Get Better Results from Google
I search the Internet a lot. I've been known to use Yahoo or Bing on occasion, but I mainly search with Google. (Unless it's breaking news. Then I always search Twitter first.) Over time, I've learned tricks to improve my results, weed out junk, and save time.
Recently, The New York Times compiled a list of 10 Simple Google Search Tricks, which includes many of my favorites as well as a couple new tricks. The highlights:
- Don't struggle with finding what you want on a site when it doesn't have a built-in search. Use Google's "site:" operator.
- Get rid of unrelated results with the "-" operator. This helps a lot if you want to search "pro bono" but don't want to see anything related to "U2" or "Sonny & Cher."
- Enter an area code, and the first result should be a map of the area it covers.
The one that they didn't mention that I use most often: searching for an exact phrase. You add quotation marks around the phrase. For example: "legal aid" will return pages with the phrase "legal aid" and not just the words "legal" and "aid."
What are your favorite search tips? Do you stick to Yahoo or Bing because of tricks that you've learned? - K
I use Google cached pages pretty regularly for news sites or other sites that kick you to their homepage when you click on a specific search result. It's also helpful for dynamic content that doesn't have a permalink (or the correct permalink) linked from the Google result. Good tips, Kate!
Laura - I haven't use cached pages very often, but I suspect that I will be now. I'd never thought about using them to avoid getting kicked back to a site's homepage! - K