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The absolutely best tutorial on how to use all of
Google's potential. Easy to use, simple to navigate, this is a little
jewel for both the novice and advanced search user. The definitive
up-to-date guide on how to best leverage the Google search engine and all
of its features in a simple and easy to access format. Recommended.
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Nancy Blachman's Google Guide is by far the best
guide to using Google, for beginners & more intermediate users, that
I've seen so far. I see great potential here for plopping patrons down
with this self-guided tutorial, instead of the 20 minute "This is Google,
this is how you search" lecture.
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If you're a novice, go straight to Part I: Query Input.
If you're an experienced user, start with one of the following links. These
pages may appear to describe basic concepts, but if you read carefully, you'll
discover helpful insights into how Google works and how to use it more
effectively.
What Google
Guide Explains
In this tutorial, you can learn
Google Guide's Home Page
Google Guide's home page
includes Google's search box followed by a search tip from Google Guide.
Clicking on the icon or the title below the search box and above the search tip
will display more information about the tip.
How to Use the Google Guide Tutorial?
If you have time, read all of Google Guide and work through the examples and
exercises. Otherwise, look at the Table of Contents and read or
scan the pages or sections that you suspect will be most helpful to you.
Why Take the Google Guide Tutorial?
Google is so easy to use, why take this online tutorial? If you're like many
people, you use only a small number of Google's services and features. The more
you know about how Google works, its features and capabilities, the better it
can serve your needs.
Just as the best way to learn how to sail is to sail, the best way to learn
how to search with Google is to search with Google. Consequently this Google
tutorial contains many examples and exercises designed to give you practice with
the material presented and to inspire you to find amusing or useful information.
Try the examples, work the exercises, and click on the links (usually underlined) to see Google in
action and to learn more about a topic.
Since the web and Google's algorithms and features constantly evolve, your
results may be different from those shown in this tutorial.
In this tutorial, clicking the left mouse button on an example or a link to a
page not in Google Guide, will display the results in a new window. Clicking on
a link that points to another section in this tutorial, will display the
contents of the associated page in the same window. You can make the contents of
the linked page appear in a new window by:
- Pointing to any link (press the TAB key to jump to
the next link on the page).
- Holding down the SHIFT key while you click on the
link (if you use Internet Explorer).
or
- Pressing the right button of your mouse, and then selecting "Open a New
Window" (or the middle button if you use Mozilla or Netscape).
- After viewing the results, close the window and you will return to the
tutorial. On Windows, you can kill the top window by pressing the ALT and F4 keys simultaneously. You can
switch the active window by pressing the ALT and TAB keys simultaneously.
This tutorial assumes you know how to use a web browser. Although this
tutorial is for people new to Google, it contains information of interest to
those who have experience with Google or another search engine. Unless you're
familiar with all of Google's features, you'll learn something by taking this
tutorial.
Who
will Benefit from Google Guide?
Practically anyone who uses Google, including students, teachers, researches,
journalists, consumers, business people, scientists, web developers, Google
employees, purchasing agents, librarians, people looking for jobs, health care
professionals, hobbyists, vacationers, and authors. Want a job at Google? Review
Google Guide before you apply.
How Much
Time Will the Google Guide Tutorial Take?
This online Google tutorial will occupy you from 0.5 to 8 hours, depending on
how many sections you elect to skip, and how many of the examples and problems
you work through. Most people spend about half an hour at a time, and two hours
total.
Navigation Bar
Near the top of each page is a navigation bar. The current section and its
subsections are displayed in blue.
Click on any name in the navigation bar to be
taken to the corresponding section.
What
are the Radio Buttons Below the Search Box for?
Enter a query in the search box at the bottom of any page on Google Guide,
select the WWW radio button, and press the ENTER key or
click on the "Google Search" button to search the World Wide Web. Enter your
query and select the GOOGLEGUIDE.COM button when you want
to restrict your search to just pages on Google Guide's web site.
Why the Name Google ~Guide?
Why did I first name this tutorial Google ~Guide? Putting a tilde in front of
a search term (with no space in between) effectively turns that term into any of
its synonyms. The tilde is known as synonym operator. So, if you search for
"Google ~Guide," Google will find Google Guide as well as other Google
tutorials.
History of Google
Guide
Jerry Peek, author of Unix Power Tools, gave me the idea of writing a book about
using Google. I found the idea appealing because I was a fan of Google, was
interested in learning how to use it better, there were no other books about
Google when I started writing, and with such a job, I could work flexible hours.
I created Google Guide and gave seminars on searching with Google to get
feedback from users.
Katie Conley, an editor at Osborne/McGraw Hill, approached Fritz Schneider
about writing a book about Google. He had written JavaScript: The Complete Reference for Katie. Because of my
having mentioned I was writing a book and creating an online tutorial to some
Google engineers, Fritz learned of my Google projects. We teamed up so that we
could divide the work and write a book more quickly. Eric Fredericksen, a
co-worker of Fritz's, joined us. How
to Do Everything with Google was published in November of 2003.
How is Google Guide Different from How to Do Everything with
Google?
The book How to Do Everything with Google, which I co-authored with
Google engineers Fritz Schneider and Eric Fredricksen, covers material similar
to Google Guide, but with many more examples, more detailed descriptions, and
more about the history and development of features and services in Google. In
other words, How to Do Everything with Google is more comprehensive than
Google Guide.
About the
Author
To get ideas of what to include in Google Guide, I give free and inexpensive
seminars on searching with Google. I've been using Google since the spring of
1999, when Google was less than one year old. I've written over a half dozen
tutorial and reference books, including How to Do Everything with Google, Mathematica: A Practical Appraoch, Mathematica Graphics Guidebook, Mathematica Quick Reference, Maple V Quick Reference, and Putting Your Heart Online. I'm president and founder of
Variable Symbols, a company that specializes in software training and
consulting. I obtained a B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from the University of
Birmingham, U.K., an M.S. in Operations Research from the University of
California at Berkeley, and an M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford
University, where I taught for eight years.
In addition to searching the web, you can use Google to find specific
information that is available offline or on specialized sites. In this page I
describe features that enable me to find more quickly things I want.
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Tools
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| Shortcuts |
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Special Searches
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Other
Features
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To learn more about a particular service or feature, click on the title of a
section, which links to a more detailed description in Google Guide, http://www.googleguide.com/, or read How to Do Everything with Google.
Toolbar
- toolbar.google.com
.gif)
I often access Google from the Toolbar when I use Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
and Internet Explorer 5.0 or a more recent version or from Googlebar when I use
Mozilla. For Mac OS X users, Apple's Safari web browser includes Google search and my other
favorite Toolbar features.
My favorite Toolbar features include
| Feature
| What it can do |
| Search Box
| Access Google's search technology from your browser toolbar. |
| Highlight
| Highlight terms on the current page. |
| Pop-up Blocker
| Stop annoying pop-up windows (new in version 2.0 of Toolbar).
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Deskbar
- toolbar.google.com/deskbar/
Access Google from your Windows deskbar toolbar even when you're not running
a web browser.
Browser
Buttons - www.google.com/options/buttons.html
I often search using Google browser buttons when I don't have access to a
Google Toolbar or Deskbar.
Copyright © 2003 Google Inc. Used with
permission.
Shortcuts
Google provides shortcuts that seem intuitively obvious once I've learned
about them.
- Want Driving
Directions?
Instead of visiting an on-line map-providing service, just enter a US
address into Google. You can also copy and paste addresses, even ones with
embedded carriage returns, into Google's search box. When Google recognizes
your query as a location, the results page includes links to map providers for
that location.
Click on either the Yahoo! Maps link or the MapQuest link to view a map showing Google's headquarters at
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy in Mountain View, California.
Clicking on a map-provider link takes you to a map showing the location
result and links to driving directions.
- Need a US Phone
Number or Address?
Just enter a company or person's name and a city, state, or zip code in the
standard web search box. For example,
- Need a
Definition?
It's just a click away. If Google finds any dictionary definitions for your
search terms, it shows those words as underlined links or includes a
definition link in the statistics bar section of the results page (located
below the search box showing your query). For example, learn what co-founders
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and CEO Eric Schmidt mean when they say they run
Google as a triumvirate.
When you include define, what is, or what are in
your query in front of a word, phrase, or acronym, Google displays one Glossary
definition above your search results. In February of 2003, Google acquired
Pyra Labs, a company that makes it easy for you to create your own blog.
What's a blog? Let's ask Google to define the term.
- The Google
Calculator isn't Mathematica
But it's free and may be good enough for your purposes. It can add up a
list of numbers, convert from miles to kilometers, or evaluate some other
mathematical expression. Simply enter the expression you'd like evaluated in
Google's web search box and hit the ENTER key or click
the "Google Search" button. For example, add up some receipts.
Keeping Abreast of the
News - News Alerts
Rather than searching Google
News every day to find out what's new, I set up Google News
Alerts to send me email when news articles appear on the web.
I've also set up Google Alert, a third-party service available at http://www.googlealert.com/, to keep up with the latest news
about Google, How to Do Everything with Google, and Google Guide.
Google Alert is more flexible and returns more results than Google's News
Alerts.
More
Relevant Results
When Google was first launched, it returned only pages that matched
all your query terms exactly. To increase the number of results, Google
now returns pages that match variants of your search terms. For example,
finds pages that contain words that are similar to some or all of your search
terms, e.g., "child," "children," or "children's," "bicycle" "bicycles,"
"bicycle's," "bicycling," or "bicyclists," and "helmet" or "helmets." Google
calls this feature word variations or automatic stemming.
- Want
only Exact Matches?
Disable automatic stemming, i.e., searching for pages that match variants
of your search term(s), by preceding each term that you want to be matched
exactly with the + operator. For example, if you
want to see pages that only mention one favorite book rather than lists of
favorite books, precede the word "book" by a + sign.
- Searching
for a Phrase or a Proper Name?
If you want to search for pages that contain a phrase or proper name and
not variations, enclose your search terms in quotes (" "). For example,
finds pages containing
exactly the phrase "Larry Page." So this query would find pages mentioning
Google's co-founder Larry Page, but not pages containing "Larry has a home
page" or "Congressional page Larry Smith." The query
(without quotes) would
find pages containing any of "Larry Page," "Larry has a home page," or
"Congressional page Larry Smith."
Where are your Search Terms
on a Page?
When Google returns a link to a page that appears to have little to do with
my query, or if I can't find the information I'm seeking on the current version
of the page, I look at the cached version.
Click on the Cached link to view Google's cached version of the page
with the query terms highlighted.
Note: Internet Explorer users may view a page with any word(s)
highlighted, not just search terms, by using the highlight feature of
the Google Toolbar, which I mentioned above.
Advertising
I never would have guessed that I would be listing Google advertising among
my favorite features. I'm both pleased as a user and as an advertiser. Ads have
led me to useful information that I might not have otherwise found so easily and
my ads have steared thousands of interested users to my Google tutorial for a
minimal cost.
