Google, a popular search engine, is a tool for finding resources on the World Wide Web. Google scans web pages to find instances of the keywords by ranking web pages in a list of hits by giving weight to the links that reference a specific page.
Doing a search on Google is an easy job. Simply type one or more search terms (the words or phrase that best describe the information you want to find) into the search box and hit the 'Enter'. Google search can be can be made even more easier and efficient by using different techniques and kinds of operators available. Advanced operators are query words that have special meaning to Google. Typically these operators modify the search in some way, or even tell Google to do a totally different type of search. My best efforts are to explain as much as operators available and tips that are crucial for efficient Google search.
Basic Tips
Choosing Search Terms
Capitalization
Google searches are NOT case sensitive.
Automatic “and” queries
You don't need to include “and” between terms while searching.
Automatic exclusion of common words
Google ignores common words and characters such as "where" and "how", as well as certain single digits and single letters, because they tend to slow down your search without improving the results. Solution to this problem would be by conducting a phrase search or by putting a + sign before the essential common word.
Word variations(Stemming)
when appropriate, Google will search not only for your search terms, but also for words that are similar to some or all of those terms. Any variants of your terms that were searched for will be highlighted in the snippet of text accompanying each result.
Phrase searches
searches the exact phrase. Effective for searching proper names, lyrics, other famous phrases.
Negative terms
focuses a search so as to avoid the specific meaning of a term that has more than one meanings.
“I'm Feeling Lucky”
After entering the search terms, clicking the “I'm Feeling Lucky” button takes you straight to the most relevant website that Google found for your query
choosing the right search terms is the key to finding the information you need.
Advanced Search Using Google's Advanced Operators
Alternative Query Types
link:
This query [link:] will list the web pages that point to the URL or specified web page. For e.g. link:www.fossnepal.org will list the web pages which links to www.fossnepal.org.
cache:
This query [cache:] will display Google's cached version of a web page. For e.g., cache:www.fossnepal.org will display Google's cache of fossnepal homepage.
info:
The query [info:] will show the information that Google has about the web page. For e.g.,
info:www.fossnepal.org shows the information about the web page www.fossnepal.org.
related:
The syntax [related:] lists the web pages that are similar or related to the URL. For e.g., related: displays the web pages related to www.fossnepal.org.
Specialized Information Queries
| Operators | Meaning | Implementation |
|---|---|---|
| book/books | Search full text of books | book My side
|
| define, what is, what are | Show a definition for a word or phrase | |
| define: | Provide definitions for words, phrases, and acronyms from the Web. | find definitions for Open from the Web. |
| movie: | Find reviews and showtimes | Search for information about this movie, including reviews, show times, etc. |
| stocks: | Given ticker symbols, show stock information | stocks: goog
|
| weather: | Given a location , show the weather
| weather Seattle WA, weather 81612
|
| phonebook: | Show all phonebook listings | phonebook: Disney CA
|
| rphonebook: | Show all residential phonebook listings | rphonebook:bill jones NY
|
Query Modifiers
site:
If you include [site:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to those websites in the given domain. Say if you use foss ka kura site:www.fossnepal.org , Google will search for information on foss ka kura gathered by fossnepal.
allintitle:
If you use a syntax [allintitle:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the title. For instance, [allintitle: fossnepal LTSP] will return only documents that have both “fossnepal” and “LTSP” in title.
intitle:
Query [intitle:] will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the title. For instance, [intitle:fossnepal LTSP] will return documents that mention the word”fossnepal” int the title and mention the word “LTSP” anywhere in the document(title or not).
allinurl:
[allinurl:] will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the url. For instance, [allinurl: fossnepal LTSP] will return only documents that have both “fossnepal” and “LTSP” in the URL.
inurl:
[inurl:] will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the URL. For instance [inurl:fossnepal LTSP] will return only documents that have the word fossnepal in the URL and mention the word anywhere in the document(URL or not).
allinanchor:
[allinanchor:] will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in anchor text of links to the page. For instance, [allinanchor:foss LTSP] will search for pages that are called “foss” and “LTSP” by others.
inanchor:
[inanchor:] will restrict the results to those with terms appearing in the anchor text links to the page. For instance, [allinanchor:foss LTSP] will search for pages that are called “foss” or “LTSP” by others.
allintext:
If we use [allintext:] query, Google will show the pages that contains all the query words. For instance, [allintext:News Announcements] willl search for pages that contains both “News” and “Announcements”.
intext:
Using the syntax [intext:], one can find the web pages that contains any of the query words. For instance [intext:foss volunteers] will result into the pages that contains any of “foss” or “volunteers”.
Restrict Search
filetype:(or ext:)
This will result into the documents of specified types which can be downloaded easily by right clicking and saving the target. For instance, LINUX filetype:pdf will show the list of links to pdfs about LINUX.
city1 city2
It means book flights from city1 to city2. For instance, sfo bos will show the web pages containing information about flights from San Fransisco to Boston.
#..#
If this is used, Google will search within a range of numbers. For instance, Richard Stallman 1999..2004 will yield Richard Stallman's article written in between these years.
Google as Dictionary
Google can also be used as a calculator which is summarized below in the table;
| Operators | Meaning | Implementation |
| +,-,*,/ | Basic arithmetic operation | 12+3-9*8/2 |
| % of | Percentage of | 10% of 450 |
| ^ or ** | Raise to the power | 3^5 or 3**5 |
| Old units In new units | Unit conversion | 1010 in dec |
Restrict Search To Google News
location:
Google will find the news articles from sources in the specified locations. Say, foss location:Nepal syntax will find news articles about foss from Nepal.
Source:
It will find news articles from specified sources. Say, foss source:nepalnews will find news articles about foss from nepalnews.
Conclusion
Even a Layman can use the Google search engine but what makes the difference between a technically skilled person and him/her? The answer should be the way how he/she and a technical person use the search engine. It is easier to protect your feet with the slippers than to cover the earth with carpets. So don't hesitate and from now on, let us change the way we use Google search engine. Google's Advanced Operators have facilitated us with their preciseness. There are still many more operators, which I cannot explain in this brief article.
Last but not least we have to thank Google for what it has provided the world with.
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