How To Use Google Search Effectively¶

Google search is our everyday companion when looking for information on the web. The user interface is quite simple: you type in your search term, and most of the time, you're bombarded with an almost endless list of search results. Often, what you're actually looking for can be found on page 2 or 3, or not at all.

You can, however, google very effectively by using search operators. In this blog article, I'll introduce you to search operators that will help you refine your Google searches and achieve much more accurate results.

Basic Search Operators¶

Let's start with basic operators that allow you to logically combine multiple terms.

Quotation Marks¶

Quotation marks enable you to search for an exact phrase. This is particularly useful when searching for a specific quote or a fixed combination of words.

Example: "To be or not to be"

Logical OR¶

These operators allow you to search for one of several options. Use OR or the pipe symbol (|) to include alternative terms.

Examples: Apple OR Google or Apple | Google

Logical AND¶

The AND operator (implicitly included in every Google search) ensures that all specified terms are included in the results.

Example: Apple AND iPhone

Logical Parentheses¶

Parentheses allow you to set the priority for complex searches, similar to mathematics.

Example: (cat OR dog) AND (food OR toy)

Exclusion¶

The minus sign allows you to exclude certain terms from the search results.

Example: cheese -cake

Wildcard¶

The asterisk acts as a placeholder for an unknown or any word.

Example: "the best * 2024"

Specific Search Operators¶

Now, let's look at the more interesting operators.

site:¶

This operator allows you to restrict your search to a specific website or domain.

Example: "Moon landing" site:esa.int

filetype: and ext:¶

These commands allow you to search for specific file types.

Examples: school holidays 2023/2024 filetype:pdf or school holidays 2023/2024 ext:doc

cache:¶

This operator lets you view the cached version of a webpage stored by Google.

Example: cache:wikipedia.org

This operator helps you find websites that are thematically similar to a specific website.

Example: related:esa.int

intitle: and allintitle:¶

With intitle:, you can search for pages where a specific word appears in the title. With allintitle:, you can search for pages where all specified words appear in the title.

Examples: intitle:"Open Data" or allintitle:"Open Data" "Open Source"

intext: and allintext:¶

With intext:, you search for pages where the content contains a specific word. With allintext:, you search for pages where all specified words appear in the text.

Examples: intext:"Open Data" or allintext:"Open Data" "Open Source"

inurl: and allinurl:¶

These operators allow you to search for pages where the URL contains specific words.

Examples: inurl:opendata or allinurl:open data

before: and after:¶

These operators allow you to restrict your search to a specific publication period.

Examples: artificial intelligence before:2023 or artificial intelligence after:2023

source:¶

This operator is useful when you want to find news from a specific source.

Example: artificial intelligence source:bbc.com

define:¶

This operator gives you a definition of the specified term.

Example: define:Open Data

weather:¶

With this operator, you get the current weather forecast for a specific location.

Example: weather:Berlin

map:¶

This operator shows you a map from Google Maps of a specific place.

Example: map:Berlin

movie:¶

With this operator, you can search for movie information.

Example: movie:2001: A Space Odyssey

stocks:¶

For those who need it: This operator allows you to search for current stock prices.

Example: stocks:AAPL

Conversions¶

Google can do a bit of maths too.

Units¶

You can use the in operator to convert back and forth between units. An unit converter always appears.

Example: 20km in mm

You can also simply search for unit converter, in which case the unit converter will also appear.

Colours¶

By simply entering a colour code, it can easily be converted into another colour code:

You can convert colour codes from:

Hex
RGB
Pantone

Examples:

rgb(255, 255, 255)
rgb 255 255 255 255
#f0f0f0
color f0f0f0
pantone 214 u
pms 200 c

A colour picker always appears, which displays the following colour systems:

Hex
RGB
HSV
HSL
CMYK

You can also simply search for color picker and the colour picker will also appear.

Why is it called googling?¶

The verb googling is derived from the product name Google. The name Google itself is based on the English term Googol, a word coined by American mathematician Edward Kasner for the number 10¹⁰⁰. That's a 1 followed by 100 zeros.

Conclusion¶

By skillfully using Google operators, you can significantly improve your search results and find more precise information. Try it out in your next search.

Oh, and a little Google fun to wrap things up:

Open Google search and look for "cat".
Click on the animated paw print icon.
Now, click around on the Google webpage.
Yes, I agree, it's useless! 🐾