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1. Use Google As A Calculator

   This handy feature lets you save precious time because you can do your calculations while surfing the web. Simply type some numbers or equations into the search field and Google will bring you the desired results. You can also use this for converting measures, e.g. type in “1 mile in meters” and Google will output how long one mile would be in meters. It is also possible to use it for converting different currencies, e.g. type “1 dollar in Euro” and you´ll know how much one dollar will be worth in Euro.

2. The Google Image Labeler

   The Google Image Labeler lets you tag images and also help Google improve its search engine quality. The nice thing about this tool is that you can play against other people as well. You have a short amount of time where you can label different random images. If one of your labels matches one of your partner’s labels, you´ll get points. You won´t win anything while doing this, but it´s definitely a good way to fight boredom.

3. Find Hot Trends With Google

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   Google operates and permanently caches the keyword usage of its users. With Hot Trends (formerly known as Zeitgeist) you can find out what internet users are actually searching for. You can even choose a specific date if you want to know what was hot on a particular day. You will be presented with a graph where you can see the trends for different available keywords. This tool is especially helpful if you want to search and explore a niche theme for your Blog or website.

4. Get Info About Websites

   This is a very helpful feature for webmasters or people with a Blog or website in general. In the search field simply type “info:www.yoursite.com”
   and you´ll get plenty of information including related sites, incoming links or pages that mention “yoursite.com” within their content. You can also find different sub-sites or sub-domains by trying Google.

5. Find Webcams Around The World

   Google is indexing nearly every website it can find out there in the World Wide Web, even those sites with webcam streams on it. If you type in “inurl:view/index:shtml” [Webcams], you´ll get a huge list of different available webcams. That´s only one example of a possible search query that can be effectively used. There´s a nice website called Opentopia, where they have already done the hard work of searching for all of those webcams, and you´ll get a nice thumbnail gallery along with recently shot preview images.

6. Play A (Stupid) Game Using Google

   I first saw this on a TV show from Germany called “TV Total”. The whole principle is quite simple but you will need some friends to play with you. First choose a single word like “House”, and then everybody must add a new word onto this, like “Household” or “Bee house”. After everybody has chosen a word, it will be looked up in Google. The word with the least of all search engine results will win. It is most effective to choose some fantasy names because then there will be the most likely results, even for the most “special” words. It´s a lot of fun, especially when there are a lot of people involved.

7. Google Logos
   

   From time to time Google changes their front page logo when there are events or holidays. On the Google Logos site, you can find all of the logos dating back to 1999 for your viewing pleasure. If you want to see the first Google logo ever, take a look at this article.

8. Getting a multi-search interface for Google

   If you want to have a great portion of Google´s native search features combined in one place, just try

   Soople. On this website, you can do the most (un)common searches within Google such as finding videos/music/files, translating text, finding definitions or locating the latest stock indexes. This is a nice website, don’t forget to have a look at it!

This list only gives you a brief insight into some of the secrets of Google Search. If you want to find more tips, tricks or creative ways for using Google, try simply doing a search on… Google.

The most helpful phrase in this case would be “Google Hacks” or something similar.