How to Google. Better than Before.

March 24, 2010

Googling was officially entered into The Oxford and Webster dictionaries in 2006, and for a good reason. The world’s most popular search engine is that popular because it works. The internet is vast and unending. Growing at a faster pace than would ever be possible for any human to see it all. The good news is that because of how easy it has become to blog and make pages, EVERYONE is doing it. That means that there are pages from all professions, hobbies, and interests. Need to know about wine? Boom! There are tons of sites for that. Need to know how to make wool from a sheep? Boom! Tons of sites for that too. The key to being smart in this world is quickly shifting from experience, to knowing where to find resources. Here are a few tips to hone your Google search engine skills.

Before we begin, it’s important to note that Google is an Indexed Search engine. Which means it going around the internet constantly and saves things into a giant database, and searches that. That way, older information can still be found (via ‘cached’ sites) and put into your results. So if a newspaper has a front page article from a year ago that is relevant, odds are that Google hung onto it for you. Clicking the “cached” link just below a search result will take you to those page relics.

Now, on to the tips:

Searching locally:
Phone books are becoming a thing of the past. Not only are they a waste of paper, but they aren’t at our fingertips all day like our computers are. To find local business, don’t bother with typing “near St. Louis,” just search as you normally would and add your zip code! Searching “Taco Bell 63132” brings up the closest restaurants to our office. It also brings up maps to help show you where the locations are.

Searching specific sites:
If you want to search ONLY ONE site, just add “site:example.com” This gives you the freedom to search single sites for specific information. If you’d like to search our articles for a particular phrase, try searching “email site:careeradvancementcorp.com” This will bring up any articles or pages that mention the word “email.” A handy way to narrow down to specific things!

Searching for general knowledge:
wikepedia is another great (although not always credible) source for information. If you need to quickly find out about copy machines or information about a particular person, adding “wiki” to your search will add wikipedia results to your list. Even though they aren’t always 100% reliable, they’re often a good place to start.

Other things you can search for:
Don’t forget that Google’ index is very good at keeping track of data. If you get a phone call from a number you don’t recognize, type the number into Google’s search engine. Search model numbers to find manuals, search full sentences to look for how-to articles or better written information. There are very few things that WON’T turn up good search results, but just remember, if nothing turns up, adding MORE information doesn’t help! Take away a few details and you’ll get more results!

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