The worldwide web is overflowing with information and search engines such as Google are great for retrieving instant information on just about…. everything. However, it can feel like we fall down a wormhole sometimes and even if you’re online on a regular basis, you might want to improve your searching techniques. Here are some easy practices you can follow to improve your Googling abilities and ensure your search results are accurate and relevant every time.
Be specific with your Google search.
Begin your search with a general term and narrow it down to the specific query as you continue the searching process. For example, if you search for ‘Cookery classes’ you'll probably get a range of interesting results in that category, but they might not be suited to your skill level or in travelling distance. On the second search, try being a little more specific – for example: ‘Beginners cookery classes in London’.
Use search modifiers.
Google's search algorithm is very adept at returning the information you are looking for – even when you aren't too sure yourself. But for those times when you know precisely what you need, you can refine your search results with these tips:
Search inside a single website.
If you want results from within only one website, type site: followed by the website’s URL use and the specific search term. For example, if you wanted to find cake recipes on Yours.co.uk, you would enter site
Exclude terms with a hyphen.
Want to exclude certain terms from your search results? Use the hyphen or ‘minus’ symbol (-) to omit all the terms you don't want. For example, if you wanted to find hair-styling products for all hair types except curly ones, you would type best hair-styling products -curly to omit any results showing curly hair products.
Set specific time restraints.
Looking for the latest news about a subject or trying to find information relevant to a specific time frame? Take advantage of Google's search tools to filter your search results. After you conduct a search, click ‘ools’ underneath the search bar on the top right and click ‘any time’ and the drop-down menu will let you narrow results to hours, weeks, and months, or even set a custom date range.
Search Google with placeholders.
Have you ever thought of a song lyric or famous movie quote, but can’t quite remember all of it? Googleis great for finding out such things. Simply type as much of the phrase as you can remember but place an asterisk (*) with a space on either side and Google will usually be able to fill in the rest.
Voice search.
Unsure how to spell a phrase or word? Searching by voice is a great way to solve this problem. If you’re using a computer, go to the Google homepage and click the little microphone icon in the search box next to the search bar. This function is only currently supported in the Chrome browser.