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Work always feels like so much work.
High expectations of your supervisors, constant pressure, tight deadlines.
The good news? You’re about to find out how to take some stress out of your work life.
How’s that?
I’m going to show you how to properly use one of the most powerful tools you’ve got at hand: Google Search.
Think you know all you need? Think again. You might know how to make a basic search with Google, but that’s about it.
This list of Google Search tricks will advance your search and let you zero in on what you’re really looking for.
Whether you’re trying to get exactly what you need fast and effectively, or if you want to boost productivity, these tips and tricks are sure to make things easier for you at the office, at your desk, and even in your personal life.
Impressive, right? But hey—there’s even more!
Less known (but super useful!) Google Search Tips
1. Double Exclude
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| brownie recipe -milk -eggs | All pages that rank for brownie recipe except those that include milk or eggs. |
You can mix and combine all of these Google Search commands to better refine your query.
Add a space and then another negative keyword to omit more than one. This example search will give you brownie recipes that include neither milk nor eggs.
2. The Boolean Search
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| dog AND cat | Pages that have both the words dog and cat |
| dog OR cat | Pages that have either the word dog or cat |
| dog|cat | Same as using OR |
Use AND or OR (all caps) to perform a boolean search by sticking it between two other words. The pipe operator (|) is the same as using OR.
3. The Tilde to Thesaurize
| Search command: | Results Include: |
| ~large | Pages that have words similar to large, such as big, great, massive, and others |
The tilde symbol generally means approximately, about, or around in English, and placing one just before a search term will broaden your query to match. Note that synonym searches are the default now, so this is all but redundant.
4. Temperature, Weather & Forecast
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| forecast | Your local weather and forecast summary |
| temperature | Your local weather and forecast summary |
| weather 11106 | Weather and forecast summary for 11106 |
| forecast 11106 | Weather and forecast summary for 11106 |
| temperature 11106 | Weather and forecast summary for 11106 |
Weather, temperature, and forecast seem to provide the same, albeit convenient, rich card result.
5. Everything about the Google Calculator
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| calculator | A full scientific calculator at the top |
| 1+1 | Sum (addition) |
| 2-2 | Difference (subtraction) |
| 3*3 | Product (multiplication) |
| 4/4 | Quotient (division) |
| 5^5 | 5 to the fifth power, or 5⁵ |
| 30% of 100 | Percentage |
These calculator Google shortcuts explain themselves, but how cool are they, huh? If you live and work in your browser, skip opening up the calculator app on your computer or phone and use Google instead. No need to type an equal sign (=), the search button takes care of that.
6. Determine That Date
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| easter | The current year’s Easter date |
You can easily use Google Search to remind you of an upcoming holiday, so you can plan accordingly. Note that if a holiday has just passed, it will show you that one—the current year’s date, rather than the future date.
7. More Unit Conversions
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| 2 kg to lb | How many pounds in two kilograms |
| 32 fahrenheit to celsius | How many degrees celsius equal 32℉ |
| 100 usd to eur | How many euros equal 100 US dollars |
| 12 inch in cm | How many centimeters in 12 inches |
We just talked about time conversions, but you can do so many other unit-to-unit conversions with Google. From currencies to measurements, Google’s got you covered.
Google Pro Tip: You can use both to or in.
8. Get Info on a Site
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| info:nytimes.com | A single-result SERP with just the homepage |
This one used to be more helpful, but since Google has moved to zero-result SERPs, this particular Google command has lost some of its power. Still, you may find some use for it (and let me know if you do!).
9. Get Cached Version of a Site
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| cache:djaunter.com | The latest cached version of that specific URL from Google |
Using cache: before a URL will immediately bring up the Google User Content cached version of that page. Note that it requires a specific URL per result, so it can include subfolders, child pages, and subdomains.
10. Investigate Company Information
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| founder google | Snippet with rich cards including founders of Google |
| ceo google | Rich card with current CEO of Google |
| cfo google | Rich card with current CFO of Google |
Are you trying to know to whom to address a cover letter? Perhaps doing some competitor research?
Google Search gives rich card results for any of a number of searches. Just type in the position (CEO, CTO, etc.) followed by the company, and voila!
11. More Advanced Mathematics
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| solve rhombus | Rhombus dimensions based on other input |
| solve triangle | Triangle dimensions based on other input |
| solve rectangle | Rectangle dimensions based on other input |
| solve circle | Circle dimensions based on other input |
| solve pentagon | Pentagon dimensions based on other input |
| solve hexagon | Hexagon dimensions based on other input |
We brought up Google’s impressive calculator functionality before, but Google can offer way more advanced mathematics. You can get the answers to geometry dimensions of several shapes, and you can solve for area, side, perimeter, diagonal, diagonal (p), diagonal (q), base, height, side, side (a), side (c), gamma, length, radius, diameter, and circumference!
12. In Titles, URLs & Anchors
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| intitle:best avocado ice cream | Pages with these keywords (may skip one or two) in page title |
| allintitle:best avocado ice cream | Pages with each and every keyword in page title |
| inposttitle:best avocado ice cream | Same as intitle |
| allinposttitle:best avocado ice cream | Same as allintitle |
| Inanchor:avocado ice cream | Pages with these words in anchor text (may skip some) |
| allinanchor:avocado | Pages with each and every keyword in anchor text |
| inurl:avocado ice cream | Pages with these keywords (may skip one or two) in URL slug |
| allinurl:avocado ice cream | Pages with each and every keyword in URL slug |
Remember intext and allintext? These are the same, but they let you search only in the titles, URLs, or anchor texts of pages and articles.
13. Search Through Social Media
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| bananas @twitter | Twitter profiles, tweets, etc. that include bananas |
| #bananas | Anything with hashtag-bananas |
If you’re in marketing, or you just want to sift through all the noise, use the @ or # symbols to help you along. The @ will work with other social media platforms, such as Facebook.
14. Get Song Names and a List of Episodes
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| songs by ed sheeran | An interactive snippet with thumbnails of all songs (with dates) by Ed Sheeran |
| game of thrones episodes | An interactive snippet with thumbnails of all episodes (with dates) of GoT |
Similar to the author’s book search, you can get the same snippet for show episodes and singer’s songs, as well.
15. Sports Scores & Overview
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| yankees | Latest scores, standings, and upcoming games |
| NYY | Same as above |
Use Google to get a detailed look at your favorite team. This rich card offering is really rich, including stats, scores per inning (baseball), upcoming games, news, division rankings, and more.
16. Earthquake
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| earthquake | USGS info showing the time, place, and magnitude of recent earthquakes. |
Typing in earthquake give you United States Geological Survey information of recent earthquakes around the world. And, if it’s affecting you, quick access to safety advice!
17. Sunrise & Sunset
| Search Command: | Results Include: |
| sunrise | Upcoming sunrise time in your locale |
| sunset | Upcoming sunset time in your locale |
| sunrise in san francisco | Upcoming sunrise time in specific city |
| sunset in jakarta | Upcoming sunset time in specific city |
Get the exact sunrise or sunset time in your city by simply searching for either word. If you want to know the sunrise or sunset for another city, just add that city to your query. Simple and effective!
Well, what did you think?
Hopefully these Google Search hacks will help you lead a more productive work life.
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