Google strives to make it easy to quickly find whatever you're seeking, whether it's a web page, a recent news story, a photograph, advice, or a present for a friend. Google Guide's Cheat Sheet (classic.googleguide.com/cheatsheet.html), Google Guide's Advanced Operator Quick Reference (classic.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html), Google Guide's Calculator Cheatsheet (classic.googleguide.com/help/calculator.html), and Sacramento State's Google QuikRef (available from www.csus.edu/uccs/documents/quikrefsite/PDFs/googleqr.pdf or on the Google Guide site), provide nice summaries of some of Google's features and services.

The following table lists the major search services Google offers along with the URLs.

Search Service	Description	Website
Web	Search the web. This service includes shortcuts for finding commonly sought utilities and information, such as dictionary definitions, definitions on the web, news headlines, phone numbers, addresses, street maps, stock quotes, travel conditions, package tracking information, calculations of mathematical expressions, and translations of any text or web page.	www.google.com
Images	Find images, graphics, photos, drawings, maps, etc.	images.google.com
Groups	Search, browse, and participate in online discussions. This service is wonderful for finding advice, opinions, and recommendations that haven't necessarily been edited.	groups.google.com
News	Search and browse online news sources.	news.google.com
Froogle	Find and browse products for sale from across the web.	froogle.google.com
Catalogs	Find and browse mail-order catalogs online.	catalogs.google.com
Directory	Browse web pages by category.	directory.google.com
Answers	For as little as US$2.50, obtain assistance from researchers with expertise in online searching.	answers.google.com
Google Labs	Try Google prototypes and demos.	labs.google.com

When you forget where to find one of Google's search tools or services, just look it up on Google. For example, if you don't remember the name or web address of Google product shopping search service, search for [ Google product shopping ].

Query Input

• In Google's search box, enter up to 32 descriptive words that are likely to appear on pages you're seeking.
• Click on I'm Feeling Lucky on Google's home page to go directly to the first result.
• Be specific: Use more query terms to narrow your results.
• Evaluate carefully whatever you find.
• Understand how Google evaluates your query.

  Search Behaviors	Descriptions
  Implicit AND	Google returns pages that match all your search terms. Because you don't need to include the logical operator AND between your terms, this notation is called an implicit AND.
  Exact Matching	Google returns pages that match your search terms exactly.
  Word Variation Automatic Stemming	Google returns pages that match variants of your search terms.
  Common-Word Exclusion	Google ignores some common words called "stop words," e.g., the, on, where, and how. Stop words tend to slow down searches without improving results. (Provided on all search services except Froogle).
  32-Word Limit	Google limits queries to 32 words.
  Term Proximity	Google gives more priority to pages that have search terms near to each other.
  Term Order	Google gives more priority to pages that have search terms in the same order as the query.
  Case Insensitivity	Google is case-insensitive; it assumes all search terms are lowercase.
  Ignoring Punctuation	Google ignores some punctuation and special characters including , . ; ? [ ] < > @ /

• Use special characters and operators to fine-tune your query and increase the accuracy of your searches:

  Notation	Find result	Example
  terms1 terms2	with both term1 and term2	[ carry-on luggage ]
  term1 OR term2 term1 | term2	with either term1 or term2 or both	[ Tahiti OR Hawaii ] [ Tahiti | Hawaii ]
  +term	with term (The + operator is typically used in front of stop words that Google would otherwise ignore or when you want Google to return only pages that match your search terms exactly. However, the + operator can be used on any terms.)	[ +i spy ]
  -term	without term	[ twins minnesota -baseball ]
  ~term	with term or one of its synonyms (currently supported on Web and Directory search)	[ google ~guide ]
  number1..number2	with a number in the specified range	[ recumbent bicycle $250..$1000 ]
  "phrase"	with the exact phrase, a proper name, or a set of words in a specific order	[ "I have a dream" ] [ "Rio de Janeiro" ]

• When you don't find what you're seeking, consider specifying more precisely what you want by using Google's Advanced Search feature. Filling in the top portion of the Advanced Search form is an easy way to write restricted queries without having to use the basic operators, e.g., " ," +, -, or OR.

  Advanced Search Find results	Basic Search Example	Basic Search Find results
  with all of the words	[ tap dance ]	with all search terms
  with the exact phrase	[ "tap dance" ]	only with the exact phrase inside the quotes
  without the words	[ tap -dance ] [ -tap dance ]	including none of the terms preceded by a -
  with at least one of the words	[ tap OR ballet ]	with at least one of the terms adjacent to OR

• You can specify most of the Advanced-Search page options in a regular search box query by using search operators, i.e., query words that have special meaning for Google. The Google Guide Advanced Operator Quick Reference (classic.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html) provides a nice summary of the search operators grouped by type.

• If you don't succeed, run another search.

  Too many results? Focus the search by...	Too few results? Broaden the search by...
  adding a word or phrase	removing a word or phrase
  specifying the order in which you want words to appear	specifying words instead of phrases
  using a more specific term	using more general terms
  identifying ineffective terms and removing them	including synonyms or variant word forms or using a more common version of the word's spelling
  limiting to a domain or site	broadening the domain or searching the entire web
  limiting to a date range	removing date range
  limiting where terms occur	removing redundant terms or splitting a multi-part query
  restricting type of file	searching any type of file
  limiting pages in a particular language	translating your search terms into other languages and searching for the translated terms
  limiting pages to a particular country	searching the entire web

Now that you've seen the versatility of the Google search engine, you'll understand why many users rarely use bookmarks and either use the Google Deskbar, the Google Toolbar, or leave their browsers pointing to Google; they can find practically any site using Google's many search services and features.

I sincerely hope that Google Guide has helped you become (more) proficient in using Google. I have tried to anticipate your questions and problems. Please let me know if I have missed something or if you have corrections or suggestions for improving Google Guide, by emailing feedback(at)googleguide.com (replace "- at -" by "@"). I welcome all comments. I look forward to hearing from you.

Colophon

Hamish Reid, a principal at Mistrale, enhanced this site by improving its visual design and by making it easier to maintain and to traverse. I created most of the screen shots with TechSmith's SnagIt and resized and sharpened them with the powerful free viewer and editor IrfanView.

[Home] [Intro] [Contents] [Print] [Favorites] [Query Input] [Understanding Results] [Special Tools] [Developing a Website] [Appendix]

Web classic.googleguide.com