As we noted earlier, sometimes the hardest part of finding your way around the web is knowing where to look. Fortunately, Google provides a world of tools to help you find just about anything. Before spending too much time traversing the side-streets of the web, take a few moments to get familiar with some of Google’s lessor known offerings.
Advanced Search
Maps - Need to find directions? There is a solution for you. You can search for locations (Wendy’s), addresses or more general queries (resturants close to the airport). A must use for travelers.
Book Search - Find excerpts and even some full copies of books using Google’s Book Search.
Scholar - Search for scholarly papers. If you are looking for that hard to find scientific journal, Google just might have it.
Shopping - Find products, compare prices, and save yourself the hassle of memorizing a dozen commerce sites.
Video - Scads and scads of video resources at your fingertips.
You can find tons of other Google products here.
Just in case you haven’t gotten enough power out of your Google search, here are a few more operators you can use to help you refine your web searches:
The query [link:] will list webpages that have links to the specified webpage. For instance, [link:www.google.com] will list webpages that have links pointing to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “link:” and the web page url.
The query [related:] will list web pages that are “similar” to a specified web page. For instance, [related:www.google.com] will list web pages that are similar to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “related:” and the web page url.
The query [info:] will present some information that Google has about that web page. For instance, [info:www.google.com] will show information about the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “info:” and the web page url.
More Search Tips
“Word Definitions: If you need to quickly look up the definition of a word or phrase, simply use the “define:” command.
Example: define:plethora” — HubPages
“Calculator. One of the handiest uses of Google, type in a quick calculation in the search box and get an answer. It’s faster than calling up your computer’s calculator in most cases. Use the +, -, *, / symbols and parentheses to do a simple equation.” — Dumblittleman
“Google shows direct answers for simple questions above the search results. When you try to find a simple fact, enter you query this way: “Italy population”, and not as a complicated question like ‘How many people are in Italy?’ because you might confuse Google.” — Google Operating System
More Reading
Google Lab
Ten obscure Google search tips
Advanced Google search operators