Using Google
By: Christopher Bright
Tags: Search, Ceid100

Today I’ll go over how to efficiently use Google by answering some key questions on search queries. While just typing in what you want may work, it is best to use Google syntax to get exactly what you want.

1. How would you search for an exact word or phrase?

To get exact match you need to put quotation marks are the word or phrase you’re searching for. For example, “black leather sofa”

2. How would you search for something on a specific site?

If you want to just look at a site use the following format after your query for specific information: chairs site:ikea.com

3. How would you correctly search for a definition?

This is done similarly to an exact word or phrase. Ensure that you put quotation marks around your search term if you need the definition such as “precarious”. Afterwards, Google will show a helpful Dictionary showing your word!

You could also simply type: Define: *precarious*

4. How would you search for a specific product available within a specific price range?

When you want to find a product within a specific price range Google has a useful little tab to help you out. Click on Shopping then specify the price range using the following terms: $100..$200

5. How would you search for a specific filetype?

This one is nice and simple. First, you need to know exactly which file type you’re looking for. Let’s say you’re looking for a pdf financial report, your search term would look like this: McDonalds 2018 Financial Report filetype:pdf

6. How would you include or ignore words in your search?

I frequently use this one. All you need to do is add a hyphen to search terms to exclude certain words. If you’re looking for ice cream but don’t want to see any chocolate flavours, your search would be: ice cream flavours -chocolate. Similarly, if you’re looking to include words just use a plus sign like: ice cream +strawberry

7. How would you find sites/pages similar to an existing one?

All you need to do for this one is to add the word “related” in search term. This can be useful in you’re looking for closely related sources such as: related:thestar.com

8. How would you confirm the exact form of a quote even if you were missing some of the words?

This one can sometimes lead to some interesting results as it is not always 100% accurate. If you’re trying to remember the lyrics to a song but can’t quite remember all of them, use asterisks to let Google fill in the blanks for you. If you type in the following: hey *don’t make* bad, you’ll get the result of Hey Jude by The Beatles! Try it with one of your favourite songs!

9. How would search for pages containing two connected words?

This one is for really specific searches. If you use “allintitle” it will show pages with all the words you specified. The format is as follows: allintitle: wireless keyboard

10. How would you search for social media content containing a specific tag?

Finally, let’s end on a slightly complicated one. We’ll be using two characters this time to specify our search., First is the @ sign which will search for social media and second is the inurl term. If you were looking for a Logitech mouse on Twitter your term would look like: @twitter inurl:Logitech mouse

I hope that helps you out when searching!