I wrote an article a few weeks ago that looked at the top 5 keyword phrases in Google. This article is a look at some searching tools within Google to help you fine tune your searches even further.
photo by Googler Don Loeb, used under a CC-license]
As I have become more and more involved in the online world over the past few years I am amazed at how many tools are available from Google. They seem to just pop up in something I read or a class I take and each time I think, “why didn’t I know that already”.
I finally decided to do a search and see if I could find a page or something that would once and for all tell me everything possible from Google. I was even more surprised in what I found. I had no idea.
There are actually more than 5 things I didn’t know but I figured 5 would be a pretty good number to list. Since its a top 5 list I am going to start with #5.
#5 Basic Searches: Most people know about the quotes around your phrase will search that exact phrase and not the random words. But did you know that a search with a “-“ sign will extract a word. i.e. salsa –dance will search the word salsa but not the word dance.
#4 Book Searches: To search for book related information on a topic you enter book or books before the search term. No colon is necessary for this particular search. i.e. book The Essence of Zen.
#3 Movie: You can find reviews and showtimes of movies simply by typing in Movie: angels and demons
#2 Booking Flights. city1 city2 - You can book flights via Google by typing in the city’s of travel.
And the #1 thing I did not know you could do in a Google search bar -
#1 Calculator: You can actually use your Google search bar as a calculator. Amazing. Try it. Type in 45 + 34 and you get the answer. You can get percentages too. 45% of 35 and you get the answer.
Where I found all of this out is a great site called non other than.
If this post gave you any inspiration or you would like to add any helpful hints please leave a comment below.
Happy Searching.
