Google Search Tips - TECHMARTz™

An insight on Google search

Google is one of the most popular search engines on the internet. Along with it's many features which Google provided such as Google Maps, Gmail etc. there are quite a few not-so-known Google tricks which are pretty cool and can get you many things which you initially didn't know how to get. Although Google does provide codes for optimizing searches many people either are not interested or simply don't know that. Here I have found quite a few cool and convenient Google search tricks which I have listed below.

1. Specific File Searching
If you want to search for specific file types then type the keywords and then filetype:type-of-file-you-want.

Example: If you want to search for a pdf manual then you would type "how to install ... filetype:pdf"

2. Google Dictionary
If you want the meaning of any word and don't have a dictionary around and don't want to keep on installing additional dictionary software everywhere you go, then the easiest way to find a definition of a word is to type define: the-word-you-want-the-meaning-of and that's it. Google will display the meaning of the word on the search results page itself. You can even search for the meanings of words which are not in the dictionary such as LOL, Java etc.

Example: If you want the meaning of the word blog, then you would type "define: blog" or "blog definition"

3. Finding the time of a place with Google
Now, if you want to find the time of a particular place and don't want to waste time remembering how many hours to add or subtract from the GMT time or don't want to install some time converting software then you can solve all your problems by just typing time name-of-city/place in the Google search box.

Example: If you want to know the current time in London, then you would type "time London" in the search box.

4. Finding the weather of a place with Google
If you are going traveling and want to save on carrying extra baggage as you think it will be cold but the weather actually turns out to be hot at a particular place, or just want to know the weather of a particular place without waiting for the weather broadcast to air on television, then Google comes to your aid again! This time you just type the name of the city/place and then weather and there you have it..the current temperature and weather statistics right on the Google search results page. Note: This might not work for certain places as Google can't monitor every single place in the world.

Example: If you would like to find the weather in Bangkok, then you type "Bangkok weather" in the search box.

5. Sport updates with Google
If you are a sports fan and want to check live scores, upcoming matches etc. then you can do that with Google as well. Just type the name of the tournament, league, season or just the team names and google gets you the information about the query. Note: This only works with ongoing tournaments or matches.

Example: If you want to see the next match for Manchester United in the English Premiere League then you just type "Manchester United" in the search box. If you want to see live scores of an ongoing cricket match then just type the two teams playing the match, like "India vs Australia cricket" and so on.

6. Google for mathematics
If you ever need to calculate something, be it simple things like 100 - 10 or advanced math like trigonometric expressions, Google does it yet again. Just type the mathematical expression in the search box and hit enter. The results come up in the search results page itself.

Example: You want to calculate something, so you just have to type "1234*1234" or whatever in the search box and press enter.

7. Easily convert currency with Google
If you ever need to convert currency or want to know how much of one currency is equal to in another, then you can use Google for this as well. Just type the currency you want to convert and then "to" or "in" the currency you want to find and press enter in the search box.

Example: If you want to find how much 1 USD is equal to in INR then you type "1 USD to INR" in the search box, or if you want to find how much one Euro is
equal to in British pounds then you just type "1 euro in pounds" in the search box.

8. Google face finder
Now suppose you want to search for a person who is smiling or has a happy face for a particular occasion, so you type "happy" on Google, but the results that come were not what you expected, so you wonder how you can get a picture of a person who is happy. The answer is simple. Just type "imgtype=" in the URL of the search.

Example: For a search in which you want pictures of a person who has a happy face, you add "imgtype=face" in the URL of the search. So the URL will be http://images.google.com/images?q=happy&imgtype=face

9. Search for pages with particular text in the URL

Example: inurl:text
Use the inurl: operand to include only pages whose URL contains the search parameter given after the colon.

all of the above operands can be modified with the minus (-) symbol. The minus symbol makes the parameter act in reverse. That is, -inurl:foobar will exclude all pages which have foobar in their URL.

Thanks for coming by and taking your time to read this post :) I hope you have learnt something today and shared this. Now I'd love to hear from you. Got any views, thoughts and questions related to the post? I'm all ears here. Add your comment.