Google's approach to ads is similar to its approach to search results: the
ads must deliver useful links, or the ads are removed.
- Ads must be relevant to your search.
- Ads must not distract (no pop-up or flashy ads).
- Sponsored links are clearly identified and kept separate from search
results.
Can't Find What You Want? Try
Google Answers
Having trouble creating a query to find the information you seek? Don't have
time to research the topic yourself? Consider asking Google Answers, which, for a
fee as little as US$2.50, provides assistance from researchers with expertise in
online searching.
Reluctant to use Google Answers? Think you can find the information you want
if you search a bit longer? If you feel that way, you're not alone.
Nevertheless, many people, including me, who have asked questions of Google
Answers are now fans of the service. Not only has it saved me time, but the
answers have been packed with useful information and links. It's a wonderful
service that's well worth your checking out, whether you're a novice or an
experienced searcher. I'm grateful to Google Answers researchers for their
feedback and suggestions for improving Google Guide.
For more features and services as well as how Google works, read Google Guide or How to Do Everything with Google.
I was interviewed on WebTalk Radio
March 20, 2004 about my favorite Google features. You can listen to the webcast
audio of the interview.
Google is easy to use, but the more you know about how it works, its
features, its capabilities, and how it displays results, the better it can serve
your needs.
In this segment, you will learn how to:
If you have little or no experience with Google, read on. Otherwise, skip to
the next section, titled "Go to the First Result."
If your browser isn't pointing to Google, visit Google's home page by
entering any one of the following web addresses into your browser:
When I refer to a web address in this tutorial, I omit the "http://"
prefix. For a description of web addresses, see the section "Anatomy of a Web
Address."
What is a query? A query is a set of words that you hope you will find
in the search results listings. In Google Guide, I sometimes call a query
search terms.
To enter a query, type in descriptive words into Google's search box. You can
use either the search box on Google's home page (shown above) or the search box
that always appears at the top of a Google results page (shown in the next
screen shot).
Now press the ENTER key or click on the "Google Search"
button to view your search results, which include links to pages that match your
query along with relevant snippets (excerpts) with your search terms in a
boldface.
This example isn't just a picture of what the search box looks like. If you
click the "Google Search" button, you'll go to the Google results page for a
search on the words "california" and "driving." Feel free to edit what's in the
search box and run other searches.
The results page is full of information and links most of which relate to
your query. In this screen shot, to the right of Google's search results appear
sponsored links, which are paid advertisements. Results Google considers to be
most relevant to your query are shown first.
To view a page listed in your search results, click on the page title, the
first line in each result. Any of your query words that appear in the title will
be in boldface, and the title will be underlined, i.e., it's a link to the web
page. Note that when you position your mouse pointer on the title, the URL for
the web page will appear in your browser's status bar, at the bottom of many
browsers. Under the title will be excerpts that include one or more of your
query words: your query words will be in boldface. These excerpts are known as
snippets. In our example, click on the California Driving -- A Survival Guide link, which appears
just below the blue bar with the text "Searched the web for california
driving," to view the corresponding California Driving Guide web
page.
Your results for a search on "california driving" may be different from what
you see here since Google is constantly searching the Web for new pages and
adjusting its results algorithms.
Click on the I'm Feeling Lucky button on Google's home page to go
directly to the first result for your query. Instead of showing you a list of
pages, Google sends you immediately to the result that may be most relevant to
your query. For example, if you enter the query [ california driving ]
(without the square brackets) and click the I'm Feeling Lucky button,
Google will send you to the home page of Hamish Reid's wonderful California
Driving Guide.
This example isn't just a picture of what a search box and the I'm Feeling
Lucky button look like. In this example and in others like it throughout
this tutorial, you can edit what's in the search box and run different searches.
The I'm Feeling Lucky button can save you the time it takes to review
your results and then click on the first one. Use it when you're confident the
page you want is the best fit for your query, which is usually the case when
you're seeking very popular pages. For example, it's a safe bet that an
I'm Feeling Lucky search for "Paul McCartney" (one of The Beatles) will
send you to his home page www.paulmccartney.com.
Note: I'm Feeling Lucky doesn't consider the various sponsored
links on the first results page, which are paid advertisements, when deciding
where to take you. In other words, the I'm Feeling Lucky button will send
you to what Google considers the most relevant result that is not a paid
advertisement.
In the Section after the Exercises, we'll look at how to select search terms.
These problems give you
experience with entering a query. For hints and answers to selected problems,
see the Solutions page
in the Appendix.
- Point your browser to Google's home page by visiting http://www.google.com/. Find
Google tutorials by typing [ google tutorial ] (without the square
brackets) into Google's search box and then clicking the "Google Search"
button. Click on the link for Google Guide.
- After completing the previous exercise, click the back button on your
browser twice to return to Google's home page and then search again for
[ google tutorial ] (without the square brackets). Click on the
I'm Feeling Lucky button.
- What is the difference between the results of the previous two exercises?
- Point your browser to Google's home page by visiting http://www.google.com/ and
enter the query [ weapons of mass destruction ] (without the square
brackets) and click on the "Google Search" button.
If the first line on the first result is "Cannot find Weapons of Mass
Destruction," then click the back button on your browser and then search again
for [ weapons of mass destruction ] (without the square brackets)
but this time click on the I'm Feeling Lucky button.
Otherwise, click the back button on your browser, enter the words "cannot
find" in front of "weapons of mass destruction" so in the search box are the
words [ cannot find weapons of mass destruction ] and then click on
the I'm Feeling Lucky button.
If you've followed the instructions, with luck, you'll see a page similar
to the one on the left, which is a parody of the page on the right that a
server may display when it isn't able to access the page you requested.
- What is the first result that Google returns when you search for
[ cat ]? List reasons for Google selecting that page.
- Point your browser to Boogle's home page by visiting http://www.boogle.com/. In
addition to offering the same search capabilities as Google, Boogle includes
an interesting quote.
- Find recipes for chocolate souffle by typing [ chocolate souffle
recipes ] (without the square brackets) into Boogle's search box and then
clicking the "Google Search" button.
- After completing the previous exercise, click the back button on your
browser and then search again for [ chocolate souffle recipes ]
(without the square brackets). Click on the I'm Feeling Lucky button.
The search terms you enter and the order in which you enter them affect both
the order and pages that appear in your search results. In the examples below,
click on the similar ways of specifying various searches and note how the
results differ.
For simplicity sake, this tutorial uses square brackets to denote Google's
search box. For example, to search for a cheap hotel in Mykonos, I'll put the
words "cheap," "hotel," and "Mykonos" in square brackets, [ cheap hotel
Mykonos ], to indicate you should type those three words in Google's search
box. You should not type the brackets, although Google will ignore them if you
do type them.
Furthermore, in the examples that follow, I have linked each set of search
terms to the results of doing a Google search on those terms. So clicking on
[ cheap
Mykonos hotel ] returns the Google results page for a search on those
three words.
Use words likely to appear on the pages
you want.
[ salary negotiation tips ]
[ sciatica ]
[ window
treatments ]
Avoid using a question as a query. For example, the query, [ where do I apply for a passport in New Zealand ],
instructs Google to find pages containing all the terms. Such a query won't
necessarily find pages answering your question. A better query might be
[ passport apply New Zealand ].
USE [ passport apply New Zealand ]
NOT [ where do I apply for a passport in New Zealand ]
When Google detects very common words such as where, do,
I, for, and a, known as stop
words, it ignores them so Google may return relevant results. If
you're seeking pages that include a stop word, e.g., "how the west was won,"
learn how to force Google to search for a complete
phrase or a specific
word in the section Crafting Your
Query.
Avoid using words that you might associate with your topic, but you
wouldn't expect to find on the designated page(s). For example, queries that
include "articles about," "discussion of," "documentation on," and "pages
about" are likely to return fewer results since information on the web is
rarely labeled with such terms.
USE [ lasik
eye surgery ]
NOT [ documentation on lasik eye surgery ]
USE [ jobs product marketing Sunnyvale ]
NOT [ listings of product marketing jobs in Sunnyvale ]
Suppose you want to know how old someone is, such as Nelson Mandela (the
former President of South Africa). Pages with "birthday" or "age" might be
more than a year old. Searching for pages that include "Nelson Mandela" and
"born" are likely to include either "Nelson Mandela born" or "Nelson Mandela
was born" followed by his birth date. You can figure out his age from
knowing when he was born.
USE [ Nelson Mandela born ]
NOT [ Nelson Mandela birthday ] nor [ Nelson Mandela age ]
Not sure what word or phrase is likely to appear on pages you want.
Consider running a word or phrase popularity contest with Google
Smackdown, which you can find at www.onfocus.com/googlesmack/down.asp.
This third-party application reports which of two terms or phrases Google
estimates to be more prevalent on the web (actually on more web pages that
Google has included in its index).
Although not as popular according to Google Smackdown, in Google Guide I
use "screen shot" because it's in my online dictionary and "screenshot"
isn't.
Note: The section How Google Works
describes how Google finds web pages and constructs an index.
Be specific: Use more query terms to
narrow your results.
It's better to use a more precise, less ambiguous term than a common one
to "flesh out the topic by including facets that interest you," notes Ned
Fiedler in his book Internet Research, Second Edition (McFarland
& Company, 2001).
Does your query have enough specific information for Google to determine
unambiguously what you're seeking? If your query is too vague, it's unlikely
to return relevant results. Consider, for example, the query [ java ]. What do you suppose Google includes in the
first page of results? An island in Indonesia? A beverage consisting of an
infusion of ground coffee beans? A computer network-oriented
platform-independent programming language developed by Sun Microsystems?
USE [ Java
Indonesia ], [ java
coffee ], or [ java programming language ]
NOT [ java ]
How can you come up with more specific search terms? What do you know
about the topic? Consider answers to the questions, who?, what?, where?,
when?, why?, and how?
When you search for [ Tom
Watson ], on the first page of results you get references to a
member of Parliament, the golfer, the IBM executive, and a Populist Party
candidate for President in 1900 and 1904. If you're searching for something
that could return many different types of results, you should add a term
that distinguishes among them. This way you'll get only results about the
specific Tom Watson you're interested in.
USE [ Tom Watson
MP ], [ Tom
Watson golf ], or [ Tom
Watson IBM ]
NOT [ Tom
Watson ]
USE [ baby
development ] or [ baby
milestones ]
NOT [ babies ]
USE [ Betty Ford Center drug addiction ]
NOT [ Ford Center ]
Note: Google
limits queries to 10 words.
Be brief.
For best results, use a few precise words. For example, a program on
quitting smoking is more likely to include the terms "quit smoking
program" than the words "program on quitting tobacco cigarette smoking
addiction."
USE [ quit smoking program ]
NOT [ program on quitting tobacco cigarette smoking
addiction ]
You don't have to correct your spelling.
There's a good chance that Google will recognize your mistakes and
suggest an alternative more common spelling, usually faster than you can
look up the term in an online dictionary.
