8 Tips to Googling More Efficiently

Anyone using a computer for work will likely spend some time using Google. The go-to page for over 90% of internet users, any time wasted isn’t because of Google’s algorithm; it is because of poor search techniques.

Here are eight tips for using Google more efficiently to get the answer you want:

Use quotes to search for an exact phrase

If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase to tell Google to search for the words in the exact order you specified. For example, searching for “apple pie recipe” will only return results with the exact phrase “apple pie recipe.”

Use a hyphen to exclude a word

If you want to exclude a certain word from your search, use a hyphen in front of the word. For example, searching for “apple pie recipe -sour cream” will exclude any results that include the word “sour cream.”

Use the OR: operator to include multiple terms

If you want to include multiple terms in your search, use the OR operator (written in all caps). For example, searching for “apple pie recipe OR cherry pie recipe” will return results that include either “apple pie recipe” or “cherry pie recipe.”

Use the site: operator to search within a specific website

If you want to search within a specific website, use the site: operator followed by the website’s domain. For example, searching for “apple pie recipe site:hyperproductive.me” will only return results from the HyperProductive.me website.

Use the filetype: operator to search for a specific file type

If you want to search for a specific type of file, use the filetype: operator followed by the file type. For example, searching for “apple pie recipe filetype:pdf” will only return results that are in PDF format.

Use the related: operator to find related websites

If you want to find websites that are related to a specific website, use the related: operator followed by the website’s domain. For example, searching for “related:hyperproductive.me” will return a list of websites that are related to HyperProductive.me.

Use the define: operator to find definitions

If you want to find the definition of a word, use the define: operator followed by the word. For example, searching for “define: productivity” will return the definition of the word “productivity.”

Use the cache: operator to find the cached version of a webpage

If you want to find the cached version of a webpage, use the cache: operator followed by the webpage’s URL. This can be useful if the webpage is no longer available or if you want to see what the webpage looked like in the past.

Originally published at https://hyperproductive.me on January 5, 2023.