Making the Most of Google Search

I first went online in the year 1996. It was a modest 56K Modem which used a phone line. The sound of the modem connecting to the internet still rings in my head even after so many years. I bet a lot of people still recognise the sound or miss it even. Someone in the house picking up the phone to make a call would leave you cursing as your internet connection went disconnected.

Google didn’t even exist at that time. There were various search engines at that time and we were searching for the fastest search engines we could find as internet connection was slow; very slow. However, we were amazed by what internet could do. Even now, internet is still very amazing!

Google search, in my opinion, is the fastest search engine at the moment. Many functions have been added to improve search-ability but it is still quick. But the question is how many of you actually know how to search? Type a word in the search box and browse through the results pages by pages? You will be amazed at what Google search can do if you look deeper.

Adult Search - SafeSearch

Let’s face it. Majority of search engine users search for pornography every day. I believe that this is also the reason why spyware and malware are usually found on adult sites. With the number of users visiting adult sites each day, spyware and malware spread like diseases.

Anyway, you may already be so expert in this area that what I am saying in this section is totally useless to you. But have you ever wonder why the results may not be what you are actually searching at times? There is an option called SafeSearch located to the right of the search box. In there, you have ‘Off’, ‘Moderate’ and ‘Strict’. I don’t think they need more explanation than that. Ultimately, ‘Off’ gives you everything that matches what you search.

Specific Search

Search is not limited by a word or two. You can type a whole sentence in the search box and Google will still look for similar results. However, you get various irrelevant results if your sentence is too long. Thus, find the keyword in the sentence that you are going to search and surround the word with double quotes. Google will ensure that the word in the double quotes appears in every result.

Most users do not realise that if they are going to search for images they can click on the Images links and if they are going to search for videos, they can click on the Videos link. They links are available at the top as well as on the left. I find it very useful when I want to do some online shopping. Instead of going to each and every online shops and search for a particular item, I can go to Google Search and use the shopping link. The results will show the prices of online shops that sell the item that I am searching.

Try out other links when searching and you will realise that searching can be fun too!

Location Search

Google is very capable in search and that is why Google is the top search engine. Through the network that you are connected to, Google is able to determine your location and whatever you search; the results will be relevant to your location. If you fancy know what other places have to offer, or if you would like to expand your search territory, you can amend the location located on the left.

Well, what do I mean by expand the search territory? I can enter my home postcode and it will narrow the search near the place I live which will probably be nothing. I can then expand the search territory by entering the town name, county name, or United Kingdom.

Timeline

I follow news most of the time; IT news. It changes every second and when you search for something related to technology, the results are just too many. A lot of time, you get to see the links that you have visited before. But the problem is that you would like to see something new or something that has just been uploaded on the Internet.

Well, I use the time section. It has been defaulted to Any Time, Latest, Past 24 hours, Past 2 days, Past week, Past month, and Past year. It even allows you to put a custom date range. I was following the launch of iPad 2 and I used the Past 24 hour’s results. It was great as I don’t have to keep scrolling and looking at links which are not the latest.

Preview

Google Search comes with a site preview. Some of you may have accidentally activated the function. The Google Search shows a list of results, there is a magnifying glass icon at the side of each link. It is light blue in colour but when you click on it, it becomes dark blue and you will see a preview of the site when you hover over your mouse.

Search Tools

There are various search tools here but I will only talk about some of the useful tools; Wonder wheel, Timeline, Dictionary and Reading Level. I don’t consider Wonder wheel as useful but it is an interesting feature. When you search for a specific term, the wonder wheel will give you a selection of related terms that you might interested in. As you a related term, it gives another selection of related terms and the wonder wheel keeps expanding.

Timeline gives you a bar type graph of information that you can find in every other years. The higher the bar means the more information about the search term in that year. The graph can be drilled down from range of years down to month.

Can’t remember the dictionary site that you have just visited a few days ago? Just remember Google and the dictionary search tool is better than most dictionary sites. Not only has it gives you the meaning of the word that you are searching; you have Synonyms, related phrases, related languages as well as a translator tools. Incredible!

Last but not least, the reading level. If you are looking for an article, Google Search enables you to narrow down the search to three different reading levels; Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. They are rather self-explanatory.

Finally…

Understanding the search pattern can really help save time as well as getting the results that you really want. I am glad that Google has improved the search functions over the years while not neglecting the speed. The main Google page is plain and simple but it is more than meets the eye.