When you enter: [ Anna Kornikova tennis ]
Google responds: Did you
mean: Anna Kournikova tennis
Note: Before clicking on Google's suggested spelling, consider
whether it's what you want. Spelling checker, like people, make mistakes.
For more information on Google's spelling correction system, see the
section Spelling
Corrections.
Note: Even if you use the search tips described in Google Guide, you
won't be able to access authoritative information that's available offline,
e.g., old reference books, or is stored in specialized databases. For such
information is not currently searchable with Google.
Next we'll look at how Google interprets your query.
For more information on the basics of Google search, visit www.google.com/help/basics.html.
These problems give you
practice in selecting search terms. For hints and answers to selected problems,
see the Solutions page
in the Appendix.
- Find a page with "Google doodle."
- Find the Dilbert cartoon that Scott Adams developed by using Google's
logo.
- What's Google's history?
- Find contact information for your representative(s), e.g., senator,
congresswoman (or congressman), or member of Parliament.
- How long did it take the first person to cross the United States by car
and in what year was it first done?
- In the summer of 1997, an email message was widely circulated featuring
the text of a "commencement speech" purportedly given by Kurt Vonnegut at MIT.
The imaginary speech began "Wear sunscreen." What's the story behind this
email hoax? What did this funny well-written fantasy "commencement speech"
say?
- Learn about the recommended tours of the Hearst Castle.
- Find the full text of the March 2nd, 1998 Time magazine article by George
Bush Senior and Scowcroft titled "Why We Didn't Remove Saddam Hussein."
Understanding how Google treats your search terms will help you devise
effective queries and revise ineffective ones.
Google returns only pages that match all
your search terms.
A search for [ compact fold-up bicycle ] finds pages containing the
words "compact" and "fold-up" and "bicycle." Because you don't
need to include the word AND between your terms, this notation is called an
implicit AND.
[ compact fold-up bicycle ]
Because of implicit AND, you can focus your query by adding more terms.
[ compact lightweight fold-up bicycle ]
Note: If you want pages containing any (instead of all) of
your search terms, use the OR operator,
which is described in the next section Crafting Your Query.
Google returns pages that match your
search terms exactly.
In his book Internet Research, Second Edition (McFarland &
Company, 2001), Ned Fielden notes "Google simply
matches strings of characters together and doesn't currently base inferences
on uses of the language. Although this searching method has some drawbacks,
it harnesses one of the fabulous powers of computers, [the ability] to sift
through enormous heaps of data quickly and accurately."
| If you search for ...
| Google won't find ... |
| cheap
| inexpensive |
| tv
| television |
| effects
| influences |
| children
| kids |
| car
| automobile |
| Calif OR CA
| California |
| NYC
| New York City |
Google returns pages that match variants
of your search terms.
The query [ child bicycle helmet ] finds pages that contain words
that are similar to some or all of your search terms, e.g., "child,"
"children," or "children's," "bicycle" "bicycles," "bicycle's," "bicycling,"
or "bicyclists," and "helmet" or "helmets." Google calls this feature
word variations or automatic stemming. Stemming is a technique
to search on the stem or root of a word that can have multiple endings.
If you only want to search for pages that contain some term(s) exactly,
precede each such term with a plus
sign (+) or enclose more than one term in quotes (" ").
If you enclose a single term in quotes, Google ignores the quotes.
Note: When you want synonyms or variants that Google doesn't find,
consider using either the OR or tilde
operator, which is described in the next section Crafting Your Query.
Google ignores some common words called
"stop words," e.g., the, on, where, how,
de, la, as well as certain single digits and single letters.
Stop words tend to slow down your search without improving the results.
Google will indicate if a stop word has been excluded on the results page
below the search box.
[ lyrics to the Dixie Chicks' songs ]
Note: Use the +
operator or enclose more than one term in quotes
(" ") to force Google to include terms it would otherwise
ignore. I describe these basic operators and others in the next section, 6 Crafting Your
Query.
If your query consists only of common words that Google normally ignores,
Google will search for pages that match all the terms.
[ the who ]
Note: Find more pages mentioning the rock band The Who by
entering [ "the who" ], a notation you'll learn about in the
next section Crafting Your
Query.
Google limits queries to 10 words.
Google ignores most of the words in the following query, which come from
a commencement speech.
[ I urge you to never allow yourself to be completely defined by
your work. An impressive resume and the accolades that accompany a very
high-profile profession provide very little comfort when you're lonely and
unfulfilled. ]
Google will indicate in a message below the query box at the top of the
page if your query exceeds the 10-word limit.
Google favors results that have your search
terms near each other.
Google considers the proximity of your search terms within a
page. So the query [ snake grass ] finds pages about a plant of that
name, while [ snake in the grass ] tends to
emphasize pages about sneaky people. Although Google ignores the words "in"
and "the," (these are stop
words), Google gives higher priority to pages in which "snake" and
"grass" are separated by two words.
[ snake grass ]
[ snake
in the grass ]
Note: The description of a wildcard
in the section Craft Your Query may help you to understand how Google
interprets queries containing words that it ignores.
Google gives higher priority to pages
that have the terms in the same order as in your query.
Consequently, you should enter search terms in the order in which you
would expect to find them on the pages you're seeking. A search for [ New York library ] gives priority to pages about New
York's libraries. While the query [ new
library of York ] gives priority to pages about the new libraries
in York.
[ New York library ]
[ new
library of York ]
Google is NOT case sensitive; it
assumes all search terms are lowercase.
Ignoring case distinctions increases the number of results Google finds.
A search for [ Red
Cross ] finds pages containing "Red Cross," "red cross," or "RED
CROSS."
[ Red Cross ], [ red
cross ], and [ RED
CROSS ] return the same results
There is no way to instruct Google to pay attention to case distinctions,
e.g., you can't tell Google to find only occurrences of "Red Cross" where
the first letter of each word is capitalized.
Note: The words "OR" and "AND"
have special meanings if entered in uppercase letters.
Google ignores some punctuation and special characters,
including , . ; ? [ ] ( ) @ / # .
Because punctuation is typically not as important as the text around it,
Google ignores most punctuation in your search terms. However, mathematical
symbols, such as /, (, and ), are not ignored by Google's calculator.
[ Dr. Ruth ] returns the same results as [ Dr
Ruth ]
What if you're seeking information that includes punctuation that Google
ignores, e.g., an email address? Just enter the whole thing including the
punctuation.
[ http://www.google.com/search?q=info@amazon.com ]
Be aware that web pages sometimes camouflage email addresses to make
collecting such information difficult for spammers. For example, on some
sites you'll find the @ sign in an email address replaced with the word
"at."
Now we'll look at some special characters that Google doesn't ignore.
A term with an apostrophe (single
quotes) doesn't match the term without an apostrophe.
A query with the term "we're" returns
different results from a query with the term "were."
[ we're ] matches "we're" but not "were"
[ were ] matches "were" but not "we're"
A term with an accent doesn't match a term
without an accent and vice versa.
[ Schröder ] matches "Schröder" but not
"Schroder" nor "Schroeder"
[ Schroeder
] matches "Schroeder" but not Schröder" nor
"Schroder"
[ Schroder ]
matches "Schroder" but not Schröder" nor "Schroeder"
[ Côte
d'Ivoire ] matches "Côte d'Ivoire" but not "Cote d'Ivoire"
[ Cote d'Ivoire ] matches "Cote d'Ivoire" but not "Côte
d'Ivoire"
[ mañana ] matches "mañana" but not "manana"
[ manana ] matches "manana" but not "mañana"
If you want pages containing either "mañana" or "manana", use the OR operator,
which is described in the section Crafting Your Query.
Note: For queries with accents, results vary depending on the
language to which you are confining your search. For example, when I search
for Martín (a Spanish name), the US version of Google returns only pages
that include "Martín" but when I restrict my
search to pages in Spanish, Google returns pages that include either
"Martín" or "Martin."
Search all pages: [ Martín ] matches "Martín" but not "Martin"
Search
Spanish pages: [ Martín ] matches "Martín" and "Martin"
Because some people spell
hyphenated words with a hyphen and others with a space, Google searches for
variations on any hyphenated terms.
When Google encounters a hyphen (-) in a query term, e.g., [ part-time ], it searches for:
- the term with the hyphen, e.g., part-time
- the term without the hyphen, e.g., parttime
- the term with the hyphen replaced by a space, e.g., part time
[ part-time ] matches "part-time," "part time," and
"parttime"
[ part time
] matches "part-time", "part time", and the words "part" and "time" not
necessarily together on the page
[ e-mail ] matches "e-mail," "email," and "e mail"
[
email ] matches "email"
If you aren't sure whether a word is hyphenated, go ahead and search for
it with a hyphen.
The following table summarizes how Google interprets your query.
| Search Behaviors
| Descriptions |
| Implicit AND
| Google returns pages that match all
your search terms. Because you don't need to include the logical
operator AND between your terms, this notation is called an implicit
AND. |
| Exact Matching
| Google returns pages that match your search
terms exactly. |
Word Variation
Automatic Stemming
| Google returns pages that match variants of
your search terms. |
| Common-Word Exclusion
| Google ignores some common words called "stop words,"
e.g., the, on, where, and how. Stop words tend to slow down searches
without improving results. |
| 10-Word Limit
| Google limits queries to 10 words. |
| Term Proximity
| Google gives more priority to pages that have search
terms near to each other. |
| Term Order
| Google gives more priority to pages that have search
terms in the same order as the query. |
| Case Insensitivity
| Google is case-insensitive; it assumes all search terms
are lowercase. |
| Ignoring Punctuation
| Google ignores most punctuation and special characters
including , . ; ? [ ] ( ) @ / * |
| Accented Letters
| A term with an accent doesn't match a term without an
accent and vice versa. |
Next we'll look at how to fine-tune your query.
For more information on the basics of Google search, visit www.google.com/help/basics.html.
These problems are
intended to help you understand how Google interprets your search terms. For
hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- Indicate which queries would match a page containing "GoogleGuide."
[ guide ] [ leg ] [ googleguide ]
[ GoogleGuide ] [ google ]
- What is the usual percentage gratuity (tip) to give in a big city in the
United States to a person who provides take-out service, i.e., gives you your
orders and accepts payment for the food?
- Indicate which words the following queries will find:
| [ non-profit ]
| non-profit
| non profit
| nonprofit |
| [ non profit ]
| non-profit
| non profit
| nonprofit |
| [ nonprofit ]
| non-profit
| non profit
| nonprofit |
- Which queries would you predict to be most likely to find sites with
discounted designer linens?
| [ discounted designer linens ] |
| [ discount designer linen ] |
| [ designer linen discount ] |
| [ linen designer discount ] |
| [ linen discounted design ]
|
- Why doesn't the query [ Be Manual ] include any results about
the Be operating system?
By using special characters and operators, such as +, -, ~, .., OR, and
quotation marks, you can fine-tune your search query and increase the accuracy
of its results.
To search for a phrase, a proper name, or a
set of words in a specific order, put them in double quotes.
