10 Google Search Tips and Tricks | Be Specific, Faster and Better

Google is our go-to site whenever we have something to find. We make over 40,000 search queries every single second. This indicates that 3.5 billion searches are made daily worldwide.

Right now, Google does a pretty good job of providing you with precise results in a flash. However, you might occasionally find yourself looking through the results and wishing that everything was a little bit more accurate and better. Indeed, you can kick up your searching game and use a few simple tricks to find more specific and better results in less time.

10 Google Search Tips and Tricks

Here is how you can make the most of the search engine.

1. Exclude Terms

When we search for something, there may be a ton of results that are pertinent to our search but not what we were after. You might, for instance, search for mascarpone. But instead of getting plenty of recipes, you might want to find opportunities to buy the dessert. To do this, you can exclude the words by using the minus symbol such as mascarpone -recipes.

exclude a term in google

Look at the results. They are completely different. You won’t see a web page with the word ‘recipes’ anywhere.

2. Search Only Files(mp3 or PDF etc)

If you are searching for a PDF file about Bill Gates and do not want Google to include every other thing in search results then search like this  – Filetype:PDF Bill Gates and Google will only display pages containing PDF files.

search only for a specific file format in google

3. Exact Phrase

Sometimes you are looking for specific results and not suggestions or closely related things. If this is the case, use exact phrases by adding quote marks around the phrase or name you are looking for.

In order to find Wellington boots and only results that include these two in that specific order, enter “Wellington boots” in the search box. In the absence of quotation marks, Google will display results for both Wellington and boots.

find exact phrase on google

You can see every Google search result is containing the phrase ‘wellington boots’.

4. Utilize the Asterisk(*)

You might not realize it but the asterisk can be a rather powerful tool in Google. You can use Asterisk in place of an unknown word(s) while making a search and Google will fill in the blanks for you. Let’s understand this with an example –

If you can only recall a few words from a song’s line and want Google to remind you of the entire line, type a search like this – tell your* to* again(song line). Google will automatically replace the asterisks with proper words.

using asterisk in google search

You can see in the image that wherever we used * has been filled with a word/phrase.

5. Find Related Sites Easily

Occasionally, you might want to find related websites, and Google makes this possible. For instance, if you enjoy shopping on Amazon, you might be interested in learning about other comparable websites. Simply enter related:amazon.com in the search bar to find a list of websites that are similar to Amazon.com.

Finding similar sites can be helpful when you are looking to verify a news story or you need more references for your work.

related search google example

6. Either OR

In Google’s default search, every word in your query is used individually to find results. For instance, if you type Ram Shayam into Google, it will interpret this as “Ram and Shayam,” and it will return pages that include both words. But by adding the term “OR” to your search, you can find results with one or the other term – making the search faster and wider. For example, a Google search for Ram OR Shayam will return pages that either mention Ram exclusively or Shayam exclusively.

7. Google Understands Shortcuts

For quick information like a city’s pin code or the current weather, you don’t always need to visit a website. If you use a shortcut while searching, Google will understand your intent very well and provide you with quick information. For example –

Hisar PIN – Google will show the pin code of the city, Hisar, Haryana.

Weather 125001 – Google will show the weather report of a location linked with PIN code 125001.

4+6 – Google will display the calculation result directly rather than results for calculator websites.

Time Place – Google will show the location’s current time

There are many such shortcuts you can use to get information quickly without visiting a website.

8. Search Results from a Specific Website

You can visit a website and search anything using its inbuilt search box. What if a site does not have a search box? Well, you can use Google to get relevant results specifically from a website.

For example if you want to search everything related to ‘make money online’ but at the same time you want Google to include results only from incomopedia.com then try searching like this site:incomopedia.com make money online Or you can find all indexed pages of website by searching site:websitename.com . 

Search within a site in google


9. Find a Word in the Body, Title, or URL of a Page

You can narrow your search further and look for a specific term in the title of a post, website title,, or even the URL. For example

  • inurl: happy life (search pages that have at least one of the words (happy or life) in the URL)
  • intext: happy life
  • intitle: happy life
  • allinurl: happy life (search pages that have both the words happy and life in the URL)

using google search operator allinurl


10. Combine Two Or More Tricks

The tips and techniques mentioned above don’t have to be used alone. You can use two or more together to get precise and desired results. For example, you might want to find a specific item from a particular website but do not want a related term to come up in the search results. Searching site:bbc.co.uk mascarpone -recipes will display the results related to mascapone specifically from bbc.co.uk but the result pages won’t have the word recipes.

combining more than 1 google search tricks


So, use the above tricks and combine them as you wish – you’ll soon notice your searching game has improved and you’ll start making faster and better findings on Google.

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