Oh, the Places you’ll Google!

Google can take you a world away from where you wanted to go originally. Save yourself some time with 7 Google search techniques to maximize your time

I’m sure it has happened to you.  You go to Google to look for something specific – maybe it is for your students or your teachers, or maybe you are searching for something like a recipe, a vacation spot, or a news topic.  This is when it happens…

You stumble upon something you weren’t looking for, but you were rewarded with a great “find” that you can use!  Sometimes, this new “find” actually sends you on a completely different path of “googling,” and before you know it, an hour has passed, and you haven’t found what you were originally looking for.  However, what you have discovered is an array of interesting sites that have a great deal of merit, and now you have 10 other ideas for things that you can do either in your professional or your personal life.  What’s so wrong with that?

That being said, the purpose of this blog post is twofold.  First, I think I can help some of you ADD Internet searchers to be more explicit in your searches and provide you with some great tools I discovered on Simple K12 to narrow your searches and keep you on task.  Next, if you are one of those daring searchers who can’t wait to see where the web will take you next, I want to share a great site called Stumble Upon (that’s coming in my next post.)  Just keep reading…

As promised, here are  7 Google Search Techniques that can help you be a more precise searcher reblogged from Simple K12!

SafeSearch

It’s surprising how many people don’t know about Google SafeSearch!  SafeSearch filters allow you to modify your browser settings so that inappropriate content does not display in search results. More on SafeSearch here.

Word Definitions

To quickly pull up the definition of a word, use “define:” followed by the word.

Example: define:webinar

Numeric Ranges

Useful if you’re looking for information that relates to a range of numbers (such as a price range or years).

Example: television 1950…1960

Phone numbers

Curious who keeps calling your cellphone and not leaving a message?  If their number is listed, you can find it via Google by using “phonebook:” followed by the number.

Example: phonebook:555-555-5555

Excluding words or phrases

If  you’re looking for something a little more obscure, narrow down your search results by asking Google to omit certain results by using the “-” symbol.

Example: Florida vacation -Disney

Specify results by document type

Looking for a PDF? Word doc? Powerpoint? Many people don’t realize that you can filter results by document type in the search bar.  Just use “filetype:” followed by the file extension after your keywords.

Example: “World War I” filetype:ppt

Recipe View

Have you noticed the recipe view in Google Search?  Type in a recipe title, and on the left-hand side, you’ll see various options that allow you to specify whether or not certain ingredients are included, the amount of cook time resource, and calorie count.  This tip is my personal favorite, so make sure to check it out!

Example: Pumpkin Bread

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