“Google” has become a popular-use verb for performing an Internet search. But most of us don’t try to improve our search techniques. Here’s what the professional researchers do to speed the search process.
Image via Wikipedia
How to Improve Your Google Searches
Maybe you think advanced search techniques are beyond you. But, they’re really difficult to master and can really improve your Google searches by making them faster and more accurate. It’s not too difficult to start, so let’s begin.
When you first sign on to Google, you’ll notice a “preferences’ choice near the Google search bar. Click on “preferences”. The first thing that you’ll want to change is the number of search listings that are returned on each page. The default number for Google is 10, but you can increase the number of search listings to 20 and more. Professional searchers know that by clicking through to the next page of listings they are wasting valuable time as a page is dropped and a new page of search listings is loaded. Change your preferences to a greater number and you simply scroll down through them all and see many more possibilities on a single page. It’s amazing how much time this will save.
Find PowerPoints on the Web
If you want just a quick overview of your topic, then type in your key search words and then add PPT for PowerPoints. The search will just return PowerPoint presentations for that keyword search term. There will be fewer search returns but they all will be focused presentations on your area of interest. If you are interested in getting up to speed quickly in a new field, a PowerPoint presentation is a great way to do it.
If you can anticipate search returns for a keyword term that you don’t want to see, then eliminated them ahead of time and you won’t have to plow through them in your search returns to find items of interest. Use a minus sign (-) to eliminate the findings you don’t want to see.
Use these simple tips and I think you’ll be amazed at how much quicker and easier your Google searches will be. Happy hunting!
Tue, Mar 10, 2009, by swilso1
Search Engines