If you, like me,
didn’t think it was possible for Google to make searching for things on the
Internet even easier, then you sure are wrong!
It turns out
there are several Google ‘shortcuts’ that can make finding anything from a
definition to a specific brand or item, even simpler.
Here are some of the
most useful ways to use Google more effectively:
How
would you search for an exact word or phrase?
If you put the word or phrase you are
searching for in parenthesis [“ and ”], Google will specify the search so that
the results will contain exactly what is within the quotation.
Did you know that ‘Carpe Diem’ is a Latin
phrase meaning to ‘seize the day’? Well, now you do.
How
would you search for something on a specific site?
In order to search for something on a
specific site, lets say you are looking for the Women’s Department at Macy’s,
all you have to do is search [site: macy’s womens] and the first link should
lead you straight to the Women’s Department at Macy’s!
How
would you correctly search for a definition?
Now this one is really easy. All you have
to do is type [define:] and then the word that you want to define, into the
Google search bar. Google will give you the exact definition of that word at
the top of the search page.
For example, if you didn’t know before
reading this what the word “syntax” means, now you’ll know! (I had to search
the definition before I even started writing this)
How
would you search for a specific product available within a specific price
range?
Let’s say you’re looking to buy a
Polaroid Camera between $100 and $200. Just type [Polaroid Camera 100..200]
into the search bar and this is what you’ll get:
How
would you search for a specific filetype?
Depending on the type of file you are
searching for, you just have to type in the name followed by [ext.pdf] or [ext.doc] for example. The first result in your search should give you the [PDF], [DOC], [PPT], etc. file for the topic you searched.
How
would you include or ignore words in your search?
Including or ignoring words in your
search is as simple as adding a + or – to those words which you would or
wouldn’t like included. For example, searching [computers – windows], gives you
results for everything computer related, excluding Windows computers. The first
result this search turned up was actually an ad for the new MacBook Pro from
Apple.
How
would you find related pages?
All you have to do to find similar pages
is type [related:] followed by whatever you want really. Here’s an example for
all those Harry Potter fans out there (including myself):
How would you find a topic, searching all available synonyms of a word?
Just by adding [~] before the topic you
are searching for will give you thesaurus results for that word, as well as
search results based on synonyms of the word. An example would be to type
[~happy] into your Google search bar, and the result would be:
How
would you find the time in another country?
I think by now you will be able to guess
how to shortcut finding the time in another country. It’s as easy as typing in [time:]
followed by your country of choice. For example,
How
would you find out how many Egyptian pounds you get for $20 Canadian dollars?
If you know the
abbreviations for Canada and Egypt then this should be quite easy for you.
Using this example all you’d have to type in would be [20 CAD to EGP] and then
you’d find out that $20 is 133 Egyptian Pounds, give or take a pound. It’s as simple
as that.
If you're looking for more Google-related shortcuts, simply type [related: google shortcuts] into Google and you're sure to find some! You can also check out this video for more helpful tips:
No comments:
Post a Comment