Google Secrets

Learning Google's secrets

Everybody knows how to use Google to search the internet. Just enter what you're looking for and swim thru the 9,000,000,000 results, or blindly click on the first result. Usually you'll find what you want, but sometimes you might have to try two or three different Google search terms before you really find what you want.

Narrow your Google searches

Suppose you're looking for "free windows help for beginners". Typing in free windows help for beginners will display all web pages that contain each of those words, except for the word 'for' - Google usually disregards words such as 'and', 'or', 'is'. So your search for free windows help probably returns about 9 million results, including free help for Microsoft Windows, free help for glass windows, and free help about 100 other things. You can narrow your search by adding words like Microsoft windows instead of just windows. You can further refine your search by putting quotation marks around your search term. Searching Google for "free microsoft windows help for beginners" (with the quotations) will find a much more closely related websites.

Specify what you want

You can narrow your Google search to just Web-pages, photos, news sites, local business searches, etc. Just enter your search terms and click the the "web", "photo", "news", etc link just above the Google search box. Google will return only the type of search you clicked (for example, photos).

Use Google's advanced features

Google has a very nice 'query builder' option on the Google Advanced search page. Just click the "Advanced" link on the immediate right of the search box to view the Google Advanced search page. Here you can specify search terms, words to include, words to exclude, languages, and more. The Google Advanced search page is great for finding exactly what you're looking for.

Google does more than just internet searches!

The Google Help page lets you search books, use the Google online calculator, do currency conversions, look-up and define words, search for local movie show times, search for music and musician information, find telephone numbers and street addresses, ask questions (Q&A), search UPS tracking numbers, VIN numbers, FAA airplane registration numbers, FCC equipment ID's, search stock quotes, search street maps, do travel planning, check the weather anywhere in the word and more! You can even use Google to do translation between to languages or automatically translate web-pages.
You can access the Google Help page here: Google Help

Google software

Google has recently started publishing some very good software tools. Google Earth is an incredible program that you download and install on your PC. Google Earth gives you a searchable 3-D satellite map of the entire globe at your fingertips. You must try it to believe it. Google Earth is so good that many news organizations such as CNN use it when displaying maps on the air. Google Earth is free, spyware free and safe. You can download Google Earth here: Google Earth download


Google Toolbar
Google Toolbar integrates into your browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox) as a toolbar. You can do quick Google Searches from the toolbar, spellcheck web-forms, and much more. If you are still using Internet Explorer you can get the Google Toolbar upgrade to Firefox together. Both Firefox and Google Toolbar are free, spyware free, and safe to use. Firefox is also recognized as the most safe web-browser to use, far more secure against spyware and hackers than Internet Explorer.

Secret Google test web-pages

Did you know that Google has a "secret" area for testing their new products before they release them? Well, it's not really a secret, but you can see what Google is testing on their Beta-labs page at: Google Labs

Learn more and become a Google expert

I've only scratched the surface of the power of Google. For more comprehensive learning and Google tutorials, check out the Google Guide at this link: Google Guide

Web Browser tips: Use a safe web browser