A query with terms in quotes finds pages containing the exact quoted
phrase. For example, [ "Larry Page" ] finds
pages containing exactly the phrase "Larry Page." So this query would find
pages mentioning Google's co-founder Larry Page, but not pages containing
"Larry has a home page" or "Congressional page Larry Smith." The query
[ Larry Page ] (without quotes) would find pages
containing any of "Larry Page," "Larry has a home page," or "Congressional
page Larry Smith."
[ "Larry Page" ]
[ Larry
Page ]
A quoted phrase is the most widely used type of special search syntax.
[ "close your eyes and I'll kiss
you" ]
[ "what you're looking for is already
inside you" Anne Lamott speech ]
Use quotes to enter proper names.
[ "Julia Robinson" ]
[ "Rio de Janeiro" ]
Find recommendations by searching for pages containing lists.
[ "favorite movies" ]
[ "best non-fiction books" ]
Google will search for common words (stop
words) included in quotes, which it would otherwise ignore.
USE [ "to be or not to be" ]
NOT [ to be
or not to be ]
USE [ "how to change oil" ]
NOT [ how to
change oil ]
Google doesn't perform automatic
stemming on phrases, i.e., searching for pages that match variants of
any of your search terms, which I described in the previous section
Interpret Your Query. For example, if you want to see pages that mention
only one favorite book rather than lists of favorite books, enclose your
search terms in quotes.
[ "favorite book" ]
Some teachers use quoted phrases to detect plagiarism.
They copy a few unique and specific phrases into the Google search box,
surround them with quotes, and see if any results are too similar to their
student's supposedly original work. Find ways to detect and prevent
plagiarism.
[ "ways to detect plagiarism" ]
[ "how to detect plagiarism" ]
You may include more than one quoted string in a query. All quoted query
phrases must appear on a result page; the implied AND works on both
individual words and quoted phrases.
[ "The Cat in the Hat" "Green Eggs and Ham" ]
Note: You'll learn how to find a page by specifying
its title in the section Using Search Operators.
Force Google to include a term by
preceding the term with a "+" sign.
To force Google to search for a particular term, put a + sign operator in front of the word in the query. Note
that you should not put a space between the + and
the word, i.e. [ +The Beatles ], not [ + The Beatles ].
The + operator is typically used in front of
stop words that Google would otherwise ignore or when you want Google to
return only those pages that match your search terms exactly. However, the
+ operator can be used on any term.
Want to learn about Star Wars Episode One? "I" is a stop word and is not
included in a search unless you precede it with a +
sign.
USE [ Star Wars
+I ]
NOT [ Star Wars
I ]
Google excludes common words in English and in other languages, such as
"la" (which means "the" in Spanish) and "de" (which means "of" in French,
Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese). So if Google ignores a term critical to
your search, e.g., LA (common abbreviation for Los Angeles), put a + sign in
front of it.
USE [ jobs in central +LA
California ]
NOT [ jobs in central LA California ]
The query [ jobs in central LA California ] finds jobs in central
California, since the term "LA" is ignored because it's a stop word. Central
California is at least a hundred miles (160 km) from central Los Angeles.
Disable automatic
stemming, i.e., searching for pages that match variants of your search
term(s), by preceding each term that you want to be matched exactly with the
+ operator. For example, if you want to see
only pages mentioning one favorite book rather than lists of favorite books,
precede the word "book" by a + sign.
[ favorite +book ]
What if you're looking for a string that contains a "+" sign?
Though the character has special meaning, Google gives special attention to
very common terms that include it, e.g., C++ (the name of a widely used
computer language).
[ C++ ]
Precede each term you do not
want to appear in any result with a "-"
sign.
To find pages without a particular term, put a - sign operator in front of the word in the query.
The - sign indicates that you want to subtract
or exclude pages that contain a specific term. Do not put a space between the
- and the word, i.e. [ dolphins -football ] not
[ dolphins - football ].
So, to search for a twins support group in Minnesota, but not return pages
relating to the Minnesota Twins baseball team:
USE [ twins support group Minnesota -baseball ]
NOT [ twins support group Minnesota ]
No pages containing the word "baseball" will be returned by the first
query.
Find pages on "salsa" but not the dance nor dance classes.
USE [ salsa
-dance -class ]
NOT [ salsa ]
Find synonyms by preceding the term with a
~, which is known as the tilde or synonym
operator.
The tilde (~) operator takes the word
immediately following it and searches both for that specific word and for
the word's synonyms. It also searches for the term with alternative endings.
The tilde operator works best when applied to general terms and terms with
many synonyms. As with the + and - operators, put the ~ (tilde) next to the word, with no spaces between the
~ and its associated word, i.e., [ ~lightweight laptop ]
not [ ~ lightweight laptop ].
Why did Google use tilde? In math, the "~"
symbol means "approximately". The tilde tells Google to search for pages
that approximately match the term that follows.
[ ~inexpensive ] matches "inexpensive," "cheap,"
"affordable," and "low cost"
[ ~run ] matches "run," "runner's," "running," as
well as "marathon"
Looking for a guide, help, tutorial, or tips on using Google?
[ google ~guide ]
Interested in food facts as well as nutrition and cooking information?
[ ~food ~facts ]
The synonym operator tends not to work well on well-defined terms.
[ ~cockroach ]
If you don't like the synonyms that Google suggests when you use the
~ operator, specify your own synonyms with the
OR operator, which I describe next.
Note: Google offers a link to a dictionary
and a thesaurus.
Specify synonyms or alternative forms with an
uppercase OR or | (vertical bar).
The OR operator, which you may abbreviate
with | (vertical bar), applies to the search
terms immediately adjacent to it. The first example will find pages that
include either "Tahiti" or "Hawaii" or both terms, but not pages that
contain neither "Tahiti" nor "Hawaii."
[ Tahiti OR Hawaii ] or [ Tahiti | Hawaii ]
[ blouse OR shirt OR chemise ] or [ blouse | shirt | chemise ]
Note: If you write OR with a lowercase "o" or a lowercase "r,"
Google interprets the word as a search term instead of an operator.
Use quotes (" ") to group compound words
and phrases together.
[ "New Zealand" OR "Ivory Coast" holiday package ]
[ filter OR stop "junk email" OR spam ]
Google
considers terms with accents different from those without. For example,
Google interprets "côte" and "cote" as different terms and indexes them
separately. To ensure that you retrieve many relevant pages, include all
possible spellings separated by OR.
[ "Ivory Coast" OR "Côte d'Ivoire" OR "Cote d'Ivoire" ]
Specify that results contain numbers in a
range by specifying two numbers, separated by two periods, with no spaces.
For example, specify that you are searching in the price range $250 to
$1000 using the number range specification $250..$1000.
[ recumbant bicycle $250..$1000 ]
Use an *, known
as a wildcard, to match any word in a phrase (enclosed
in quotes).
Each * represents just one word. Google treats
the * as a placeholder for a word. For example,
[ "Google * my life" ] tells Google to find pages containing a
phrase that starts with "Google" followed by a word, followed by "my life."
Phrases that fit the bill include: "Google changed my life," "Google runs my
life," and "Google is my life."
[ "Google * my life" ]
If you know there's a date on the page you're seeking but you don't know
its format, specify several common formats. For example:
[ California election "Oct * 2003" OR "10/*/03" OR "October * 2003" ]
When you know only part of the phrase you wish to find, consider using
the * operator. Find the title of Sherry Russell's
book that can help you deal with the tragedies of 9/11 or losing a loved
one.
[ "Conquering the * and * of Grief" ]
You can use the symbol * to
search for terms that are a specified number of words from each other on any
page (see below for examples specifying the number of words). This type of
searching, known as proximity searching, is great when you know
the start and end of a title or quote, but are unsure of the words in
between. By trying each of these searches you will find the answer:
[ "Conquering the * Grief" ]
[ "Conquering the *
* Grief" ]
[ "Conquering the * *
* Grief" ]
[ "Conquering the * *
* * Grief" ]
[ "Conquering the * *
* * * Grief" ]
[ "Conquering the * *
* * * * Grief" ]
[ "Conquering the * *
* * * * * Grief" ]
[ "Conquering the * *
* * * * * * Grief" ]
Proximity searching can be useful when you want to find pages that
include someone's name in any of the following orders: first middle last,
last first middle, first last, last first. To search for "Francis" adjacent
or separated one word from "Coppola," requires four queries:
[ "Francis Coppola" ]
[ "Francis *
Coppola" ]
[ "Coppola Francis" ]
[ "Coppola *
Francis" ]
If you want to search for two terms separated by no more than two words,
you'll need six queries. If you're interested in running proximity searches,
try out GAPS, a third-party search tool available at http://www.staggernation.com/cgi-bin/gaps.cgi.
Note: You can get around Google's
10-word limit on the number of words in your query by substituting an *
in place of each stop word or common word in your query. Wildcards are not
counted.
USE [ All grown-ups * once children--although few * them remember
* ]
NOT [ All grown-ups were once children--although few of them
remember it ]
Google chose the symbol * to match any word
because in some computer systems, such as Unix, Linux, and DOS, * stands for one or more unspecified characters. In those
languages it is typically used for selecting multiple files and directories.
Note: Stemming is a technique to search on the stem or root of a
word that can have multiple endings. For example, on some search engines the
query bicycl* will return results that match words including bicycle,
bicycles, bicycling, bicycled, and bicyclists. Google ignores asterisks (*)
that are not surrounded by spaces. The query [ bicycl* ] finds documents that contain "bicycl."
Google automatically provides stemming.
This table summarizes how to use the basic search operators, described on
this page. You may include any of these operators multiple times in a query.
| Notation
| Find result
| Example |
| terms1 terms2
| with both term1 and term2
| [ carry-on luggage ] |
term1 OR term2
term1
| term2
| with either term1 or term2 or both
| [ Tahiti OR Hawaii ]
[ Tahiti | Hawaii ] |
| +term
| with term (The + operator
is typically used in front of stop words that Google would otherwise
ignore or when you want Google to return only pages that match your
search terms exactly. However, the + operator
can be used on any terms.)
| [ +i
spy ] |
| -term
| without term
| [ twins minnesota -baseball ] |
| ~term
| with term or one of its synonyms
(currently
supported on Web and Directory search)
| [ google
~guide ] |
| number1..number2
| with a number in the specified range
| [ recumbant bicycle $250..$1000 ] |
| "phrase"
| with the exact phrase, a proper name, or a set of
words in a specific order
| [ "I
have a dream" ]
[ "Rio de Janeiro" ] |
| "terms1 * terms2"
| with the phrase (enclosed in quotes) and * replaced by any single word
| [ "Google * my life" ]
|
Queries that use Google's special
notation may also be entered by using Google's Advanced Search,
which we'll look at next.
This problem set is
designed to give you practice in refining your queries and in using Google's
commands with special notation. For hints and answers to selected problems, see
the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- How long before you go outside should you apply
sunscreen?
- What prompted Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, to write The Cat in the
Hat?
