4 Useful Ways to Google-It

by Josh Stearns

Tech Tip

Information on just about anything is at your fingertips because of popular search engine sites such as Google (www.google.com) and Yahoo (www.yahoo.com). In this month’s Tech Tip, I’m going to focus on useful ways to “Google-It.”

Many Internet users are not aware of Google’s many search features. Although you can find the published list of Google Search Features at http://www.google.com/help/features.html, I’m going to share four Google search features with you that I use all the time.

[Note: Although I have pulled the explanations and examples for these features directly from Google, I did edit them slightly for clarity.]

Definitions
To find a definition for a word or phrase, simply type the word "define," then a space and then the word(s) you want defined. If Google has seen a definition for the word or phrase on the Web, it will retrieve that information and display it at the top of your search results.

Q & A
Want to know the population of Japan? What currency is used in Algeria? The birthplace of Bono? Hit Google with a fact-based question or query (like "population of Japan") by typing it into the search box. Results will be displayed at the top of your search results page. Google also links to its source for this information so that you can learn even more.

Site Search
To quickly find information on a particular Web site, typing the word "site" followed by a colon will enable you to restrict your search to a specific site. To do this, use the site:sampledomain.com syntax in the Google search box. For example, to find admission information on Stanford's site, enter:

File Type Search

If you prefer to see a set of search results with a specific file type (PDF links for example), simply type filetype:[extension] (for example, filetype:pdf) within the search box along with your search term(s).

I have found these Google search features very useful and am confident they will help you find what you’re looking for – quickly and easily.

Until next month, have fun experimenting with these four ways to Google-It.

Josh Stearns is Vice President of Sales & Marketing at AccuBuild. He can be reached by e-mail at josh@accubuild.com or by phone at 800-728-6853 x801.