Google Search Tips Handout
Here is a short guide to some of the tips and tricks featured on this page.
Use Google Search Tips & Tricks to improve your results!
Google Books
Google Scholar
Don't forget to set you Scholar Preferences to include GGC and Board of Regents resources!
WorldCat
Google Tips & Tricks
| Basic Examples | ||||
| This Search | Finds Pages Containing... | |||
| biking Italy | the words biking and Italy | |||
| recycle steel OR iron | information on recycling steel or recycling iron | |||
| "I have a dream" | the exact phrase I have a dream | |||
| salsa –dance | the word salsa but NOT the word dance | |||
| Louis +I France | information about Louis the First (I), weeding out other kings of France | |||
| castle ~glossary | glossaries about castles, as well as dictonaries, lists of terms, terminology, etc. | |||
| fortune-telling | all forms of the term, whether spelled as a single word, a phrase, or hyphenated | |||
| define:imbroglio |
definitions of the word imbroglio from the Web |
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| Calculator | ||||
| Operators | Meaning | Type Into Search Box (& Results) | ||
| + – * / | basic arithmetic | 12 + 34 - 56 * 7 / 8 | ||
| % of | percentage of | 45% of 39 | ||
| ^ or ** | raise to a power | 2^5 or 2**5 | ||
| old units in new units | convert units | |||
| Restrict Search | ||||
| Operators | Meaning | Type Into Search Box (& Results) | ||
| city1 city2 | Book flights. | sfo bos (Book flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Boston (BOS).) |
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| site: | Search only one website or domain. | Halloween site:www.census.gov (Search for information on Halloween gathered by the US Census Bureau.) |
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| [#]..[#] | Search within a range of numbers. | Dave Barry pirate 2002..2006 (Search for Dave Barry articles mentioning pirates written in these years.) |
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| filetype: (or ext:) |
Find documents of the specified type. | Form 1098-T IRS filetype:pdf (Find the US tax form 1098-T in PDF format.) |
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| link: | Find linked pages, i.e., show pages that point to the URL. | link:warriorlibrarian.com (Find pages that link to Warrior Librarian's website.) |
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| Specialized Information Queries | ||||
| Operators | Meaning | Type Into Search Box (& Results) | ||
| book (or books) |
Search full-text of books. | book Ender's Game (Show book-related information. Note: No colon needed after book.) |
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| define, what is, what are | Show a definition for a word or phrase. | define monopsony, what is podcast (Show a definition for the words monopsony and podcast. Note: No colon after define, what is, or what are.) |
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| define: | Provide definitions for words, phrases, and acronyms from the Web. | define:kerning (Find definitions for kerning from the Web.) |
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| phonebook: | Show all phonebook listings. | phonebook: Disney CA (Search for Disney's phone numbers in California - CA.) |
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| rphonebook: | Show residential phonebook listings. | rphonebook: bill jones NY (Search for the phone number of every Bill Jones in New York State - NY.) |
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| movie: | Find reviews and showtimes. | movie: traffic (Search for information about this movie, including reviews, showtimes, etc.) |
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| stocks: | Given ticker symbols, show stock information | stocks: goog (Find Google's current stock price.) |
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| weather | Given a location (US zip code or city), show the weather | weather Seattle WA, weather 81612 (Show the current weather and forecast. Note: No colon after weather.) |
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| BASIC ARITHMETIC | ||||
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| OPERATOR | MEANING | TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX | ||
| + or plus | addition | 12 + 34 or three plus four | ||
| – or minus | subtraction | 3.4 - 5.6 or five minus two | ||
| * or times | multiplication | 56 * 7 or six times nine | ||
| / or divided by | division | 7 / 8 or ten divided by two | ||
| % of orpercent of | percentage of | 45% of 39 | ||
| mod or % | modulo (the remainder after division) | 15 mod 9 or 15 % 9 | ||
| ^ or ** | raise to a power | 2^5 or 2**5 | ||
| the nth root of | nth root | 4th root of 16, sqrt(16), cube root of 109 | ||
| reciprocal of | multiplicative inverse | reciprocal of 7 | ||
GGC Resources
Don't forget our GGC Library specific databases and journals!
GGC Databases A-Z
GGC Databases by Subject Area
Electronic Journals
Electronic Libraries