- Find advice on writing a will.
- Search for your own name. Does Google find any references to you or a
namesake?
See if there is any difference in your results if you type a period between
your names rather than enclosing your name in quotes and if you just enter the
opening quote, i.e., compare the results from [ Nancy.Blachman ],
[ "Nancy Blachman" ], and [ "Nancy Blachman ].
- Find pages on daily life in Afghanistan that do not mention war or the
Taliban.
- What is the history of the McIntosh Apple (the fruit), not the computer?
- Find the terms that Google considers approximately equivalent to the term
"cheap."
- Find the terms that Google considers approximately equivalent to the term
"volunteer."
- Find today's weather forecast/condition.
- Find recipes for zucchini, also known as courgette in the UK and France.
- Find studio apartments for rent in Minneapolis or St. Paul, Minnesota.
- Find Iranian restaurants in New Jersey and New York.
- Which of the following phrases matches the query [ "Google
* my life" ]?
"Google has enriched my life"
"Google changed my life"
"Google
runs my life"
"Google has revolutionized my life"
"Google: I love my
life"
"Google is my life"
- I vaguely remember a song I learned as a child that contained the
following versus.
The donuts in the army, they say are mighty fine. One rolled off
the table and killed a friend of mine.
Chorus
Oh, I don't want no more of this army life.
Gee mom,
I want to go. But they won't let me go.
Gee mom, I want to go home.
The nurses in the army, they say are mighty fine. Most are over 90, the
rest are under 9.
Chorus
The coffee in the army, they say is
mighty fine. Taste like muddy water and looks like
iodine.
Chorus
The money in the army, they say is mighty fine.
Give them $100 dollars, they'll give you back a dime.
Find other verses for this song and see how this song has been adapted by
the Girl and Boy Scouts.
Note: The verses changed as they got passed around camps and
schools.
- Why does the query [ "the who" ] give more priority to results about
the rock band The Who than the query [ the who ]
but return significantly fewer results?
- How do the results of the following two queries differ?
[ "how
might I" ]
[ "how
might I *" ]
[ "how
might I *" ]?
When you don't find what you're seeking, consider specifying more precisely
what you want by using Google's Advanced Search feature. Don't be frightened by
the name "Advanced Search"; it's easy to use, and it allows you to select or
exclude pages with more precision than Google's standard search box. Click on
the Advanced
Search link, which is located to the right of Google's search box
or visit www.google.com/advanced_search and fill in the form. The
Advanced Search form is automatically filled in with appropriate information
from your previous query -- if you entered a query just before you clicked on
the Advanced Search link. If you searched for a phrase, the phrase appears in
the phrase
search box. If you restricted your search to a specific site or domain, the
domain appears in the domain box.
Filling in the top portion of the Advanced Search form is an easy way to
write restricted queries without having to use the " ," +, -, OR notation
discussed in the previous section Crafting Your Query.
Let's look at some examples. If you click on the screen shots in this
section, you'll be taken to the results of running the corresponding search.
- To find tutorial introductions to Google, specify [ google ] in
the top field (find results with all the words), and [ tutorial
guide intro introduction ] in the third field (find results with at
least one of the words).
Note: Instead of specifying your own synonyms for tutorial, you can
instruct Google to suggest its own by using the tilde operator, [ google ~tutorial ] or [ google
~guide ], see Crafting Your
Query.
- Find how to export addresses from a Palm address book to print labels.
The next part of the Advanced Search page lets you put restrictions on the
types of pages listed in your search results.
Next I describe each line in the form.
- Language: limit results to pages written in a
specific language. For example, find pages in Spanish with recommendations for
hotels in Andalucía, Spain.
If you always want only results in a certain language or set of languages,
then change your search language in your Google preferences.
See the section Customizing Your Results by
Using Preferences to learn how to change your Google preferences to modify
the way your search results appear.
- File Format: restrict your results to a particular
file format, or exclude a format from your results. Choices include:
| File Format
| Suffix
| Description |
| Adobe Acrobat PDF
| .pdf
| A publishing format commonly used for product manuals and
documents of all sorts. |
| Adobe PostScript
| .ps
| A printing format often used for academic papers. |
| Microsoft Word
| .doc
| A common word processing format. |
| Microsoft Powerpoint
| .ppt
| A format for presentations and slides. |
| Rich Text Format
| .rtf
| A format used to exchange documents between Microsoft
Word and other formats. |
Since documents in PDF format tend to be better written than web pages,
let's search for documents on estate planning in PDF format.
You can restrict your search to other file formats by using the filetype:
search operator, which I will discuss in the Using Search Operator
(Advanced Operators) section.
- Date: restrict your results to pages updated in
the past three, six, or twelve months. Note: Any change in the page
counts as an update, even a spelling correction. This option is useful when
searching for timely information such as annual events, specifications for a
new model of car or appliance, or what people have been doing lately.
Recently, scientists reported new findings about the risks and benefits of
hormone therapy used by 40% of postmenopausal American women to relieve
menopause symptoms. We're more likely to find links to this information by
searching only for web pages updated in the last three months.
If you want to access pages that have been updated or added today,
yesterday, within the last seven days, or within the last 30 days, try
FreshGoo.com, or GooFresh, two third-party applications available at www.FreshGoo.com/ and www.researchbuzz.org/archives/001405.shtml, respectively.
If you want pages that have been updated or added
between two specific dates, use Fagan Finder's Search Tool, another
third-party application, which is available at www.faganfinder.com/engines/google.shtml.
- Numeric Range: when you want pages containing
numbers in a specified range.
Since I'm interested in a "half-bicycle" trailer for my three and a half
year old twins, let's search for one called Trail-a-Bike in the price range
$50-$1000.
- Occurrences: specify where your search terms
must occur on the page. Choices are anywhere on the page, in the title,
in the text, in the URL, or in links to the page.
Find pages on Google whose URL contains FAQ, an abbreviation for either
Frequently Asked Questions or Frequently Answered Question. In the solution
below I look for pages containing both Google and FAQ in the URL.
- Domain: search only a specific website (e.g.,
www.eff.org) or domain (e.g., .org) or exclude that site or domain completely
from your search. The section Anatomy of a Web
Address at the end of the Sharpening Your Query section explains how to
figure out the website or domain for a web page if you know its address.
Let's look at a couple of examples. If you click on the screen shots in
this section, you'll be taken to the Advanced Search form specifying the
corresponding search.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google's founders, were graduate students at
Stanford when they wrote a paper describing their prototype search engine.
Let's search for it by entering their names and restricting our search domain
to Stanford University's site, stanford.edu.
To find information on volunteering for an organization, search for results
with the word "volunteering" and restrict the domain to ."org."
- SafeSearch: specify whether to filter out sites that contain
pornography or explicit sexual content and eliminate them from search results.
Be aware that Google's automated filtering doesn't guarantee that you won't be
shown offensive content.
When you turn off SafeSearch filtering and search for non-pornographic
content, Google will order your results in a way that adult sites won't be
listed prominently. For example, searching for [ breast cancer treatment ] with SafeSearch turned off,
you're unlikely to run across sites with provocative images of breasts.
In an effort to return as many useful results as possible, SafeSearch
doesn't currently filter out hate speech, anarchy, criminal activity, crude
and tasteless material, illegal weapons, bomb making, etc., content that other
filtering systems attempt to exclude.
Froogle
Product Search
In an effort to make many features and services available from one form, the
Advanced Search form includes a search box for Froogle, Google's product
search service. To browse bicycles that can be folded up quickly and compactly
making them easy to transport on a car, train, or airplane, fill in the Products
search box and then click on the associated Search button.
Page-Specific Searches
The Advanced Search form also offers page-specific searches for finding pages
similar to a page for which you have a web address (URL) and for finding out
what pages link to a particular page.
Unlike the other fields in the Advanced Search form, the page-specific
searches can't be combined with other query terms. Consequently each has its own
Search button.
You can easily run these page-specific searches from Google's
Toolbar, which is described in the section Making Google Easier with Google
Tools.
Instead of going to the Advanced Search form, you can
search for a web site by entering its address in the search box and Google
returns a link to the website, as well as links to:
- Google's cache
of the site
- Web pages that are similar to the site
- Web pages that link to the
site
- Web pages that contain the URL
For example, to find out about the wonderful reference site www.refdesk.com,
enter www.refdesk.com into Google's search box.
![Screen shot with results from search for [ www.refdesk.com ].](Google Guide Making Searching Even Easier - Printable Version_files/refdesk.gif)
Web
Alerts
If you like keeping up with the latest updates and new web pages, consider
setting up one or more Google Web Alerts. After you've set up a Web Alert,
Google finds and delivers links to web pages once a day or once a week. Consider
using Google Web Alerts to:
- keep current on a competitor or industry
- learn where you are or your company is cited or quoted
- find when people link to your site
- discover new websites on a certain topic
Google Ultimate Interface
If you want to specify what you're looking for with more precision than
Google's Advanced Search form offers, try out the Google Ultimate Interface, a
third-party application available at www.faganfinder.com/google.html. With the Ultimate Interface
you can:
- Search with any of Google's search engines, i.e., Web Search or some of
the tools in Part III Special
Tools.
- Find pages that have been updated between any two specific dates
- Select letters with practically every different kind of diacritical
marking, such as umlauts or accent marks, from the keyboard near the bottom of
the page
Note: Michael Fagan developed Google Ultimate Interface when he was a
teenager.
If you're not sure of all the types of information that you can search for
with Google, check out Soople, www.soople.com/soople_int.php.
I describe many of the capabilities included in
Soople in Part
II: Understanding Search Results and Part III: Special
Tools.
If you want to enter several queries simultaneously, try GoogleBlaster, http://www.googleblaster.com/.
Refining a
Query
Refining a query means changing or adding to the set of search terms
to do a better job of returning the pages you're seeking. Successful researchers
frequently enter several queries to find what they're seeking.
The search boxes at the top and bottom of the results page show the query for
the current results page. If the query uses special operators that you entered
either directly or indirectly through the advanced search form, they will appear
in the search box as well. To refine your query, edit what's in the search box
and then click the "Google Search" button or hit the ENTER
key.
Let's look at a few examples.
- Get ideas for subsequent searches by reviewing your results, including the
snippets
that Google returns and the pages they came from.
Should you get a flu shot this winter?
TRY [ flu
shot ]
Many of the results refer to influenza
vaccine.
REFINE [ flu OR influenza shot OR vaccine ]
- Exploit successful queries: look deeper within your results.
Scroll to the search box at the bottom of your results page and click
on the link "Search within results." This causes Google to run a new
search using your newly specified terms (those in the search box)
only on the pages it found from your initial query, rather
than a search over the entire web.
Search within results
You can get the same results in one step fewer by simply specifying
additional terms to your previous query.
On Internet Explorer and on some other browsers, you can double click
on a term to highlight it. Then type a new term or hit the DELETE key to remove the term. Triple click in the search
box to highlight your entire query. Enter a new query or hit the DELETE key to remove the old query.
