| Tip:Include your search in speech"
"marks for an exact match.
EG: " The fifth planet from the sun"
Try without the speech marks for a broader search .
Advanced Search Made Easy
You can increase the accuracy of your searches by adding
operators that fine-tune your keywords. Most of the options listed on
this page can be entered directly into the Google search box or selected
from Google's Advanced
Search page.
Additionally, Google supports several advanced operators
which are query words that have special meaning to Google.
"
+ " Searches
Google ignores common words and characters
such as "where" and "how", as well as certain single
digits and single letters, because they tend to slow down your search
without improving the results. Google will indicate if a common word has
been excluded by displaying details on the results page below the search
box.
If a common word is essential to getting
the results you want, you can include it by putting a "+" sign
in front of it. (Be sure to include a space before the "+" sign.)
Another method for doing this is conducting
a phrase search, which simply means putting quotation marks around 2 or
more words. Common words in a phrase search (e.g., "where are you")
are included in the search.
For example, to search for Star Wars, Episode
I, use:
"
- " Searches
Sometimes what you're searching for has
more than one meaning; "bass" can refer to fishing or music.
You can exclude a word from your search by putting a minus sign ("-")
immediately in front of the term you want to avoid. (Be sure to include
a space before the minus sign.)
For example, to find web pages about bass
that do not contain the word "music", type:
"
~" Searches
You may want to search not only for a particular
keyword, but also for its synonyms. Indicate a search for both by placing
the tilde sign ("~") immediately in front of the keyword.
For example, to search for food facts as
well as nutrition and cooking information, use:
Phrase
Searches
Search for complete phrases by enclosing
them in quotation marks. Words enclosed in double quotes ("like this")
will appear together in all results exactly as you have entered them.
Phrase searches are especially useful when searching for famous sayings
or proper names.
"OR"
Searches
Google supports the logical "OR" operator.
To retrieve pages that include either word A or word B, use an uppercase
OR between terms.
For example, to search for a vacation in
either London or Paris, just type:
Domain
Restrict
If you know the website you want to search
but aren't sure where the information is located within that site, you
can use Google to search only that domain. Do this by entering what you're
looking for followed by the word "site" and a colon followed
by the domain name.
For example, to find admission information
on Stanford University's site, enter:
Numrange
Searches
Numrange can be used to specify that results
contain numbers in a range you set. You can conduct a numrange search
by specifying two numbers, separated by two periods, with no spaces. Be
sure to specify a unit of measure or some other indicator of what the
number range represents.
For example, you might conduct a search
for DVD player $250..300 or 3..5 megapixel digital camera.
Numrange can be used to set a range for everything from dates (Willie
Mays 1950..1960) to weights (5000..10000 kg truck).
Other
Advanced Search Features
- Language: specify which language you would
like your results returned in.
- Date: restrict your results to the past three,
six, or twelve months.
- Occurrences: specify where your search terms
occur on the page - anywhere on the page, in the title, or in the url.
- Domains: search only a specific website or
exclude that site completely from your search.
- SafeSearch: Google's SafeSearch screens for
sites that contain this type of information and eliminates them from
search results. [Learn more...]
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