Google Searching… `Advanced Search` for Beginners?

This information is based on the Google search engine, all information is correct at time of posting. Google are constantly changing, both adding and removing features.

Simple Searching…

Typing something in the search box and clicking “Google Search” constitutes as a simple search, the results that are returned could relate to any of the words you entered for your search. The results will go from what Google identifies most relevant (matching most words) down to results that match only one word within your search.

Using Operators (deep breath)…

When searching for phrases you can use a series of operators (symbols) to tell Google what you want it to do. See below for operator usage…

Example Search: has my cat been poisoned

This simple search finds all results with has, my, cat, been,and poisoned in them. In any order, result examples could be…

1. has my cat been poisoned


2. the parrot has been poisoned but my cat is fine


3. have you ever been poisoned


4. my cat is called Fred


5. my cats have been poisoned and were put down at the vets

Operator	Usage	Details
Quote (”)	has my “cat been poisoned”	This search will return only results that contain the words cat been poisoned in the same sentence (consecutive words). Results 2, 3, 4, 5 would not appear.
Minus (-)	has my cat been poisoned -parrot	This search would return any results that don’t contain the word parrot. Result 2 would not appear.
Plus (+)		This search would not return anything about multiple cats being poisoned. The plus sign tells Google not to find alternative words, so the word cat must be matched exactly. Result 5 would not appear.

Advanced Searching (made easy)

One way to complete an advanced search is use Google’s advanced search pages this is quite straight forward to complete, rather than go into detail here I suggest you bounce over to Google’s advanced search pages and try some searches. Don’t worry I’ll still be here when you get back…

Specific Searches

As well as searching the whole web, Google allows you to refine your search to a specific area. Below are a few options available to you…

Prefix	Usage	Details
Define:	define: geek	This will return all definitions available online for the word “geek”, substitute the word geek for your required lookup.
Site:	site: geekant.co.uk	This will return all indexed pages of the given site (geekant.co.uk), change the site to whatever you please. This can also be preceded by a search term to return all pages from a specific site containing that search.
Link:	link: geekant.co.uk	This will return all pages which link to the given site.
Cache:	cache: geekant.co.uk	This will return the last “snap shot” of your site taken by Google.
Info:	info: geekant.co.uk	This will return all the information Google has about the given site.
Related:	related: geekant.co.uk	This will return any pages that Google associates with the given site.

Conclusion

Google provides both a basic and an advanced search interface, all of the advanced features are available by using operators or refined searched. Some times this can be quicker than filling in the advanced search form, it most certainly is useful background information to searching effectively and efficiently.