- Instead of searching for related topics with a single
query, divide the query into several parts. Looking for a job? By searching
for tips on each aspect, you'll find more sites than by searching for sites
that describe all the aspects of a job search.
USE [ job application tips ], [ cover letter tips ], [ interviewing tips ]
NOT [ job application cover letter interview tips ]
The following table presents suggestions to narrow or
focus a search, as well as tips for broadening a search that has produced few
useful results. Click on a link in the table to be taken to the section in
Google Guide that describes features and ways to refine your query.
For a tutorial on how to use Advanced Search, visit www.lib.monash.edu.au/vl/google/goog06.htm.
Anatomy of a Web
Address
If you already know how to read a web address or URL (pronounced "you are
ell" and stands for Universal Resource Locator), skip this section. A website is
usually the host or server between the http:// and the first
/. Consider the web address http://www.googleguide.com/searchEngines/google/searchLeader.html.
(This page lists reasons why Google is a search leader.) Here's what it all
means:
| http |
transfer protocol (type of information being
transferred) |
| www.googleguide.com |
site name |
| googleguide |
second-level domain name |
| com |
top-level domain name |
| searchEngines |
directory name |
| google |
sub-directory name |
| searchLeader |
file name |
| html |
file format |
Here's a list of some common top-level domain names:
| .edu |
educational site (usually a university or
college) |
| .com |
commercial business site |
| .gov |
U.S. government/non-military site |
| .mil |
U.S. military sites or agencies |
| .net |
networks, Internet service providers,
organizations |
| .org |
U.S. non-profit organizations and
others |
Because the Internet was created in the United States, "US" was not
originally assigned to U.S. domain names; however, it's used to designate
American state and local government hosts, including many public schools, and
commercial entities, e.g., well.sf.ca.us. The domain .ca represents
Canada, unless it's followed by .us, in which case it represents
California.
Domain
Codes |
State |
| .ca.us |
California |
| .nv.us |
Nevada |
| .tx.us |
Texas |
Other countries have their own two letter codes as the top level of their
domain names.
Domain
Codes |
Country |
| .ca |
Canada |
| .de |
Germany |
| .dk |
Denmark |
| .jp |
Japan |
| .il |
Israel |
| .uk |
United Kingdom |
| .za |
South Africa
|
To limit results to a single site or domain, specify the site name (e.g.,
www.googleguide.com or googleguide.com) or a top-level domain
name (e.g., .com or .edu) in Google's domain selector.
This problem set is designed to give you practice with specifying more
precisely what you're seeking by using the Advanced Search form. For hints and
answers to selected problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- What are some home remedies for getting rid of ants?
- Find facts about declawing cats.
- What is Google's privacy policy? How can you delete a query from your
browser's history/urls/cache?
- Some movie stars attend Botox parties. What goes on at such parties and
why do they attend? Which stars have used Botox?
- When was Nina Totenberg, National Public Radio's (NPR) legal affairs
correspondent, born, where was she educated, what degrees does she have? Did
she attend law school?
- When you search Google for a URL, such as www.guardian.co.uk,
what links are included with your results?
- What country has the domain code .at?
- What country has the domain code .bm?
- Run several queries on Soople.
- Run several queries simultaneously using Google Blaster.
Skip to Part
II: Understanding Search Result unless you're an experienced Google user or
you want to know how to use Google's advanced operators.
You can specify most of the Advanced Search page options in a regular search box query by
using advanced operators, i.e., query words that have special meaning to
Google. Since the advanced operators are convenient for searching, Google Guide
calls them "search operators." Most users find that making use of the Advanced
Search page, instead of using search operators directly, fulfills their
specialized search needs. Search operators tend to be used by people who prefer
to type commands rather than filling in forms.
Want to see examples of search operators? Fill in the Advanced Search
form. Now, look at the search box on the results page. Your query may now
include special
notation or special operators of the form operator:value.
Note: The colon following the operator name is mandatory.
[ Larry Page search engine
site:stanford.edu ]
[ volunteering site:.org ]
[ link:www.doctorswithoutborders.org ]
[ allintitle: detect
plagiarism ]
[ Google tutorial OR introduction OR overview OR
help ]
[ bush
-george -kate ]
[ web page evaluation checklist
filetype:pdf ]
The following table lists features available on the Advanced Search page that
are accessible via search operators.
Advanced Search
Features
| Search
Operators |
| File Format
| filetype: |
Occurrences
in the
title of the page
in the text of
the page
in the URL of the
page
in the links to the page
|
allintitle:
allintext:
allinurl:
allinanchor:
|
| Domain
| site: |
| Similar
| related: |
| Links
| link: |
The following is an alphabetical list of the
search operators. This list includes operators that are not in Google's online
help. Each entry typically includes the syntax, the capabilities, and an
example. Some of the search operators won't work as intended if you put a space
between the ":" and the subsequent query word. If you don't care to check which
search operators require no space after the colon, always place the keyword
immediately next to the colon. Many search operators can appear anywhere in your
query. In our examples, I placed the search operator as far to the right as
possible. We did this since the Advanced Search form writes queries in this way.
Also, such a convention makes it clearer as to which operators are associated
with which terms.
- allinanchor:
- If you start your query with allinanchor:, Google restricts results
to pages containing all query terms you specify in the anchor text on links to
the page. For example, [ allinanchor: best museums sydney ] will return only
pages in which the anchor text on links to the pages contain the words "best,"
"museums," and "sydney." Anchor text is the text on a page that is linked to
another web page or a different place on the current page. When you click on
anchor text, you will be taken to the page or place on the page to which it is
linked. When using allinanchor: in your query, do not include any other search
operators. The functionality of allinanchor: is also available through the
Advanced Web Search page, under Occurrences.
- allintext:
- If you start your query with allintext:, Google restricts results
to those containing all the query terms you specify in the text of the page.
For example, [ allintext: travel packing list ] will return only pages
in which the words "travel," "packing," and "list" appear in the text of the
page. This functionality can also be obtained through the Advanced Web Search
page, under Occurrences.
- allintitle:
- If you start your query with allintitle:, Google restricts results
to those containing all the query terms you specify in the title. For example,
[ allintitle: detect plagiarism ] will return only
documents that contain the words "detect" and "plagiarism" in the title. This
functionality can also be obtained through the Advanced Web Search page, under
Occurrences.
In Image Search, the operator allintitle: will return images in
files whose names contain the terms that you specify.
In Google News, the operator allintitle: will return articles whose
titles include the terms you specify.
- allinurl:
- If you start your query with allinurl:, Google restricts results to
those containing all the query terms you specify in the URL. For example,
[ allinurl: google faq ] will return only documents that
contain the words "google" and "faq" in the the URL. This functionality can
also be obtained through the Advanced Web Search page, under Occurrences.
In URLs, words are often run together. They need not be run together when
you're using allinurl:.
In Google News, the operator allinurl: will return articles whose
titles include the terms you specify.
- author:
- If you include author: in your query, Google will restrict your Google Groups results to
include newsgroup articles by the author you specify. The author can be a full
or partial name or email address. For example, [ children author:john author:doe ] or [ http://groups.google.com/groups?q=children+author:doe@someaddress.com ]
return articles that contain the word "children" written by John Doe or
doe@someaddress.com.
Google will search for exactly what you specify. If your query contains
[ author:"John Doe" ], Google won't find articles where
the author is specified as "Doe, John."
- bphonebook:
- If you start your query with bphonebook:, Google shows business
white page listings for the query terms you specify. For example, [ bphonebook: google mountain view ] will show the
phonebook listing for Google in Mountain View.
- cache:
- The query cache:url will display
Google's cached version of a web page, instead of the current version of the
page. For example, [ cache:www.eff.org ] will show Google's cached version
of the Electronic Frontier Foundation home page.
Note: Do not put a space between cache: and the URL (web
address).
On the cached version of a page, Google will highlight terms in your query
that appear after the cache: search operator. For example, [ cache:www.pandemonia.com/flying/ fly diary ] will show
Google's cached version of Flight Diary in which Hamish Reid's documents
what's involved in learning how to fly with the terms "fly" and "diary"
highlighted.
- define:
- If you start your query with define:, Google shows definitions from
pages on the web for the terms that follow in the specified order. This
advanced search operator is useful for finding definitions of words, phrases,
and acronyms. For example, [ define:
blog ] will show definitions for "Blog" (weB LOG).
- ext:
- This is an undocumented alias for filetype:.
- filetype:
- If you include filetype:suffix in
your query, Google will restrict the results to pages whose names end in suffix. For example, [ web page evaluation checklist filetype:pdf ] will
return Adobe Acrobat pdf files that match the terms "web," "page,"
"evaluation," and "checklist." You can restrict the results to pages whose
names end with pdf and doc by using the OR operator, e.g. [ email security filetype:pdf OR filetype:doc ].
When you don't specify a File Format in the Advanced
Search Form or the filetype: operator, Google searches a variety of
file formats, see the table in the File Type Conversion
section.
- group:
- If you include group: in your query, Google will restrict your Google Groups results to
newsgroup articles from certain groups or subareas. For example, [ sleep groups:misc.kids.moderated ] will return articles
in the group misc.kids.moderated that contain the word "sleep" and [ sleep groups:misc.kids ] will return articles in the
subarea misc.kids that contain the word "sleep."
- id:
- This is an undocumented alias for info:.
- inanchor:
- If you include inanchor: in your query, Google will restrict the
results to pages containing the query terms you specify in the anchor or links
to the page. For example, [ restaurants inanchor:gourmet ] will return pages in
which the anchor text on links to the pages contain the word "gourmet" and the
page contains the word "restaurants."
- info:
- The query info:url will present some
information about the corresponding web page. For instance, [ info:gothotel.com ] will show information about the
national hotel directory GotHotel.com home page. Note: There must be no
space between the info: and the web page url.
This functionality can also be obtained by typing the web page url directly
into a Google search box.
- insubject:
- If you include insubject: in your query, Google will restrict
articles in Google Groups
to those that contain the terms you specify in the subject. For example,
[ insubject:"falling asleep" ] will return Google Group
articles that contain the phrase "falling asleep" in the subject.
Equivalent to intitle:.
- intext:
- The query intext:term restricts
results to documents containing term in the text. For instance,
[ Hamish Reid intext:pandemonia ] will return documents
that mention the word "pandemonia" in the text, and mention the names "Hamish"
and "Reid" anywhere in the document (text or not). Note: There must be
no space between the intext: and the following word.
Putting intext: in front of every word in your query is equivalent to
putting allintext: at the front of your query, e.g., [ intext:handsome intext:poets ] is the same as [ allintext: handsome poets ].
- intitle:
- The query intitle:term restricts
results to documents containing term in the title. For instance,
[ flu
shot intitle:help ] will return documents that mention the word
"help" in their titles, and mention the words "flu" and "shot" anywhere in the
document (title or not). Note: There must be no space between the
intitle: and the following word.
