Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2000
- Posts
- 26,152
This came from FHM but I have long realized that many people don't know how to properly use a search engine to get the best results. I often spend time at parties and BBQs explaining how they work to people (most of them are based on Boolean logic). But they're all a bit different too - so reading their help page is very helpful and saves you a lot of time in the long run.
Google is, in mine and many others opinion, the best search engine out there, and has been for almost 2 years now.
LEARN PUNCTUATION:
Let's say you're bored with your love life and you want some in-depth information on the Cleveland Steamer. Sadly, every time you punch those words into Google, all you get are links to Ohio tourist attractions and cleaning services. Simple solution: Put your search term in quotation marks ("Cleveland Steamer") and Google will only return pages that feature those words right next to each other.
USE BASIC ARITHMETIC:
Is your hunt for pages about the Titanic only giving you shoddily crafted DiCaprio shrines rather than gruesome coverage of one of humanity's greatest sea-based tragedies? Use a minus sign when searching to exclude any sites that contain a certain word. For example, - Titanic -DiCaprio - should remove any pages that force you to listen to an instrumental version of "My Heart Will Go On."
PICK ONE AND GO WITH IT:
To hunt down all the times a sports site mentions a particular player, or maybe a recipe site mentions a certain cut of meat, you cna limit your search to only one domain. Type something like - shank site:www.worldofmutton.com - This command will return every page of World of Mutton that mentions a hefty lamb shank.
There you go. Terms like NEAR will give you returns that have the two words within 10 words of each other. For example - probe NEAR anal - will not only return all sites about alien anal probes but also any sites that mention probes and your ass within 10 words of each other.
Google is, in mine and many others opinion, the best search engine out there, and has been for almost 2 years now.
LEARN PUNCTUATION:
Let's say you're bored with your love life and you want some in-depth information on the Cleveland Steamer. Sadly, every time you punch those words into Google, all you get are links to Ohio tourist attractions and cleaning services. Simple solution: Put your search term in quotation marks ("Cleveland Steamer") and Google will only return pages that feature those words right next to each other.
USE BASIC ARITHMETIC:
Is your hunt for pages about the Titanic only giving you shoddily crafted DiCaprio shrines rather than gruesome coverage of one of humanity's greatest sea-based tragedies? Use a minus sign when searching to exclude any sites that contain a certain word. For example, - Titanic -DiCaprio - should remove any pages that force you to listen to an instrumental version of "My Heart Will Go On."
PICK ONE AND GO WITH IT:
To hunt down all the times a sports site mentions a particular player, or maybe a recipe site mentions a certain cut of meat, you cna limit your search to only one domain. Type something like - shank site:www.worldofmutton.com - This command will return every page of World of Mutton that mentions a hefty lamb shank.
There you go. Terms like NEAR will give you returns that have the two words within 10 words of each other. For example - probe NEAR anal - will not only return all sites about alien anal probes but also any sites that mention probes and your ass within 10 words of each other.
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