Have you ever been frustrated by a Google web search? Have you ever tried to search for something online, but the search results don’t help? Fear not! I’m here to help.
Web searches are more complicated than you might initially think. A good search engine will look for key search terms and provide the most relevant results to your search. However, sometimes people search for niche topics.
If you find yourself frustrated while trying to search for something online, read on to learn some basic web search skills to ensure truly successful web searches.
Search Using Keywords
Search engines look for exact phrases to provide you with the most relevant results to your search. Using descriptive words specific to your Google search is the best way to get specific results. For example, try the keyword jackpot city free spins, and you will find many of their best free spins bonuses. Make sure that you use words directly related to the item you’re looking for, and be as specific as possible. Excess words, known as stop words, are not considered in the final results and can confuse the search engine.
When you make a web search, use the exact phrase you’re looking for. Be sure to avoid using any extra, unnecessary words. If you’re searching for a web page, it helps to search specific sites to find the site you’re looking for.
In some cases, using an advanced search is the best option. When you choose advanced search, you can narrow down the search to specific parameters. On Google and most other search engines, the settings are in the upper right corner and can be marked by a gear icon or three dots.
Utilize Different Search Engines
No two search engines are the same. While the Google search engine is undoubtedly the most popular, most people forget that many different search engines use different search techniques.
Check The Settings of the Search Engines frame
It also helps to check out the search settings you have on. Virtually any search engine will allow you to filter the web search results and either make it a narrower or broader search net. This helps ensure that your search results are as relevant as possible. Using one search engine is a practice that can make your online experience more difficult.
Browser Extensions Provide Extra Features
Browser extensions are a great way to help make your search engine more efficient. Browser extensions can come in the form of AdBlock and password managers, each of which helps your search experience be smoother.
Browser extensions also help when navigating websites, as they can block ads on websites or help you find deals for specific web pages. Some extensions will also monitor whether a particular site is safe to click on or not.
Find Specific Results with Symbols
Symbols can play a big part in narrowing down search results. For example, you can use quotation marks to emphasize one word. This will help ensure that Google recognizes the word with quotation marks as important, and Google will look for information directly related to that word,
Alternatively, you can use ‘AND’ to search for multiple words. Using the word will tell Google that those two words are the most important in the search, and as a result, the search engine will look for those two words close together.
When a search engine starts searching for your results, it will consider the special characters in the search field to give more specific results. Using symbols as much as possible will ensure that your information will be as relevant to those words as possible.
Search a Specific Site
You can also Google particular sites. Use the formula: ‘search term + site:abc.com’ to search a single website for a specific word or phrase. Doing so will help you search only pages relevant to your topic. Searching by the site is one of the best ways to get the most relevant information without wasting time clicking through countless irrelevant sites.
Look for Related Sites
Using the formula ‘related:abc.com’ will help you Google for similar websites to the one you’re on. This helps you save time if you’re looking for other sites with information similar to what you’re looking for.
Get Results within a Specific Range
Use the words ‘from’ and ‘to’ to help narrow your results page down to only the most relevant. Google tends to give return pages that are hundreds of pages long, making it difficult to find a specific web address. Narrowing the return pages down to just a few will help you save time and effort.
Reverse Image Search
One of the more well-known web search tricks is the Google reverse image search. This type of Google search helps you find web pages and information directly related to a particular image. Google searches such as these help you find information about a topic you aren’t familiar with.
A reverse image search will also help you find the specific location of a photo and any relevant sites. Using the results to find more pages that are relevant to you is a great strategy that most search engines don’t allow.
Narrow Search if You’ve Forgotten the Specific Phrase
You can also narrow down a search if you’ve forgotten some of its phrases. Use ‘intitle:abc’ if you’re searching for a specific article on Google, or use ‘inurl:abc’ if you only remember some words from the website. This can help you search specific websites for the information you’re looking for.
Alternatively, you can also use the wildcard search option or the ‘im feeling lucky’ search to help narrow down a search.
Search by File Type
You can search for specific file types by using asterisks and file extensions. eg: “coca-cola logo *.png”. This will help you locate specific files, which will narrow down the return page by hundreds. You use this strategy to locate specific file locations, as well as to find more relevant information.
Featured Image by Pexels from Pixabay