Putting intitle: in front of every word in your query is equivalent to
putting allintitle: at the front of your query, e.g., [ allintitle: google search ].
- inurl:
- If you include inurl: in your query, Google will restrict the
results to documents containing that word in the url. For instance, [ inurl:healthy eating ] will return documents that
mention the words "healthy" in their url, and mention the word "eating"
anywhere in the document (url or no). Note: There must be no space
between the inurl: and the following word.
Putting inurl: in front of every word in your query is equivalent to
putting allinurl: at the front of your query, e.g., [ inurl:healthy inurl:eating ] is the same as [ allinurl: healthy eating ].
In URLs, words are often run together. They need not be run together when
you're using inurl:.
- link:
- The query link:URL shows pages that
point to that URL. For example, to find pages that point to Google
Guide's home page, enter:
[ link:www.googleguide.com ]
Note: The link: and the related: operators cannot be combined with
any other query terms or operators.
- location:
- If you include location: in your query on Google News, only articles
from the location you specify will be returned. For example, [ queen location:uk ] will show articles that match the
term "queen" from sites in the United Kingdom.
- msgid:
- If you include msgid: in your query, Google will restrict your Google Groups results to
newsgroup articles from certain groups or subareas. For example, [ http://groups.google.com/groups?q=msgid:<hamishxyz-B270D1.09001126112003@news.supernews.com> ]
will return the article whose message id is
<hamishxyz-B270D1.09001126112003@news.supernews.com>.
- phonebook:
- If you start your query with phonebook:, Google shows all white
page listings for the query terms you specify. For example, [ phonebook: Krispy Kreme Mountain View ] will show the
phonebook listing of Krispy Kreme donut shops in Mountain View.
- related:
- The query related:URL will list web
pages that are similar to the web page you specify. For instance,
[ related:www.consumerreports.org ] will list web pages
that are similar to the Consumer Reports home page. Note: Don't include
a space between the related: and the web page url. You can also find
similar pages from the Similar pages link on Google's main results
page, and from the similar selector in the Page-Specific Search area of the
Advanced Search page. If you expect to search frequently for similar pages,
consider installing a GoogleScout browser
button, which scouts for similar pages.
- rphonebook:
- If you start your query with rphonebook:, Google shows residential
white page listings for the query terms you specify. For example, [ rphonebook: monty python Oakland ] will show the
phonebook listing for Monty Python in Oakland.
- site:
- If you include site: in your query, Google will restrict your
search results to the site or domain you specify. For example, [ admissions site:www.lse.ac.uk ] will show admissions
information from London School of Economics' site and [ peace
site:gov ] will find pages about peace within the .gov domain. You
can specify a domain with or without a period, e.g., either as .gov or gov.
Note: Do not include a space between the "site:" and the domain.
You can use many of the search operators in conjunction with the basic
search operators +, -, OR, " ." For example, to find information on
Windows security from all sites except Microsoft.com, enter:
[ windows security -site:microsoft.com ]
You can also restrict your results to a site or domain through the domains
selector on the Advanced Search page.
- source:
- If you include source: in your query, Google News will restrict your
search to articles from the news source with the ID you specify. For example,
[ election source:new_york_times ] will return with the
word "election" that appear in the New York Times.
To find a news source ID, enter a query that includes a term and the name
of the publication you're seeking. You can also specify the publication name
in the "news source" field in the Advanced News Search form. You'll find the
news source ID in the query box, following the source: search operator.
For example, if the search box contains [ peace
source:ha_aretz ], then the news source ID is ha_aretz. This query
will only return articles that include the word "peace" from the Israeli
newspaper Ha'aretz.
- stocks:
- If you start your query with stocks:, Google will interpret the
rest of the query terms as stock ticker symbols, and will link to a page
showing stock information for the symbols you specify. For instance, [ stocks:brcm brcd ] will show information about Broadcom
Corporation and Brocade Communications System. Note: Specify ticker
symbols not company names. If you enter an invalid ticker symbol, you'll be
told so and taken to a page where you can look up a valid ticker symbol. You
can also obtain stock information by entering one or more NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX,
or mutual fund ticker symbols in Google's query box, e.g., [ brcm brcd ] and then clicking on the "Show stock
quotes" link that appears near the top of the results page.
- store:
- If you include store: in your query, Froogle will restrict your
search to the store ID you specify. For example, [ polo shirt store:llbean ] will return listings that
match the terms "polo" and "shirt" from the store L. L. Bean.
To find a store ID, enter the name of the store and click on the link "See
all results from store." You'll find the store ID in the query box,
after the store: search operator.
The following table lists the search operators that work with each Google
search service.
| Search Service
| Search Operators |
| Web Search
| allinanchor:, allintext:, allintitle:, allinurl:,
bphonebook:, cache:, ext:, define:, filetype:, id:, inanchor:, info:,
intext:, intitle:, inurl:, link:, phonebook:, related:, rphonebook:,
site:, stocks: |
| Image Search
| allintitle:, allinurl:, filetype:, inurl:, intitle:,
site: |
| Groups
| allintext:, allintitle:, author:, group:, insubject:,
intext:, intitle:, msgid: |
| Directory
| allintext:, allintitle:, allinurl:, ext:, filetype:,
intext:, intitle:, inurl: |
| News
| allintext:, allintitle:, allinurl:, intext:, intitle:,
inurl:, location:, source: |
| Froogle
| allintext:, allintitle:, store:
|
The following table lists the search operators grouped by type. I include
search operators not yet documented by Google, e.g., allinanchor:, allintext:, author:, ext:, group:, id:, insubject:, intext:, intitle:, location:, phonebook:, source:, and store:. Be forewarned that Google may change how undocumented
operators work or eliminate them completely.
| Search Operators
| Short Description |
Restrict
search
site:
link:
filetype:
|
Restrict results to a website or domain
Find who links to a
web page
Find documents of the specified type |
Restrict search to
sites where query
words
appear
allinanchor:
inanchor:
allintext:
intext:
allintitle:
intitle:
allinurl:
inurl:
author:
group:
insubject:
msgid:
location:
store:
|
All query words must appear in links to the
page
Terms must appear in links to the page
All query
words must appear in the text of the page
The terms must
appear in the text of the page
All query words must appear in the
title
The terms must appear in the title of the page
All query
words must appear in the URL
The terms must appear in the URL of the
page
Find Groups messages from the specified author
Find Groups
messages from the specified newsgroup
Find Groups messages with the
specified subject
Find Groups messages with the specified
msgid
Find News articles from sources located in the specified
location
Find Froogle products from the specified store
|
Alternate query
types
cache:
info:
related:
|
Show cached version of web page
Find information about a web
page
List web pages similar the specified web page
|
Specialized
Information
Queries
define:
phonebook:
bphonebook:
rphonebook:
stocks:
|
Provide definitions for words, phrases, and acronyms
Show
all phonebook listings
Show business phonebook listings
Show
residential phonebook listings
Given ticker symbols, show stock
information
|
Using More than One Search
Operator
You may use many of the basic operators and search operators with each other.
However, there are some that must be used by themselves and others that you
should be careful about using together.
- Search Operators that
Can't Be Combined
There are about a dozen search operators that can't be combined with any
other. If you do, Google probably won't return any matching documents. Search
operators that shouldn't be mixed include:
- All the search operators whose names begin with "allin," e.g.,
allinanchor:, allintext:, allintitle:, and allinurl:.
- Syntaxes that request special information, e.g., define:, phonebook,
bphonebook, rphonebook, stocks:.
- Page-specific search operators, e.g., cache:, info:, link:, related:.
- Combine Search Operators
Carefully
Be careful not to cancel out the effect of a search operator when including
more than one in your query. Here are some rules to follow:
- Don't use search operators that will cancel each other out. For example,
[ admission site:stanford.edu -inurl:stanford ]
searches for pages that are on the site stanford.edu that do not contain the
string "stanford" in their URL or web addresses. None fit the bill.
- Take care not to exclude all results when using certain search operators
more than once in a query. For example, [ sleep recommendations site:edu site:cdc.gov ] will
not return any sleep recommendation since the query looks for results
appearing on both the .edu domain and the cdc.gov sites simultaneously. If
you want results from both, include OR between the two site: specifications,
i.e., [ sleep recommendations site:edu OR site:cdc.gov ].
Search operators that should either be used once in a query or in
combination with OR include: filetype: site:, and group:.
- Focus your search by using several search operators. For example,
[ intext:e-mail intitle:security -site:microsoft.com ]
finds pages whose titles contain the word "security," with the word "e-mail"
on the text of the page and not on the site microsoft.com.
This problem set is designed to give you experiences with search operators
and practice with specifying more precisely what you're seeking by using the
Advanced Search form. For hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- Use the site: operator to search for armchairs on Ikea's site,
www.ikea.com.
- Use the Advanced Search form to find the page whose title is "Some Ways to
Detect Plagiarism." When the title is entered in lowercase letters, the query
box on the results page contains [ allintitle: "ways to detect
plagiarism" ].
- Find all pages on google.com but not on answers.google.com nor on
directory.google.com whose titles include the words "FAQ" or "help."
- Use the link: operator to see who links to googleguide.com, your company's
website, or your favorite website.
- Find pages whose titles include surfing that are not about surfing the
World Wide Web.
- Find out where the upcoming international conference on AIDS is being
held.
Google strives to make it easy to find whatever you're seeking, whether it's
a web page, a news article, a definition, something to buy, or text in a book.
By understanding what appears on a results page, you'll be better able to
determine if a page includes the information you're seeking or links to it.
After you enter a query, Google returns a results list ordered by what it
considers the items' relevance to your query, listing the best match first.
Spondored links sometimes appear above to to the right of the search results.
In this course segment, you'll learn:
If you aren't interested in learning how Google
creates the index and the database of documents that it accesses when processing
a query, skip to the next section titled What Appears on the Results
Page?. I adapted the following overview from Chris Sherman and Gary Price's
wonderful description of How Search Engines Work in Chapter 2 of The Invisible Web (CyberAge Books, 2001).
Google consists of three distinct parts, each of which is run on
a distributed network of thousands of low-cost computers and can therefore carry
out fast parallel processing. Parallel processing is a method of computation in
which many calculations can be performed simultaneiously, significantly speeding
up data processing.
- Googlebot, a web crawler that finds and fetches web pages.
- The indexer that sorts every word on every page and stores the resulting
index of words in a huge database.
- The query processor, which compares your search query to the index and
recommends the documents that it considers most relevant.
Let's take a closer look at each part.
Googlebot, Google's web
Crawler
Googlebot is Google's web crawling robot, which finds and retrieves pages on
the web and hands them off to the Google indexer. It's easy to imagine Googlebot
as a little spider scurrying across the strands of cyberspace, but in reality
Googlebot doesn't traverse the web at all. It functions much like your web
browser, by sending a request to a web server for a web page, downloading the
entire page, then handing it off to Google's indexer.
