally Posted by Archer

Me too. I also use Google to check spelling.

i do that too, i thought i was the only one who did that!

Good google tricks Archer, very useful, thanks!

Hello Friends,

As i said in my last post that i would give you link to download book titled
"Google: The Missing Manual".

So here's the link, you can download it from my live SkyDrive Space:

Click Here

This book is really Awesome..

@ archer nice tricks !!!
really helpful thread indeed...

thanks to itsmemad, rameshjee and archer... some very nice tips there ... i also posted a similar thread on how to find the best direct download links of various resources using google didnt saw any replies yet ... but i find that way very useful to find direct links for movies ...

http://www.indiabroadband.net/comput...ng-google.html