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Google Search Tips

The document provides advanced search tips and strategies for using Boolean, phrase, wildcard, field and other special searches on Google. It gives examples of searches on the topics of "child nutrition" and "women in ancient Rome" to demonstrate how results can be narrowed and customized through the strategic use of syntaxes like intitle:, site:, filetype:, and inurl:. Searches on these topics are shown applying strategies like Boolean operators, phrase searches, nesting, field searches and more to retrieve more precise and relevant results.

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lwilson2
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600 views3 pages

Google Search Tips

The document provides advanced search tips and strategies for using Boolean, phrase, wildcard, field and other special searches on Google. It gives examples of searches on the topics of "child nutrition" and "women in ancient Rome" to demonstrate how results can be narrowed and customized through the strategic use of syntaxes like intitle:, site:, filetype:, and inurl:. Searches on these topics are shown applying strategies like Boolean operators, phrase searches, nesting, field searches and more to retrieve more precise and relevant results.

Uploaded by

lwilson2
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Advanced Google Search Tips

Search Strategies
Boolean Google automatically defaults the word AND between Example:
Searching keywords
ocean fish farms
use OR to combine synonymous terms(must type Example: environment OR climate
OR in capital letters.)
use - to eliminate terms Example: dolphins -football
Nesting use ( ) to nest synonymous terms when the Example: theater (actor OR actress)
search statement also contains the AND Boolean
Operator.
Phrase use “ ” to search for an entire phrase, not Example: “American soccer teams”
Searching individual words
Wildcard use * as a placeholder for unknown words in a Example: “Obama voted * on *
phrase bill”
Stop words use + to force a search for an important stop word Example: “travel +with +the band”
Synonymous use ~ immediately before a key term to search Example: ~feminism
terms for synonyms.
Field A very effective way to narrow and customize a See below, Useful Special Syntaxes
searching search in Google. Special syntaxes are used to and Mixing Syntaxes
designate various types of field searches.
Google Special Syntaxes
intitle: Restricts a search tothe titles of Web sites Example: intitle: “Bob Marley”
inurl: Restricts a search to the URL of a website. Example: inurl:butterflygardening
site: Limits a search to a type of website or a top level Example: “child nutrition”site:gov
domain. Similar to inurl: but will not search for a site
within a subdirectory (anything beyond the / ).
intext: Searches for words only in the text of a website, not Example: intext:“global warming”
the title, URL, or links of a page.
inanchor: Searches for words in a website’s link anchors (i.e., the Example: inanchor:biology
text you click on to get to anotherwebsite.) This can Example: inanchor:grants site:gov
be a useful way to find relevant sites.
link: Returns a list of websites linking to a specific URL. Example:
link:www.framingham.edu
filetype: Searches for specific filename extensions. Google Example:
searches for PowerPoint (.ppt), Excel (.xls) and Word
(.doc) documents as well as Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), intitle:“child nutrition” filetype:ppt
Adobe Postscript (.ps), Rich Text Format (.rtf) and
more.
related: Searches for websites related or similar to a specified Example:
URL. This is a good way to retrieve categories or
types of Web sites. related:www.framingham.edu
info: Provides a page of links to more information about a Example:
specified URL. including a link to the page’s cache, a
list of websites that link to the specified URL, a list of info:cnn.com
website related to the specified URL and a list of sites
that contain the specified URL.

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Sample Search on Child Nutrition

Google Search Statement Results (May 2009) Search Strategies

child nutrition 28,100,000 Default Boolean AND search.


“child nutrition” 1,050,000 Phrase search.
intitle:”child nutrition” 69,900 The phrase must be in the title.
intitle:”child nutrition” 213 Site must be from the USDA
inurl:USDA
intitle:"child nutrition" site:gov 1,860 Site must be from a governmental
institution.
intitle:"child nutrition" dairy 81 The word dairy is added to the
site:gov previous search.
intitle:"child nutrition" 1,870 The word vegetable must be an
inanchor:vegetable anchor (clickable) in the site.
"child nutrition" site:edu 231 Site must be a PowerPoint
filetype:ppt presentation from an education
institution.

Sample Search on Women in Ancient Rome

Google Search Statement Results (May 2009) Search Strategies

women ancient rome 2,580,000 Default Boolean AND search


women “ancient rome” 887,000 Default Boolean AND and phrase search
(women OR woman) "ancient 1,850,000 Boolean OR, default Boolean AND and
rome" phrase search.
~women "ancient rome" 1,480,000 Synonymous terms for women and phrase
search.
"role +of women" "ancient rome" 15,800 Two phrases with force stop word and
Boolean AND search.
intitle:women "ancient rome" 24,500 Women must be in title, Boolean AND and
phrase search.
women "ancient rome" inurl:pbs 181 Site must be from PBS
women "ancient rome" site:edu 18,900 Site must be from an educational institution.
"role +of women" "ancient rome" 1,690 Site must be from an organization.

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site:org
women "ancient rome" site:edu 92 Site must be a PowerPoint presentation from
filetype:ppt an educational institution.
Rev: 6/2009 by L.Wilson Framingham State College
Adapted from : Valencia Community College “Google Quick Help”
http://faculty.valencia.cc.fl.us/infolit/Google/help.htm

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