How to search GOOGLE EFFICIENTLY

How to “SEARCH GOOGLE EFFICIENTLY” AGENDA POINTS      Introduction to Google Google Architecture Fill in the Blanks – “*” Diacritics Query modifiers Introduction to Google   Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Stanford Ph.D. candidates. In less than a decade, Google evolved from a two-man enterprise to a multibillion-dollar corporation.  The name "Google" originated from a misspelling of "googol,“ which refers to the number represented by a 1 followed by one-hundred zeros. GOOGLE Architecture The basic Google search rules you NEED TO KNOW:           Punctuation doesn’t count. So don’t worry about it. Keywords aren’t case sensitive. Google considers uppercase and lowercase letters to be equal. You are limited to ten words. Everything after ten words is truncated and ignored. Avoid misspellings. You won’t get the same search results. However, Google will show you the correct spelling and offer you the opportunity to do a search with the correct spelling. Be specific. The more targeted your keywords, the better your results. Singular and plural forms are different keywords to Google. So if the singular form doesn’t provide what you are looking for, try the plural form. Google ignores most common, short words like the, and, or, after in,, how, I, it, is was, will be, and so on. Google will notify you at the top of your search results if they have ignored some of your search terms. (Google will only recognize AND and OR when all capitalized and used as an operator.) Google finds results anywhere in a document, not just in its text (eg- the HTML of a page). Word order matters to Google. The first word is the most important word, and so on. Google Search – brings you a list of websites Advanced Searching in Google      The advanced search function allows you to narrow down your search to specific file types, publication dates, languages, specific sites, and more. The more options that you choose, the fewer search results you will receive, and the more likely they are to be what you are looking for. However, you want to be sure that you aren’t narrowing it down too much whereby you wouldn’t find enough stuff. If you don’t get enough results, then try removing some of your limiters. If you get too many results, try adding a limiter. Using advanced search will help you find what you are looking for faster because you don’t have to sort through as much stuff that is not what you are looking for. Explanations  What does “I’m feeling lucky” mean?  The "I'm Feeling LuckyTM" button automatically takes you to the first web page returned for your query. An "I'm Feeling Lucky" search means less time searching for web pages and more time looking at them. What does “Similar Pages” mean?  Clicking the Similar Pages link will return other results that are most similar to what you are you have found on a particular site. This will most often return competing sites will similar information, and when you are looking for information on a particular subject, but need more than one source, this is a great way to go.  Web Pages to Avoid      Spam Pages. Spam pages are pages placed by sites that are deceptive in nature. They contain keywords intended to fool Google and essentially exist for the sole purpose of displaying advertisements. Google weeds out most of these, but sometimes one gets through. Fortunately, you can report it to Google at www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html so that they can eliminate it from their search results. Commercial Pages. These types of sites are obviously trying to sell you something, which is good if you are looking to buy something, but not good if you are trying to find reliable, unbiased information. These types of websites are typically not helpful to researchers unless you are looking to buy something or are looking for product information. Logon Pages. These sites contain logon pages, which usually means you have to subscribe to the site in order to view the information. Subscriptions may just require you to fill out a form and provide personal information, or they may cost you money. Unless this is your last resort, don’t waste the time. You can always come back later. These pages can be identified by those asking for usernames and passwords. Error Pages. These pages usually contain the word “Error” somewhere in the snippet and on the page and usually describe the type of error. There’s nothing useful to you here, so if you see “error” don’t go there. Page Moved Pages. These usually contain the words “page moved”, “site moved”, “redirect” or “redirecting”. Often times this means that the web page no longer exists and you are being forwarded to the main page of the site. Advanced Features of Google    Fill in the Blanks – “*” Diacritics Query modifiers Fill in the Blanks – “*” You can replace unknown words with an asterisk - “*”. Google returns results substituting the “*” with words most frequently used in the context of the query. Use “*” for: Possible Uses for “*” Busted! Searching out suspected plagiarism. Possible Uses for “*” Including results with common misspellings. All spellings of a word will be found. Possible Uses for “*” Finding common variations. Do not use “*” for: Fill in the Blanks – “*” Replacing a character. If you try to use “*” to fill in a letter, number, or symbol… …Google will treat the characters on either side of the “*” like separate keywords. Diacritics Diacritics A diacritic or diacritical mark is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words If you search for a word with a diacritic (distinguishing mark) in it… …will Google return results with or without the diacritic? Diacritics The answer is: both! A search for unité produces results for both unite and unité. Diacritics To limit your search to only unité, add a “-” followed by unite. Diacritics Notice how the number of results has decreased. Query Modifiers Query Modifiers  Use these commands in the search window.       intitle: Find sites with one search term in the title. allintitle: Find sites with all search terms in the title. inurl: Find sites with one search term in the URL. allinurl: Find sites with all search terms in the URL. site: Limit your search to a specific web site. filetype: Specify a type of document to search. Query Modifiers – intitle: Find sites with one search term in the title. Query Modifiers – intitle: This search returns sites with the word shampoo in the title… …and ingredient anywhere in the document. Find sites with one search term in the title. Query Modifiers – allintitle: Find sites with ALL search terms in the title. Query Modifiers – allintitle: Notice fewer “hits” when shampoo AND ingredient must be found in the title of the page. Find sites with all search terms in the title. Query Modifiers – inurl: Find sites with one search term in the URL. Query Modifiers – inurl: This search returns sites with the word shampoo in the URL… …and ingredient anywhere in the document. Find sites with one search term in the URL. Query Modifiers – allinurl: Find sites with ALL search terms in the URL. Query Modifiers – allinurl: Notice fewer “hits” when shampoo AND ingredient must be found in the title of the page. Find sites with all search terms in the URL. Query Modifiers – site: Limit your search to a specific web site. Query Modifiers – site: Enter search terms, then qualifier. Finds elephant Example 1 race on the Cal State Fullerton site. Limit your search to a specific web site. Query Modifiers – site: Enter search terms, then qualifier. Example 2 Finds dinosaur on the Smithsonian Institute site. Limit your search to a specific web site. Query Modifiers – site: Enter search terms, then qualifier. Example 3 Limits search of schwarzenegger to official California senate pages. Limit your search to a specific web site. Query Modifiers – filetype: Specify a type of document to search. Query Modifiers – filetype: pdf – Adobe readable files Specify a type of document to search. Query Modifiers – filetype: pdf – Adobe readable files doc – Microsoft Word documents Specify a type of document to search. Query Modifiers – filetype: pdf – Adobe readable files doc – Microsoft Word documents mdb – Microsoft Access databases Specify a type of document to search. Query Modifiers – filetype: pdf – Adobe readable files doc – Microsoft Word documents D’oh! If you get no results from Google Web, try Google Images. mdb – Microsoft Access databases jpg, gif, tif – graphics and photos Specify a type of document to search. Query Modifiers – filetype: pdf – Adobe readable files doc – Microsoft Word documents Additional Material mdb – Microsoft Access databases jpg, gif, tif – graphics and photos ppt – Microsoft PowerPoint presentations Specify a type of document to search. THANK YOU Happy and Efficient Browsing