How to search Google: Google is popular because it is easy to use. Just type in your question and get results! But smart searching helps you get more relevant results at the top of your search. Here are some Google search tricks you should know and use.
Tip |
Sample Search |
What it does |
| Use quotes | "red apples" (instead of red apples without the quotes) | Putting a phrase in quotes makes Google search for the words in the phrase together instead of both words individually. |
| Use a hyphen to eliminate unwanted results. | apple -tree | This will eliminate all results about apple trees and keep results about apples. |
| Use a colon to search specific sites |
apple site:webmd.com apple site:.org apple -site:.com |
The first example will search webmd.com for information on apples. The second example will search any site with the .org domain name. The third example will search for apple on all sites excluding .com sites. (There are no spaces between site, the colon, and the following terms). |
| Use filetype: to search specific filetypes |
apple filetype:pdf |
This will search for PDFs that contain information on apples. (There are no spaces between filetype, the colon, and the following terms). |
| Use location: to search specific locations |
apple location:pennsylvania |
This will search for information on apples in Pennsylvania. (There are no spaces between location, the colon, and the following terms). |
| Use Boolean operators |
Granny smith OR Gala Granny smith | Gala apple site:org OR site:.edu |
The first two examples will search for two types of apple at once. The second example will search for apple on .org or .edu domains. (OR must be in capital letters) |
| Use a colon to search specific titles | intitle:apple | This example will find websites with the word apple in the title. (If you remember part of a useful article title, this might help you find it). |
| Use an asterisk (wildcards) | apple nutr* | This example would return results about apple nutrients and apple nutrition (and anything else that started with apple nutr...) |
| Use AROUND(#) | apple AROUND(5) nutrition | This example would return results where the words apple and nutrition are within 5 words of each other. |
| Use ~ | ~apple | This example will search for apple and synonyms of apple. (There is no space between the tilde and the search term). |
| Use .. (two periods) to search within two number ranges | apples 1770..1800 | This example will search for information about apples also containing any number (ex. perhaps years) between 1770 and 1800. (There is no space between the periods and the numbers). |
