'Demystifying Google' - Search efficiently

Google is the most advanced Internet search engine of our time. How many of us know that google search has more than that we think it can offer ?

Here are some small tips for those who don't know how to search efficiently.Google has the ability to accept some predefined search queries for providing efficient search results.

I'm going to discus some of those Special Commands and I'll explain each command briefly ,you can use this commands to form complex queries and find what you need in a flash.

"intitle:" - intitle:keyword

• The "intitle:" syntax helps us to restrict the search results to pages containing the searched word in the title of the web-page. eg: intitle:mother will return links to the pages that have the word 'mother' in their title.

"inurl:" - inurl:keyword

• The "inurl:" syntax is similar to the intitle but it returns the links of the pages whose url contain the word that is searched. for example inurl:cooking will show the links of pages whose url have the word cooking in it.

"site:" - site:website-url

• You may need to find something from a specific site sometimes.For example searching for Mac Mini related articles in wired.com.
• we can make use of the command - mac mini site:www.wired.com to find-out articles related to Mac Mini

"filetype:" - filetype:file-type

• Looking for a specific file type (i.e. doc, pdf or ppt... ) or an ebook, this command can help you a lot. eg : mathematics filetype:pdf will list the pdf files realted to mathematics.

"link:" - link:site

• This will return the list of sites link to the specified website. eg: link:amritapuri.org

"related:" - related:sitename

• This will return the results similar to the specified site. eg: related:www.wired.com

"cache:" - "cache:sitename"

• Cache will show the version of web-page that google has in it cache.
• eg: cache:nextdoornerd.blogspot.com

"intext:" - intext:keyword

• The “intext:” syntax searches for words in a particular website. It ignores links or URLs and page titles.For example: intext:gardening will return only links to those web pages that has the search keyword "gardening" in its web-page.

Pro Combinations

I hope these simple techniques can help you find informations more quickly and easily.Rather than using these techniques alone, you can try combining them to make complex queries inorder to achieve better results.Now start searching like a Pro.

• For example : to search for pdf files in the adobe.com site we may create a new query - filetype:pdf site:adobe.com
• While searching for pdf files if you need to avoid the results from a specific site, you can create a query filetype:pdf -site:adobe.com, which will not show any results realted to the search from adobe.com

Now we can move to some sophisticated methodologies of searching that will help us to increase the efficiency of our search.

Index browsing with google

• There are sites with index browsing enabled, this means any one can browse the site directories like local directories.To find the results from index browsing enabled sites just include a "index of" command infront of the query.eg : "index of" rpm"

More Search Tips

'|' Operator

• Using '|' symbol literaly means 'or'. For example you want to search for 'indian or american fish' then you can make use of | and the query will look something like indian|american fish the resulted links will contain either indian food or american food in their contents.

'&&' Operator

• Consider we need to find the pages containing both the words cook and chinese,here the '&& operator can help us to find the best results. eg: cook&&chinese

'-' Operator

• '-' can be used to avoid an item for example including -fall in a search query will tell google to avoid all results containing the word fall. eg : water -fall

'+' Operator

• Google ignores common words and characters such as where, the, how, and other digits and letters that slow down the search.If a common word is essential to getting the results we can put a + operator infront of that word to make sure that Google paying attention to it. eg : peanut butter +or jelly
  

Calculator

• We can use google to find the answers for our arithmetic operations, yeah this means google is a calculator too. just enter 5*9+(sqrt 10)^3= in the search field and see the results!

Currency conversion

• Need to know how much is 46745.65$ in Indian Rs, Just enter '46745.65 dollars in INR' in the google search field to get the result.

Dictionary Definitions

• define:word will show the definition of the specified word.
• eg : define:eccentric

Unit Conversion

• Unit Conversion is one of the features among the google search,eg : 10.5 cm in inches

Spell Checker

• Don't know the spelling of a word ? Just enter the word in the Google search box, if the provided spelling is wrong Google will suggest the correct spelling for you. eg : coltorol
  

Fill in the Blank

• Some times it is better to ask google a question is fill in the blank by providing an asterics (*) in the desired space. eg: Indians are * men

Google Clock

• To see the time in the many places around the world, type in time and the city name.
  
• eg : time Berlin
  

It is time to start Googling now... Have fun with these Commands and tips, combine them to get better results.

Have a nice time with Google...

NB: Just checkout this

55 Ways to have Fun with Google : a refreshing book for enhancing your Googling skills.The book is freely available for download.

http://www.55fun.com/book.pdf