If any question comes in our mind then the first thing to strike in our mind is “GOOGLE IT”.
Google is basically the go-to for all of us when searching anything and everything from interview questions,articles, to the lyrics of that one song you can’t stop humming. What you may be unaware of are the numerous ways you can enhance your searches with these little tricks that Google built into their gargantuan search engine.
Narrow Your Results
It seems as though almost anything you type into Google comes back with millions of results, making it difficult to find that exact answer you’re seeking. If, however, you put a plus sign (+) in front of one of your search terms it will tell Google to place an emphasis on that term. You can also exclude words from your search by adding a minus (-) sign in front of them. If you are still having difficulty bringing up a specific topic, try adding quotes around your search to focus on a certain category of information.
Partial Google Searching
Let’s say you’re trying to remember a quote or book title but you only remember a few words. You can type in the what you remember and use an asterisk (*) for the words you’re unsure about. This will help your intended search surface much faster.
Duel Searching
Have to topics you want to search or compare? Simply type “OR” between the two subjects you’re Googling to bring up results for both topics.
Search a website
Yeah, that’s right, you can search a website through Google. Simply type the word “site” followed by the web address and then the topic in the search bar and Google will come back with results from only that website.
Find related websites
Whether you’re shopping, researching, or just browsing, it’s great to have options. If, however, you’re stuck in your search and don’t know where else to turn, try typing into Google “related:” followed by a URL to discover more websites that have similar content or products. For example, if you type “related:target.com” into Google, you will receive a list of other similar retail websites. If you want to take it a step further, you can add a topic next to the URL to display similar websites that carry relevant information or products to your search. So going back to our example, if we type “related:target.com watches” Google will now display similar retail websites that carry watches.
Use Google to stay focused
One of the best ways to concentrate on a task without falling down the internet rabbit hole is to set a time. Google can do this for you by simply typing in “set timer for” followed by a specific amount of time. A simple beeping sound will emanate from the Google timer tab when time runs out.
