We all know google is powerful Not only can you search the world’s information, including webpages, images, videos but you can also advance searches for related topics, file types and even math.
Math, Spelling and Time One of the most under-used methods of the google search box are basics. You can input 2*2 in the search box and it will do the math, along with more complicated formulas like square root and co-sign…take that Mr. Math teacher! For you Grammar teacher haters, Correct spelling is also found when searching via Google and if you search using a zip code, Google can tell you the time and weather in that area.
Site or file Specific Want to find a particular file type or information on a specific site, you can use limiters. To find a manual in pdf format for a back flip, you type in the search box ‘back flip filetype:pdf’ How about a topic in a specific site, for example, the search ‘back flips site:circus.com’ will return pages about back flips but only from circus.com site.
Targeted Terms If their is a specific term you want to find online, you can use quotes like “purple midgets”. This will result in all pages that use the term “purple midgets” but not “midgets that are purple”. But what if you want to know about purple midgets that are not in a circus, then you use the minus sign, for example ‘purple midgets – circus’. Lets say you don’t know where you saw this purple midget, you can use the * as a placeholder for any unknown term(s), like ‘purple midgets from *’, and google will guess the final word. And finally, if you want to search two terms, the OR or | can allow you to find ‘purple midgets in circus OR carnival’.
It’s estimated that there are about two trillion online information searches conducted via popular search engines each year. Search engine rankings show that about 65% of searches are done via Google. Its a very powerful tool, definitely beats going to the library. So if all this search secret talk turns you on, check out more tips here.