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Google search tips Many of u may already know these..but these really help in searching.

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#1 User is offline   Kaivalya959 

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Posted 24 January 2009 - 12:34 PM

An insight on Google search

Google is one of the most popular search engines on the internet. Along with it's many features which Google provided such as Google Maps, Gmail etc. there are quite a few not-so-known Google tricks which are pretty cool and can get you many things which you initially didn't know how to get. Although Google does provide codes for optimizing searches many people either are not interested or simply don't know that. Here I have found quite a few cool and convenient Google search tricks which I have listed below.

1. Specific File Searching

If you want to search for specific file types then type the keywords and then filetype:type-of-file-you-want.

Example: If you want to search for a pdf manual then you would type "how to install ... filetype:pdf"

2. Google Dictionary

If you want the meaning of any word and don't have a dictionary around and don't want to keep on installing additional dictionary software everywhere you go, then the easiest way to find a definition of a word is to type define: the-word-you-want-the-meaning-of and that's it. Google will display the meaning of the word on the search results page itself. You can even search for the meanings of words which are not in the dictionary such as LOL, Java etc.

Example: If you want the meaning of the word blog, then you would type "define: blog" or "blog definition"

3. Finding the time of a place with Google

Now, if you want to find the time of a particular place and don't want to waste time remembering how many hours to add or subtract from the GMT time or don't want to install some time converting software then you can solve all your problems by just typing time name-of-city/place in the google search box.

Example: If you want to know the current time in London, then you would type "time London" in the search box.

4. Finding the weather of a place with Google

If you are going traveling and want to save on carrying extra baggage as you think it will be cold but the weather actually turns out to be hot at a particular place, or just want to know the weather of a particular place without waiting for the weather broadcast to air on television, then Google comes to your aid again! This time you just type the name of the city/place and then weather and there you have it..the current temperature and weather statistics right on the google search results page. Note: This might not work for certain places as Google can't monitor every single place in the world.

Example: If you would like to find the weather in Bangkok, then you type "Bangkok weather" in the search box.

5. Sport updates with Google

If you are a sports fan and want to check live scores, upcoming matches etc. then you can do that with Google as well. Just type the name of the tournament, league, season or just the team names and google gets you the information about the query. Note: This only works with ongoing tournaments or matches.

Example: If you want to see the next match for Manchester United in the English Premiere League then you just type "manchester united" in the search box. If you want to see live scores of an ongoing cricket match then just type the two teams playing the match, like "india vs australia cricket" and so on.

6. Google for mathematics
If you ever need to calculate something, be it simple things like 100 - 10 or advanced math like trignometric expressions, Google does it yet again. Just type the mathematical expression in the search box and hit enter. The results come up in the search results page itself.

Example: You want to calculate something, so you just have to type "1234*1234" or whatever in the search box and press enter.

7. Easily convert currency with Google
If you ever need to convert currency or want to know how much of one currency is equal to in another, then you can use Google for this as well. Just type the currency you want to convert and then "to" or "in" the currency you want to find and press enter in the search box.

Example: If you want to find how much 1 USD is equal to in INR then you type "1 USD to INR" in the search box, or if you want to find how much one Euro is
equal to in British pounds then you just type "1 euro in pounds" in the search box.

8. Google face finder
Now suppose you want to search for a person who is smiling or has a happy face for a particular occasion, so you type "happy" on Google, but the results that come were not what you expected, so you wonder how you can get a picture of a person who is happy. The answer is simple. Just type "imgtype=" in the URL of the search.

Example: For a search in which you want pictures of a person who has a happy face, you add "imgtype=face" in the URL of the search. So the URL will be http://images.google.com/images?q=happy&imgtype=face

Hope this helps in some way or the other! :thumbsup:

This post has been edited by Kaivalya959: 24 January 2009 - 12:36 PM


#2 User is offline   silverojo 

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Posted 27 January 2009 - 03:34 AM

I knew some of these tricks, but I'm always wanting to learn more ways to use Google. Thanks!
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#3 User is offline   Kaivalya959 

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Posted 30 January 2009 - 05:04 AM

Your welcome silverojo! :thumbsup:

#4 User is offline   Andrew 

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 03:58 PM

Some more good ones:

Searching for this OR that: (this|that|the other)
Enclose the terms withing parentheses and seperate them with a pipe (|) sysmbol

Searching for synonyms: ~word
placing a tilde (~) before a word will include all synonyms for that word in the search (like using the OR operand for eer synonym)

Search Only a specific web site: site:foobar.com
include the site: term followed by the url.

Search for pages with particular text in the URL: inurl:text
Use the inurl: operand to include only pages whose URL contains the search parameter given after the colon.

all of the above operands can be modified with the minus (-) symbol. The minus symbol makes the parameter act in reverse. That is, -inurl:foobar will exclude all pages which have foobar in their URL.

Edit: Spleling Errros

This post has been edited by Amazing Andrew: 13 March 2009 - 07:27 PM

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#5 User is offline   lhamil64 

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 03:35 PM

Wow. I knew of some of these, but that face detection one seems really cool!
I will bookmark this :D

#6 User is offline   Swordie 

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Posted 01 March 2009 - 12:33 AM

Google is a very powerful tool if you know how to use it. Thanks for the tips!
Who said I couldn't have everything?

#7 User is offline   Konstantin 

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 08:53 AM

Good tips.

Two more tips :thumbsup:

1) type "Find Chuck Norris" in Google and press ENTER

2) great site if you are fed up with being asked simple questions - http://lmgtfy.com

#8 User is offline   Kaivalya959 

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Posted 13 March 2009 - 04:46 AM

You're welcome people!

Thanks to Amazing Andrew and Konstantin for also contributing!

Also, feel free to bookmark this page or tell a friend about this! :thumbsup:

#9 User is offline   acesovereights 

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Posted 14 April 2009 - 09:13 AM

Thanks some good tips in this. Thanks Kaivalya959!

#10 User is offline   Stofzuiger 

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Posted 14 April 2009 - 09:51 AM

another tip: when u want google to filter the results by not showing certain results using -

for example ur looking for tutorials on Pascal as programming language, but with normal searches u regularly find results regarding Pascal as a name. U can try and search for Pascal -name and it wont show the results with "name" in it
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#11 User is offline   gamemaster1494 

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Posted 07 August 2010 - 11:26 PM

Wow. i knew about the currency conversion. It does that with anything as well. like kilometers to miles. Or km to miles. km to cm. etc. Didn't know about the other ones(though i won't rly use the other once, except maybe the one Stofzuiger said). Cool. thx. =D

#12 User is offline   princehappy 

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Posted 03 September 2010 - 08:37 AM

This are some tip to search in the google :-
1. Use symbol to return similar terms.
2. use symbol is a wildcard
3.If you can't remember any of these operators, you can always use Google's advanced search.
4.Use th Back link for the search the thing
5.Instead of searching for a term across all pages on the web, search within a specialized field

#13 User is offline   CStew23 

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Posted 04 September 2010 - 01:18 PM

This is an awesome guide!

#14 User is offline   Yellowmongoose 

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Posted 04 November 2010 - 01:45 PM

These are great! :thumbsup: I had no idea you could do these things on google!

Thanks very much!

#15 User is offline   ABNINF 

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Posted 08 November 2010 - 09:06 PM

Great Thread!

KC

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