We all know Google. Most of us are even aware that it is a search engine (Dad, get on board). But how many of us know how to use Google to its full potential? Go ahead raise your hand… Now, if you didn’t raise your hand, keep reading on; but if you did, just peruse my ads and then move along. Anyhow, I have looked at many tips and have assembled my top 10 favorites. Now, let’s move on to the tips:

1. Use Quotations (”):

   While many people may be aware of this one, I don’t think it is used enough. Basically, by putting quotations around a phrase, you can tell Google to search for that phrase, exactly as you type it. Ex: “the best top list”

2. Use Wild Cards (*):

   By adding the asterisk in a phrase, Google will look for various possibilities to fill in to that spot. The idea is that if you are looking for something but can’t remember a specific word (let’s say, a type of flower), you can put the asterisk in to be the wild card word. Ex: buy beautiful * flowers

3. Google Uncle Sam:

   Need information about a visa? Can’t remember the fifth amendment? Who is the president right now anyways?… Well, to search for information about the US government, just go to www.google.com/unclesam and find everything you need to know about the US of A.

4. Repeat Search Terms:

   If you really want to emphasize certain terms in your search, just repeat them. Literally. Just type the over once, twice, or even three times.

5. Use (intitle):

   You may want to make sure that the pages your search returns are very relevant to what you are looking for and don’t simply mention it once on the page. By looking for a specific title for a page, you will get more narrow an accurate results. Ex: intitle:J David Macor

6. Use (define):

   This is the one that I personally use the most. My vocabulary is well… less than stellar. I am always stumped on many words, so this tips is my favorite. Google can define any word for you and return results from different dictionaries. Ex: define:effervescent

7. Use (rphonebook):

   This is handy if you need to look up someone’s name. Just put it in and wait to see if they are publicly listed (you have to add a state, but the city is optional). You can also use bphonebook to find business listings. Ex: rphonebook:John Doe, Miami, FL

8. Use (weather):

   Here is a handy little tool. Instead of going to weather.com and finding your city and state you can just type in your city and state in Google or just your zip code after the word weather. Ex: weather 02115

9. Use Plus and Minus:

   These operators (the actual symbols) can help you find what you really need by adding them in front of a term you either really want or really want to exclude. Say you want to find info on Aids in the world, but exclude those pages related to Africa. Ex: Aids -Africa

10. Use (safesearch):

    I understand that you may not want to use this for yourself (wink), but maybe you could train your kid to only use this when searching google. That way, no nasty results would come up for them. Ex: safesearch: jugs

Remember that with most of these tips, you can combine several and really get Google to work for you! I also wanted to thank the sites where I found some of my tips from: Laptop, Google Guide, and Karen Blakeman’s Blog.

Oh, and if you want to print a full cheat sheet, check out this one from Google Guide. It is oh so very handy.