One of the things that we do most often on our computers or mobile devices is research. We use a web search service like Google to find information, connect to websites we like and so much more. If you're like me, you probably use Google to do almost everything - which isn't a bad thing.
However, in the office (and at home too) doing web searches can take up a great deal of time. It might not seem like it at first glance, but when you are doing a number of things at once, saving a few clicks and a few seconds can really make a difference to your overall productivity.
Over the past month or so, I've noticed that many people aren't all that familiar with the Google shortcuts that make searching for information online easy. In order to help, here are a few ways you can "hack" Google and find what you're looking for fast:
Use keywords effectively - Google works by looking for sites that contain the words you entered. While this works well, it means that you'll have to sift through pages of search results in order to find the ones that are the most relevant for you. In order to narrow things down, you can use a thing called operators in your search.
For example, if you use this symbol "~" before a word, Google will look for words that are related to it as well. For instance if you Googled ~colleges, you would also be searching for words like "university" or "higher education".
If you want to find information on a particular site, you can use the operator, "site:". For example, if you were searching for an article about cats in The New York Times, you would put in "Site:nytimes.com cats".
Another lesser known operator is "...". These elipsis represent a time range. For example, if you only wanted pictures of cats from 2010 to 2011, then your search would look like this - "site:nytimes.com cats 2010...2011".
If you are looking for a picture of a cat, then you can narrow your results further by using the operator "filetype:". In this case, your search will be - "site:nytimes.com cats 2010...2011 filetype:jpg".
Now, if you know that the picture you were looking for was in an article from The New York Times between 2010 and 2011 and you know that "happy" was in the title of the article, you can narrow things down even more by searching "site:nytimes.com cats 2010...2011 filetype:jpg intitle:happy". The operator "intitle:" allows you to search only for results that have happy in the title.
There are lots of different operators and shortcuts that you can use to make your search more productive. Here are a few more:
- Define: - This operator specifies that you are looking for the definition of the word that follows.
- Calculator - Many people don't know this, but Google is also a calculator. Just type your equation or math problem into the search bar.
- Conversions - Want to know how many yards there are in 10 feet? Just type 10 feet in yards, Google will handle the conversion for you.
Give these shortcuts a try and see if they make your results more productive. It might take a few times before they become second nature, but they can save you a lot of time.
Do you use these shortcuts? Which ones and why? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Image source: Google Doodles
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