The Google Search Engine is no doubt the #1 resource for anyone who is looking for information. Whether you’re a high school student looking for presentation sample or a housewife looking to find information on the latest kitchenware accessories.
Literally everyone and anyone can make use of the Google Search Engine, because of its simplicity and ease of use. All you need is to type in a few words describing what you’re searching for and let the search engine take care of the rest.
However, the Google Search Engine can be much more effective than simply typing in a few words (keywords). The use of “Operators” can greatly increase your search effectiveness.
In this article, we’ll look at a few “Operators” that can be used in combination with your relevant keywords to help your search engine experience on Google much more beneficial.
Table of Contents
Using Google to Search for a specific site
The site search operator will tell Google Search Engine to conduct a search only within a certain website. You need to type in the name of the site as well as the keyword that you want to search for.
site:localhost/writeawriting facebook strategy
Use Google to Search for a File Type
With a File Type operator, you can make the Google Search Engine to search for certain file types. For example, you would want to search for all .jpg files (Jpeg compressed pictures). Here’s how.
filetype:jpg mashable
Search for an exact match
The ‘*’ (asterisk) operator will help you find exact match for the keyword you are searching for. For example you want to search for the following exact price for a certain product
G27 Logitech Steering Wheel for *240* Dollars
Search for ‘one term or another’
With the use of the ‘OR’ operator, you can make the Google Search Engine display results which contain either one word or another. For example you’re looking for results that contain the terms “Facebook” and “Advertising”.
Facebook OR Advertising
Search for Word Definitions
No need wasting your time searching for your dictionary, you can easily type in any word you want to find a definition for starting with a ‘Define’ operator.
Define: megalomaniac
How not to show a certain word
You can easily have a certain word excluded from your search results by using the ‘-‘ (minus) operator. Let’s say you’re interested in searching for websites (or articles) that contain the word Advertising but you don’t want any mention of “Year 2012” in them. Simply type in the following:
Advertising -Year2012
Use a Calculator
Google Search Engine has a built-in calculator! Simple arithmetic symbols can be used to carry out mathematical functions within the Google search bar. Like for example:
2+2
Once you’ve typed in the above simple function, a mini calculator will pop up in the search results for you to continue further.
As you can see, the Google Search Engine operators can be used to simplify as well as filter your search engine results. They can easily be used in combination with each other to filter out your results like never before.
