Sunday, May 23, 2010
Google Tips 7 Tricks
Tricks & Tips
Avoid using a question as a query.
When Google detects very common words such as where, do, I, for, and a, known as stop words, it ignores them
If you want pages containing any (instead of all) of your search terms, use the OR operator.
Use the + operator or enclose more than one term in quotes (" ") to insist that Google search for exactly these words.
Google limits queries to 32 words.
Search Behaviors
Descriptions
Implicit AND
Google returns pages that match all your search terms. Because you don't need to include the logical operator AND between your terms, this notation is called an implicit AND.
Exact Matching
Google returns pages that match your search terms exactly.
Word Variation
Automatic Stemming
Google returns pages that match variants of your search terms.
Common-Word Exclusion
Google ignores some common words called “stop words,” e.g., the, on, where, and how. Stop words tend to slow down searches without improving results.
32-Word Limit
Google limits queries to 32 words.
Term Proximity
Google gives more priority to pages that have search terms near each other.
Term Order
Google gives more priority to pages that have search termsin the same order as the query.
Case Insensitivity
Google is case-insensitive; it shows both upper- and lowercase results.
Ignoring Punctuation
Google ignores most punctuation and special characters including , . ; ? [ ] ( ) @ / * < >
The tilde (~) operator takes the word immediately following it and searches both for that specific word and for the word’s synonyms. It also searches for the term with alternative endings. The tilde operator works best
Special Characters: Summary
This table summarizes how to use the basic search operators described in this chapter. You may include any of these operators multiple times in a query.
Notation
Find result
Example
term1 term2
with both term1 and term2
[ carry-on luggage ]
term1 OR term2 term1 term2
with either term1 or term2 or both
[ Tahiti OR Hawaii ]
[ Tahiti Hawaii ]
+term
with term (The + operator is typically used in front of stop words that Google would otherwise ignore or when you want Google to return only pages that match your search terms exactly. However, the + operator can be used on any terms.)
[ +i spy ]
–term
without term
[ twins minnesota –baseball ]
~term
with term or one of its synonyms (currently supported on Web and Directory search)
[ google ~guide ]
number1..number2
with a number in the specified range
[ recumbent bicycle $250..$1000 ]
"terms1 * terms2"
with the phrase (enclosed in quotes) and * replaced by one or more words
[ “Google * my life” ]
“phrase“
with the exact phrase, a proper name, or a set of words in a specific order
[ “I have a dream” ]
[ “Rio de Janeiro” ]
The Wayback Machine, also known as the Internet Archive, maintains a digital library of snapshots of many Internet sites.
Avoid using a question as a query.
When Google detects very common words such as where, do, I, for, and a, known as stop words, it ignores them
If you want pages containing any (instead of all) of your search terms, use the OR operator.
Use the + operator or enclose more than one term in quotes (" ") to insist that Google search for exactly these words.
Google limits queries to 32 words.
Search Behaviors
Descriptions
Implicit AND
Google returns pages that match all your search terms. Because you don't need to include the logical operator AND between your terms, this notation is called an implicit AND.
Exact Matching
Google returns pages that match your search terms exactly.
Word Variation
Automatic Stemming
Google returns pages that match variants of your search terms.
Common-Word Exclusion
Google ignores some common words called “stop words,” e.g., the, on, where, and how. Stop words tend to slow down searches without improving results.
32-Word Limit
Google limits queries to 32 words.
Term Proximity
Google gives more priority to pages that have search terms near each other.
Term Order
Google gives more priority to pages that have search termsin the same order as the query.
Case Insensitivity
Google is case-insensitive; it shows both upper- and lowercase results.
Ignoring Punctuation
Google ignores most punctuation and special characters including , . ; ? [ ] ( ) @ / * < >
The tilde (~) operator takes the word immediately following it and searches both for that specific word and for the word’s synonyms. It also searches for the term with alternative endings. The tilde operator works best
Special Characters: Summary
This table summarizes how to use the basic search operators described in this chapter. You may include any of these operators multiple times in a query.
Notation
Find result
Example
term1 term2
with both term1 and term2
[ carry-on luggage ]
term1 OR term2 term1 term2
with either term1 or term2 or both
[ Tahiti OR Hawaii ]
[ Tahiti Hawaii ]
+term
with term (The + operator is typically used in front of stop words that Google would otherwise ignore or when you want Google to return only pages that match your search terms exactly. However, the + operator can be used on any terms.)
[ +i spy ]
–term
without term
[ twins minnesota –baseball ]
~term
with term or one of its synonyms (currently supported on Web and Directory search)
[ google ~guide ]
number1..number2
with a number in the specified range
[ recumbent bicycle $250..$1000 ]
"terms1 * terms2"
with the phrase (enclosed in quotes) and * replaced by one or more words
[ “Google * my life” ]
“phrase“
with the exact phrase, a proper name, or a set of words in a specific order
[ “I have a dream” ]
[ “Rio de Janeiro” ]
The Wayback Machine, also known as the Internet Archive, maintains a digital library of snapshots of many Internet sites.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Hypertext Book Activity
This summary, including hypertext, is on the book The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley; illustrated by Brian Selznik.
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