Amazing tips and tricks for using Google
Everyone uses Google yet few know just how powerful and convenient it can be. Check out these little-known tips and tricks to make your online search that much easier.
1. Search for an exact word or phrase
Putting your search terms in double quotation marks will only bring up searches for those words or phrases. It’s a great option to search quotes or song lyrics. For example “Imagine all the people”
2. Exclude certain words from a search
Add a dash or minus sign (-) before the words you want to exclude. For example, if you want to find a recipe without nuts because of an allergy search “Chocolate cake recipe -nuts”.
3. Search within a website
You can use Google to search within a specific website by typing in your search term followed by “site:” and then the URL of the website – a handy option if you remember reading an article from a website but can’t find it. For example, if you found a recipe on Over60 but can’t find it anymore search “recipe site:oversixty.com.au” and all recipes on Over60 will come up.
4. Do two Google searches at once
Add OR (must be capitalised) between words. Without the OR, results would only show pages that match both terms. For example, “world cup location 2014 OR 2018”.
5. Fill the blank
If you’ve blanked on some phrases, quotes or lyrics and it’s bothering you, never fear Google will work it out for you. Fill in the blanks of any searches with asterisks (*). For example “a * saved is a * earned” and Google will tell you it’s “a penny saved is a penny earned”.
6. Define a word
If you’re after a quick definition type “define:” followed by the word. It will also show you synonyms and origins of the word. For example “define: preposterous”.
7. Search for a number range
Separate your number range by two periods without any spaces (..) to return results within your specific number range. You can do it with dates, prices or measurements. For example, if you want to search for digital cameras within a price range you would search “camera $50..$150”. If you are looking for news about eclipses you would search “eclipse 2008..2014”.
8. Set a timer
If you’re watching a movie on your laptop or tablet but need to remember to pick someone up, you can always set a timer on Google. Type in “set timer for” and the Google timer will appear. Enter times you want and Google will beep at you when the time runs out.
9. Do maths
Type your equations in Google and it will do the work for you. For example “33% of 2000”.
10. Similar words
Google can search for words and all of its synonyms by adding a ~ before the word. For example, if you type “~mobile phone”, you will also get results that include “cellular” and “wireless” and so on.