Google tools come in handy
Question:
I use "Google" as my main search engine and was wondering if you could give me some tips on what tools "Google" has to offer and how I can find what I'm looking for quicker and more accurately?
Answer:
What a great question! Google is a great company and they have revolutionized the way we utilize the internet and all it has to offer. I personally use Google as my main search engine because I found it generated the best results for me when I am researching various topics. However, Yahoo and MSN are also very good products and have a lot to offer.
When using Google, there are tools that are available that you may not even know exist and as well there are symbols that you can use to help define your search so you get exactly what you are looking for.
The tools that I find are helpful are tools such as the calculator/converter, in the Google search bar you can type in any combination of numbers such as 70 + 30, Google will answer 70 + 30 = 100 or try weight and Google will tell you the answer , this is faster than opening your calculator. Another example is, type: 14 pounds to ounces in the Google search bar and Google will answer 15 pounds = 240 ounces. Try to beat it, it's brilliant. Other great tools include a calendar - dates and events, images - type what your looking for and get the picture, maps - type in an address, Local - business information, news, alerts - automatically get news and other information sent to your email, Docs - create and share documents online and view them from anywhere in the world and much more. To find more of these tools, go to www.google.com and in the top left hand corner you will see images, maps, news, video, gmail, more. Click "more" and click "more" again and you will be lead to a Google site that lists all the tools it has to offer.
Next topic is the use of symbols to improve your Google search. The most common way to search is to type what you're thinking. Google will then search for pages containing those particular words. For future reference, avoid using insignificant words like "and", "in", "if" , "as", "or" etc. as Google will not use these words to find appropriate links. When searching for specific topics of interest you can better your search by utilizing these symbols:
1. Quotation marks: If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. "red wool sweater " will only find that exact phrase. (Red "wool sweater") will find pages that contain the word red and the exact phrase "wool sweater".
2. Similar terms: Use the "~" symbol to return similar terms. (~red wool sweater - red) will get you pages that contain "green wool sweater" and "big wool sweater".
3. Definitions: Use "define:" to get a quick definition. (define:hockey) will give you a whole list of definitions from different sources, with links.
4. Wildcard: The "*" symbol is a wildcard. This is useful if you're trying to find the lyrics to a song, but can't remember the exact lyrics. (can't * me love lyrics) will return the Beatles song you're looking for.
5. Numrange: This feature searches for a range of numbers. For example, ("best books 2000...2005") will return lists of best books for each of the years from 2000 to 2005.
6. Site-specific. Use the "site:" operator to search only within a certain website. (site:ford.com mustang) will search for the term "mustang" only within this site.
7. Music: The "music:" operator returns content related to music only.
8. File types: If you just want to search for .PDF files, or Word documents, or Excel spreadsheets, for example, use "filetype:".
I hope this helps, much like anything else practice makes perfect and over time you will see more and more how search results are returned and ultimately help you find exactly what you're looking for.
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