Google is the most popular search engine in the world. However, did you know that there are special characters and words that you can include in your search for even better results? Try following the tricks on your next Google search for more accurate results.
01. Use quotation marks (“”) to search for an exact word or phrase
If you put your search terms in double quotes, Google shows only the pages with that exact phrase you put in the quotes. For example, if you search “ancient city of Polonnaruwa“Google search results include only pages with the phrase ancient city of Polonnaruwa.
Alternatively, if you are a beginner, you can use this method to check your writing by searching Google for parts of your sentences. If the Google search returns some results, you get an idea about your writing.
02. Search for wildcards or unknown words (use * in quotes)
you can use asterisks
inside the quotes to specify variables or unknown words. Google will find the pages with results that have some words at the rate of asterisks.
This is useful if you are trying to find specific phrases but can’t remember certain words in them. You can replace the words you don’t remember with asterisks and Google will find the missing words.
Also, you can improve your writing skills by studying the use of words in sentences by Googling them with the combination of asterisks and quotation marks.
03. Use the minus sign (-) to exclude results that contain a specific keyword
If you want to exclude results that contain specific keywords, you can add a minus sign (-) in front of the keywords. For example, if you want to search for “what is internet” and you don’t want results with “Wikipedia”, you can search;
what is internet – wikipedia
04. Search within a specific websiteIf you want to search for something on a specific site, put “place:
” in front of the site or domain. For example, you can search;
“Ancient City of Polonnaruwa” site: slplaces.com
05. Limit the period of time
With Google search, you can specify the expected time period for your search results. After running the search, click on “tools” (under the search bar) and a new menu will appear below. Select/set the appropriate time period from the “Anytime” dropdown menu.
06. Search for file typesIf you want to search for a specific file type, add it to the end of the search with “Type of file:
” command. For example, if you want to search for “excel for beginners” and you want to get results with PDF, you can search for;
“excel for beginners” file type: PDF
07. Find related sites
You can search for sites similar to sites by putting “related:” in front of the domain you already know. For example; You can search for sites similar to “tripadvisor.com” as below;
related: tripadvisor.com
08. Translate words and phrases into different languages
You can use Google search to translate words and phrases into different languages. For example, you can translate the word “wildcard” into Sinhala by searching as follows; translate wildcard a
Singhalese
09. Unit and currency conversions
You can use Google search for units and currency conversions. For example; the search term 15USD to LKR will convert 15USD to Sri Lankan Rupees. To convert 15 feet to meters, use 15 feet in m.
10. Search in titles
If you put “intitle:” in front of your search query, Google shows pages with the title that includes the word placed right after “intitle:”.
If you use “allintitle:”, Google returns pages with all the words that appear after them.
For example;
intitle:WordPress CMS renders pages with the term “WordPress” in the titles
allintitle:WordPress CMS renders pages with both the terms “WordPress” and “CMS” in the titles
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