10 tricks that will change the way you search on Google

Google is the most popular search engine in the world. However, did you know that there are special characters and words that you can include in your search to get even better results? Try following the tricks on your next Google search to get more accurate results.

01. Use quotes (“”) to search for an exact word or phrase
If you put your search terms in double quotes, Google shows only the pages with that exact phrase that you put in the quotes. For example, if you search “ancient city of Polonnaruwa“Google search results include only pages with the phrase ancient city of Polonnaruwa.

Alternatively, if you are a beginner, you can use this method to check your writing by searching for parts of your sentences on Google. If the Google search returns some results, you get an idea about your writing.

02. Search for wildcards or unknown words (use * in quotes)
You can use asterisks

inside quotes to specify variables or unknown words. Google will find the pages with results that have some words to the rhythm of asterisks.

This is useful if you are trying to find specific phrases but cannot remember certain words in them. You can replace the words you don’t remember with asterisks and Google will find the missing words.

Also, you can improve your writing skills by studying the use of words in sentences by searching them on Google with the combination of asterisks and quotation marks.
03. Use the minus sign (-) to exclude results containing a specific keyword
If you want to exclude results that contain specific keywords, you can add a minus sign (-) in front of the keywords. For example, if you want to search for “what is the internet” and you don’t want results with “Wikipedia”, you can search;

what is internet – wikipedia
04. Search within a specific websiteIf you want to search for something on a specific site, put “place:

” in front of the site or domain. For example, you can search for;

“Ancient City of Polonnaruwa” site: slplaces.com
05. Limit the period of time

With Google search, you can specify the expected time period for your search results. After running the search, click on “tools” (below the search bar) and a new menu will appear below. Select/define the appropriate time period from the “Anytime” dropdown menu.
06. Find file typesIf you want to search for a specific file type, add it to the end of the search with “Type of file:

” command. For example, if you want to search for “excel for beginners” and you want to get results with PDF, you can search;

“excel for beginners” file type: PDF
07. Find Related Sites

You can find sites similar to sites by putting “related:” in front of the domain you already know. For example; you can search sites similar to “tripadvisor.com” as below;

related: tripadvisor.com
08. Translate words and phrases into different languages

You can use Google search to translate words and phrases into different languages. For example, you can translate the word “wildcard” into Sinhala by searching as follows; translate wildcard for

Singhalese
09. Unit and Currency Conversions

You can use Google search for units and currency conversions. For example; the search term 15USD to LKR will convert 15USD to Sri Lanka Rupees. To convert 15 feet to meters, use 15 feet to m.
10. Search in titles

If you put “intitle:” in front of your search query, Google shows pages with the title that includes the word placed right after “intitle:”.

If you use “allintitle:”, Google shows the pages with all the words that appear after it.

For example;

intitle:WordPress CMS renders pages with the term “WordPress” in the titles

allintitle:WordPress CMS renders pages with both the terms “WordPress” and “CMS” in the titles

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