Using advanced operators during Google searches to get specific results

1. Using Google for Research Tricks and tips

3. How Google Searches

7. Implicit AND Results must contain ALL of the search terms

8. Stop words and punctuation By default, Google ignores common words, punctuation and capitalization

9. Stemming Search results may include variations of your search terms [bicycling swim] [minnesotan realtor]

10. ~ Force Google to include synonyms of a word [magnet ~marketing] [~funny realtor]

11. OR Use OR (all caps) or | to specify synonyms [birth OR baby announcements] [remax OR “re/max”]

12. Narrow Queries, Improve Results

13. Quotes and + Use quotes to search for an exact phrase or name. Use the + sign to prevent stemming and stop words. [“too much jelly” realtor] [libraries in central +LA California]

14. - Exclude pages that contain a certain word or phrase [keller williams -band] [school magnets –”magnet school”]

15. .. and * Search for a range of numbers with two periods or use an asterisks as a wildcard [“5000..10000 schedule magnets”] [“my big * wedding”]

16. Restrict which pages get searched

17. filetype: Search for specific file types such as .pdf, .ppt and .doc [“color guide” filetype:pdf] [top agents filetype:xls]

18. site: Return results from a specific domain or subdomain [magnets site:theknot.com] [“schedule magnets” site:.edu]

19. intitle: and inurl: Return pages with a keyword in its title or URL [intitle:FAQ wedding photography] [inurl:DIY]

20. Advanced Search Additional options like date of publication and language

21. Operators in action Find 3 lists of top wedding songs Find 5 schools that send out schedule magnets How many valentines day cards are sent each year? Find a printable wedding planning guide What do members of ActiveRain.com think of calendar magnets?

22. Bells and Whistles [info:tinyprints.com] [$300 in CAD] [weather Blaine MN] [define:acumen] [24*7+365] [define:googol]

23. Other tips What other Google tricks do you use to get information?