Using Google Efficiently and Effectively

Everyone knows how to use Google...right? All you have to do is move up to your navigation bar, type in a query and press enter. Given that your browser is properly configured, you'll be wading through thousands of results in no time!

But what about using it efficiently? Is there a technique we can use to better match our results on the first try, instead of having to refine our search queries? Let's find out!

Getting to Google The fastest way of getting to Google is to set up your browser so that you can simply type your query in the navigation bar. Check out the instructions for Chrome and Firefox.

Google, the all-knowing search engine

We often rely on Google's all-knowing capability, and trust that it'll return the right results...and oftentimes Google is right. The other day I was looking to buy a specific pair of running shoes, but didn't know what the brand was called.

Voila! The first result was it! Google is certainly is all-knowing.

Searching efficiently

A huge chunk of learning how to code comes from asking Google questions that stump us. When we don't know how to do something, we paste in a few keywords and cross our fingers for something relevant to pop-up. In most cases it works, but sometimes we have to refine our search results until some relevant results show up.

Programmers need to be efficient - not just code efficiently, but work efficiently as well. To get the search results we need first time around, we need all the handy shortcuts, special characters and tricks that Google has to offer.

In this short tutorial series, we'll learn about the most efficient Google navigation. At the end of the series, we'll also show you some fun Google search queries!

Credits to /u/dumpster_dinner

I've been meaning to start this series earlier, but wasn't sure the demand for Googling efficiently was there. Thanks for /u/dumpster_dinner and the reddit community for the validation!

Verbose mode, special characters and utility keywords

Google has a slew of special characters you can use to dramatically improve your search results. But before we get to them, let's take a quick look at Verbatim mode .

Verbatim Mode

By default, Google will attempt to spell-correct all your phrases. In case you're searching for a purposefully mispelled word (or phrase), simply switch to verbatim mode.

Lack tose and tolerant on Yahoo! Answers.

Special characters

Most of these keywords can be very useful to us, so try to practice them as often as possible so you can memorize them!

Using the tilde (~) helps you find similar words.

We can also specify websites within our query with search operators. Make sure to leave no space after the search operator colon and your query. Also, use quotation marks as necesary.

Filtering results by the filetype keyword. Now you can easily search for PDf files.|>

Filtering results with the site keyword, limiting your results to a specific site.|>

Utility keywords

Google also provides a number of utility keywords that you can place to obtain quick facts on just about anything.

Checking the sunrise time in LA with a quick Google keyword search.

Look up songs by John Mayer with Google keyword search.

Just for fun - easter eggs and hidden tricks

There are also a ton of hidden tricks and easter eggs implemented within the Google search engine! Simply input one of these keywords to get an interesting search result!

A tilted Google after searching for "tilt".