7 Basic tips on how to search the internet with Google.

Many people are searching for information on how to search the internet, or how to use Google. I am assuming that they do know how to search the internet, but that they want to know how to search the internet better, so i have compiled a few notes of the common search tools i use with Google when searching the internet.

As a lot of people know, the best way to find what you want on the internet is to search through a big search engine, such as Google or Yahoo. However, there are still ways to better your search results and get them more on par with what you are looking for in the SERP (Search engine results pages).

In particular this article I am happy to show you my most successful ways of finding what I want on the internet using the Google Search engine.

Basic Operators to help with searching the internet through Google.

Here are 7 basic operators i use in different scenarios to search the internet using Google.

1) The ‘+’ operator.
This forces words to be included in the search results pages. For example if you were searching for Blue widgets (and only blue widgets) your search should be “Widgets +blue”‘.

2) The ‘-’ operator.
This will do the exact opposite of the ‘+’ sign, any words you do not want included in the search results must have a minus sign after it. For example “Widgets -blue” will bring your results that do not include blue and widgets together.

3) the ‘OR’ operator. (has to be in CAPS)
This operator does exactly what you would think it does, it will select any of the 2 or more options. For example “blue OR green OR red widgets”

4) The ‘~’ operator.
This will sort synonyms of the words you are searching for. For example “baking a cake ~tips” may return results with the word “hints” instead of tips, but still find you results around baking a cake. So you don’t actually have to tell Google everything just enough to know what you mean.

5) The * operator.
This sign will act as a wild card (any word). For example “* widgets” may get you results that include “skinny widgets”, “big widgets”,”green widgets” etc.
This operator allows you to let Google do the work, of finding matches relating to your first word.

6) the “” operators
These operators are one of my for frequently used operators. This operator search an exact match between the 2 quotes. So if i am looking for a song title and i know part of the lyrics, then i would normally quote those lyrics between “” marks. For example ” “Take my hand and well make it” bon jovi ” will probably bring up one of Bon Jovi’s number one hits.

and lastly..

7) The .. Operator
This operator is used pretty specifically for searching in a range of numbers. For example “2..20 doughnuts” may get your searh results like “I eat 3 doughnuts a day” and “I’ll never eat more than 15 doughnuts a day”.

Ofcourse you can combine these operators to get some advances queries going, and define better results in the SERP.

Google themselves also have a great guide on how to search the internet and how to use google.

Stay tunes for more advanced techniques you can use to help you search the internet more effectively.