by Kevin Sanchez

Created on: October 30, 2009

Searching the web using Google seems easy to most people, but actually you can tweak and optimize your search terms to get better and more relevant results. I'll show you a few basic search tricks any Google user should know.

= Operators =

You can add operators to your search terms to get better results. A few operators are...

= OR =

Using the OR operator in a two-word search term, Google will search for one word or the other one. Let's say you enter this search term:

Italy OR Spain

You'll get results for either Italy OR Spain.

= Double quotes ("...") =

Using double quotes allows you to search for an exact phrase. Let's say you enter this search term:

"I love computers"

You'll get results containing the exact phrase 'I love computers'.

= Minus sign (-) =

Use the minus sign to exclude a word from the results. Let's say you enter this search term:

Italy -spaghetti

You'll get results containing information about Italy, but nothing about spaghetti.

= Plus sign (+) =

Use the + sign to search for an exact word. Let's say you enter this search term:

+computer

You'll get results for the word 'computer', not the plural or any tenses or synonyms.

= Tilde (~) =

Search for a word including its synonyms. Let's say you enter this search term:

~beverages

You'll get results for the word 'beverages' and the synonyms for that word, such as drinks, etc.

= define: =

Allows you to use Google as a dictionary/glossary. Let's say you enter this search term:

define:computer

Google will show you the definitions of a computer.

= Asterisk (*) =

You can use the asterisk as a 'joker'. Let's say you enter this search term:

"i * computers"

Google will come up with results like: I love computers, I hate computers, I fix computers, etc.

= Use Google as a calculator =

Many of us do already know this, but for the beginning Googler, this might be a secret. You can use Google as a calculator. Use the + sign to add, the - sign to subtract, the * to multiply and / to divide. Simply enter the calculation that needs to be done in the search box and Google will calculate it. For example: enter 100+100 and Google will come up with '200', the result.

It's also possible to calculate the percentage of a number. Let's say you need to know what 30% of 3700 is. Simply enter: 30% of 3700. Google will come up with '1110', the result.

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