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24 Ways to Improve Google Search Efficiency

Leafing through lifehacker.com , I came across an interesting article about how to use Google search service more effectively. In principle, I did not expect to meet something fundamentally new for myself, however, after reading, the results exceeded my expectations. I think this article can be useful for many (almost every day people turn to me with questions that can be solved by an elementary search in two minutes).

Below I give a translation of the text into Russian, slightly supplemented by myself. In particular, the examples from the English original are replaced by more “vital” ones, since in my opinion a direct translation would look somewhat ridiculous. In addition, I did not translate the preamble, because I consider it somewhat unnecessary: ​​those who are interested in increasing the effectiveness of Google search queries do not need to explain what Google is. Yes, and to devote the praises of this service somehow unnecessarily, given their income. Therefore, we proceed immediately to the content part:
  1. One of several (logical OR). By default, Google searches for pages that contain all the words from a search query, but if you want to output and those that contain at least one word from a given set, you can use the logical operator OR. It corresponds to the symbol "|" (in English it is called pipe symbol). Example: || ||
  2. Quotes. If you need to find a specific phrase verbatim, you can use quotes. Example: "Hotel California" "Hotel California" (a similar request without quotes would return not only links to all references to the song of the same name, but also to many sites of tour operators and hotels).
  3. Exception (logical NOT). In order to exclude from the search result those pages that contain a certain word, it is necessary to use the symbol "-" in the search query. Example: linux distrib download -suse linux distrib download -suse (the request will return links to pages for downloading various Linux distributions, with the exception of Suse).
  4. Similar words. In order for Google to search for words similar to the given one, use the symbol "~" (tilde). Synonyms and words with alternate endings will be found. Example: ~hippo ~hippo (for example, the word hyppopotamus will also be found on request). Note: the author of the translation has some suspicions that the operator only works in English. If someone can reasonably dispel it - please do so in the comments.
  5. Masks. The symbol "*" can be used as a mask - the symbol of an arbitrary number of any characters. This can be useful, for example, if you are trying to find the lyrics of a song, but you cannot remember the words exactly. Or find a site whose domain is remembered only in part. Example: welcome to the hotel * such a lovely place welcome to the hotel * such a lovely place ; *pedia.org *pedia.org .
  6. Advanced Search. If you have forgotten any of the listed operators, you can always use the advanced search form .
  7. Definitions Use the define: statement to quickly find definitions. Example: define: define: (the request will give a link to a page from Wikipedia).
  8. Calculator. One of the useful and at the same time little-known features of Google is the calculation of arithmetic expressions. In many cases, this is faster than using a calculator program. In the expressions, you can use the operators +, -, *, /, ^ (degree), sqrt (square root), sin, cos, tan, ln, lg, exp (e x ), parentheses and much more . Example: sqrt(25 * 25) * 768 sqrt(25 * 25) * 768 .
  9. Numeric intervals. In Google, there is another little-known possibility - the search for numerical intervals that can be set using extreme values, separated by a sequence of two points. Example: 2004..2007 2004..2007 .
  10. Search on a given site. Using the site: operator site: you can limit the search results to a specific web site. This feature is usually used when installing Google search forms on third-party resources. Example: seagate barracuda site:ixbt.com seagate barracuda site:ixbt.com .
  11. Links from the outside. Using the link: operator, you can find pages that link to a given URL. The operator can be used not only for the main address of the site, but also for individual pages. The operator does not guarantee that the search will list all pages. Example: link:paradigm.ru link:paradigm.ru .
  12. Vertical search. Instead of searching for specific words in the entire web, you can limit the search to one specific area. Google includes many search services that allow you to find interesting information in blogs, news, books, and many other categories:

    Movie. To search for movie titles, it is convenient to use the movie: operator. Example: movie:One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest movie:One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest .
    Music. Operator music: will limit search results to content that is somehow related to music. Example: music:Depeche Mode 101 music:Depeche Mode 101 .
    Unit Converter Google can be used to quickly convert meters to yards, kilograms to pounds, liters to joules . For this, the syntax absolutely natural for human understanding is used. Example: 16 tons in pounds 16 tons in pounds . Update: according to the same principle, you can perform conversions between amounts in different currencies. For example: 15 Ruble in USD 15 Ruble in USD . Currency rates Google learns from Citibank NA
    Numeric patterns. Google's algorithms are able to recognize the type of numeric data by their input pattern. Unfortunately, most of these patterns only comply with US standards. In particular, you can search for:
    • regional phone codes;
    • car numbers (US, as it is not difficult to guess, only);
    • inventory numbers of the Federal Communications Commission FCC (also US only);
    • UPC (universal product codes used in the United States);
    • registration numbers of the Federal Aviation Agency (USA);
    • patent numbers (US);
    • stock quotes (you need to use stock symbols) and weather forecast for five days ahead.

    Types of files. In case you want to search, for example, only documents in PDF, Word or Excel format, you can use the filetype: operator. The full list of supported formats at the time of writing this text: Adobe Reader PDF (.pdf), Adobe Postscript (.ps), Autodesk DWF (.dwf), Google Earth (.kml, .kmz), Microsoft Excel (.xls), Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt), Microsoft Word (.doc), Rich Text Format (.rtf), Shockwave Flash (.swf). Example: stroustrup c++ language filetype:pdf stroustrup c++ language filetype:pdf . Update: You can also use the ext: operator to select the type of files you are ext: .
    The location of the word. By default, Google searches for specified text within page content. But if there is a need to search in a specific area, you can use such operators as “inurl:” (search inside the URL), “intitle:” (search in the page header), “intext:” (search in the text of the page), and “inanchor : "(Search in the text of links).
    Cached pages. When searching for obsolete pages and pages whose content has been updated, a search in the search engine cache can help. The cached: statement is intended for this. Update: There is also a similar cache: statement, with which you can immediately get the pages from the cache by their URL. In principle, this feature can be used as a kind of backup of web pages visible to Google: even if the page is removed from its site, a copy of it can remain on Google.
    The answer to the main question of life, the universe and all that. Google even knows the answer to this sacramental question (if it is written in English in lower case).
    Search for individuals. The search engine of pictures has an interesting (and, as far as I know, so far officially undocumented) opportunity to select from the entire set of found face images. In order to take advantage of this, it is necessary to add an additional GET-parameter imgtype=face to the URL of the search query result. Example: http://.../images?q=Audrey+Tautou&imgtype=face

Information about the site. Using the info: operator info: you can get Google-known information about the specified site. Example: info: habrahabr.ru .
Related sites. With the help of the related: operator related: Google can display a list of sites that it considers similar to the given one. Example: related: flickr.com .
Submission methods. In addition to the standard presentation of search results, there are two more experimental ones that can be activated using the view: operator view: The first of these, the timeline designed to display various historical events and can visualize the distribution of search results on the time axis. Example: George Washington view:timeline George Washington view:timeline (the result of such a request will be a kind of biography, the materials of which are collected from a variety of web resources).
The second mapping method - map convenient for searching by maps. When you select it, in the report with the search results immediately opens a frame with a map, on which the signs indicate that he found Goolge. Example: fifth avenue ny view:map fifth avenue ny view:map . With Russian (and any non-English language), as it is not difficult to guess, the service is not yet friendly. In addition, the relevance of the search for maps leaves much to be desired (if only because the query Saint Petersburg view:map Saint Petersburg view:map put Moscow, Pavlovsk and Petrodvorets above the desired city with a clearly defined name).


For a more detailed description of the syntax of Google, you can refer to one of the following sources:

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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/31113/

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