Googlebot consists of many computers requesting and fetching pages much more
quickly than you can with your web browser. In fact, Googlebot can request
thousands of different pages simultaneously. To avoid overwhelming web servers,
or crowding out requests from human users, Googlebot deliberately makes requests
of each individual web server more slowly than it's capable of doing.
Googlebot finds pages in two ways: through an add URL form, www.google.com/addurl.html, and through finding links by
crawling the web.
Unfortunately, spammers figured out how to create automated bots that
bombarded the add URL form with millions of URLs pointing to commercial
propaganda. Google rejects those URLs submitted through its add URL form that it
suspects are trying to deceive users by employing tactics such as including
hidden text or links on a page, stuffing a page with irrelevant words, cloaking
(aka bait and switch), using sneaky redirects, creating doorways, domains, or
sub-domains with substantially similar content, sending automated queries to
Google, and linking to bad neighbors.
When Googlebot fetches a page, it culls all the links appearing on the page
and adds them to a queue for subsequent crawling. Googlebot tends to encounter
little spam because most web authors link only to what they believe are
high-quality pages. By harvesting links from every page it encounters, Googlebot
can quickly build a list of links that can cover broad reaches of the web. This
technique, known as deep crawling, also allows Googlebot to probe deep within
individual sites. Because of their massive scale, deep crawls can reach almost
every page in the web. Because the web is vast, this can take some time, so some
pages may be crawled only once a month.
Although its function is simple, Googlebot must be programmed to handle
several challenges. First, since Googlebot sends out simultaneous requests for
thousands of pages, the queue of "visit soon" URLs must be constantly examined
and compared with URLs already in Google's index. Duplicates in the queue must
be eliminated to prevent Googlebot from fetching the same page again. Googlebot
must determine how often to revisit a page. On the one hand, it's a waste of
resources to re-index an unchanged page. On the other hand, Google wants to
re-index changed pages to deliver up-to-date results.
To keep the index current, Google continuously recrawls
popular frequently changing web pages at a rate roughly proportional to how
often the pages change. Such crawls keep an index current and are known as
fresh crawls. Newspaper pages are downloaded daily, pages with stock
quotes are downloaded much more frequently. Of course, fresh crawls return fewer
pages than the deep crawl. The combination of the two types of crawls allows
Google to both make efficient use of its resources and keep its index reasonably
current.
Google's Indexer
Googlebot gives the indexer the full text of the pages it finds. These pages
are stored in Google's index database. This index is sorted alphabetically by
search term, with each index entry storing a list of documents in which the term
appears and the location within the text where it occurs. This data structure
allows rapid access to documents that contain user query terms.
To improve search performance, Google eliminates common words called stop
words (such as the, is, on, or, of,
how, why, as well as certain single digits and single letters).
Stop words are so common that they do little to narrow a search, and therefore
they can safely be discarded. The indexer also eliminates some punctuation and
multiple spaces, as well as converting all letters to lowercase, to improve
Google's performance.
Google's Query Processor
The query processor has several parts, including the user interface (search
box), the "engine" that evaluates queries and matches them to relevant
documents, and the results formatter.
Google considers over a hundred factors in determining which documents are
most relevant to a query, including the popularity of the page, the position and
size of the search terms within the page, and the proximity of the search terms
to one another on the page. Google also applies machine-learning techniques to
improve its performance automatically by learning relationships and associations
within the stored data. For example, the spelling-correcting
system uses such techniques to figure out likely alternative spellings.
Google closely guards the formulas it uses to calculate relevance, and tweaks
them to improve quality and performance, and to outwit the latest devious
techniques used by spammers.
Indexing the full text of the web allows Google to go beyond simply matching
single search terms. Google gives more priority to pages that have search terms
near each other and in the same order as the query. Google can also match
multi-word phrases and sentences. Since Google indexes HTML code in addition to
the text on the page, users can restrict searches on the basis of where query
words appear, e.g., in the title, in the URL, in the body, and in links to the
page, options offered by the Advanced-Search page and search operators.
Let's see how Google processes a query.
|
|
| 3.
The search results are
returned to the user in a fraction of a second. |
|
|
1.
The web server sends
the query to the index servers. The content inside the index servers is
similar to the index in the back of a book--it tells which pages contain
the words that match any particular query
term. |
 |
2. The query travels to the doc servers,
which actually retrieve the stored documents. Snippets are generated to
describe each search result. |
|
|
|
Copyright © 2003 Google Inc. Used with permission.
This diagram comes from www.google.com/press/query.html.
For more information on Google's technology, visit www.google.com/press/overview_tech.html. www.google.com/technology/. There are
numerous pages explaining Google's PageRank, including Pagerank Explained
Correctly with Examples, which you can find at www.iprcom.com/papers/pagerank/ and Google's PageRank
Explained and How to Make the Most of It by Phil Craven, which you can find at
www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html.
The results page is filled with information and links, most of which relate
to your query.
-
Google Logo: Click on the Google logo to go to
Google's home page.
-
Statistics Bar: Describes your search,
includes the number of results on the current results page and an estimate of
the total number of results, as well as the time your search took. For the
sake of efficiency, Google estimates the number of results; it would take
considerably longer to compute the exact number. Every underlined term in the
statistics bar is linked to its dictionary definition.
-
Tips: Sometimes Google displays a tip in a box just
below the statistics bar.
-
Search Results: Ordered by relevance to your
query, with the result that Google considers the most relevant listed first.
Consequently you are likely to find what you're seeking quickly by looking at
the results in the order in which they appear. Google assesses relevance by
considering over a hundred factors, including how many other pages link to the
page, the positions of the search terms within the page, and the proximity of
the search terms to one another.
Below are descriptions of some search-result components. These components
appear in fonts of different colors on the result page to make it easier to
distinguish them from one another.
- Page Title: (blue) The web page's title,
if the page has one, or its URL if the page has no title or if Google has
not indexed all of the page's content. Click on the page title, e.g.,
Brassiere History, to display the corresponding page.
-
Snippets: (black)
Each search result usually includes one or more short excerpts of the text
that matches your query with your search terms in boldface type.
These snippets, which appear in a black font, may provide you with
- The information you are seeking
- What you might find on the linked page
- Ideas of terms to use in your subsequent searches
When Google hasn't crawled a page, it doesn't include a snippet. A page
might not be crawled because its publisher requested no crawling, or because
the page was written in such a way that it was too difficult to crawl.
-
URL of Result: (green) Web address of the
search result. In the screen shot, the URL of the first result is
www.porvo.com/fashionbra.htm.
-
Size: (green) The size of the text
portion of the web page. It is omitted for sites not yet indexed. In the
screen shot, "5k" means that the text portion of the web page is 5
kilobytes. One kilobyte is 1,024 (210)
bytes. One byte typically holds one character. In general, the average size
of a word is six characters. So each 1k of text is about 170 words. A page
containing 5K characters thus is about 850 words long.
Large web pages are far less likely to be relevant to your query than
smaller pages. For the sake of efficiency, Google searches only the first
101 kilobytes (approximately 17,000 words) of a web page. Assuming 15 words
per line and 50 lines per page, Google searches the first 22 pages of a
document. If a page is larger, Google will list the page as being 101
kilobytes. This means that Google's results won't reference any part of a
document beyond its first 101 kilobytes.
-
Date: (green) Sometimes the date Google
indexed a page appears just after the size of the page. Dates are included
when Google runs a fresh
crawl.
- Indented Result: When Google finds multiple results from the same
website, it lists the most relevant result first with the second most
relevant page from that same site indented below it. In the screen shot, the
indented result and the one above it are both from the site www.porvo.com.
Limiting the number of results from a given site to two ensures that
pages from one site will not dominate your search results and that Google
provides pages from a variety of sites.
-
More Results: When there are more than two results from the same
site, access the remaining results from the "More results from..." link.
When Google returns more than one page of results, you can view
subsequent pages by clicking either a page number or one of the "o"s in the
whimsical "Gooooogle" that appears below the last search result on the page.
If you find yourself scrolling through pages of results, consider increasing
the number of results Google displays on each results page by changing
your global preferences (see the section Changing Your Global Preferences).
In practice, however, if pages of interest to you aren't within the first
10 results, consider refining your query instead of sifting through pages of
irrelevant results. To simplify such refinements, Google includes a search
box at the bottom of the page you can use to enter your refined query
-
Sponsored Links:
Your results may include some clearly identified sponsored links
(advertisements) relevant to your search. Google displays your search terms
that appear in the ads in boldface type, e.g., Brassiere on the top ad
on the right.
-
Spelling
Corrections, Dictionary Definition,
Cached, Similar Pages, News, Product Information,
Translation, Content of a Book
and its Cover (Google Print): Your results may include these links,
which are described on the next few pages.
Here's another screen shot of the results page in case the one at the top of
this page scrolled off your screen.
For more on what's included on Google's results page, visit www.google.com/help/interpret.html.
Google may include links to the following types of information above or along
side your results.
Not sure how to spell something? Don't worry, try phonitick
spewling or gessing. In just the first few months on the job, Google
engineer Noam Shazeer developed a spelling correction (suggestion) system based
on what other users have entered. The system automatically checks whether you
are using the most common spelling of each word in your query.
Want to know the approximate value of a used car? Check out its "Blue Book"
value.
Notice that Google suggests the correct spelling if you fail to type the
final "e" in "blue."
Since an alternative spelling is more common, Google asks: Did you mean: blue
book. Click the suggested spelling link to launch a new
search on the "blue book" spelling instead of the original "blu book."
Google's checker is particularly good at recognizing frequently made typos,
misspellings, and misconceptions. It analyzes all terms in your query to
recognize what you most likely intended to enter. For example, when you search
for [ untied stats ], the spelling checker suggests Did you mean: "united
states", although each individual word is
spelled correctly.
Regardless of whether it suggests an alternative spelling, Google returns
results that match your query if there are any. If there aren't any that match
your query, Google may offer an alternative spelling, search tips, and a link to
Google Answers. The last
is a service that provides assistance from expert online researchers for a fee.
Google figures out possible misspellings and their likely correct spellings
by using words it finds while searching the web and processing user queries. So,
unlike many spelling correctors, Google can suggest common spellings for:
- Proper nouns (names and places)
- Words that may not appear in a dictionary
People searching for Britney Spears have clearly found the spelling checker
useful, as it has corrected spellings of her first name ranging from "Brittany"
to "Prietny." Visit www.google.com/jobs/britney.html to see hundreds of other ways
people have misspelled her name.
Be aware that the spelling checker isn't able to distinguish between a
variant spelling and a word or name that is spelled similarly. So, before
clicking on what Google suggests, check that it's what you intended. For
example, when looking up the San Francisco Bay Area web designer Mistrale, Google asks: Did you mean: Mistral, though I
spelled the name correctly.
The first problem gives you practice in using Google's spelling-correction
system. For hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- On National Public Radio (NPR), you heard a researcher at Stanford
University whose name sounded like Jeff Naumberg and want to send him email.
What is Jeff's email address?
- From Google's home
page, www.google.com, search for "french military victories" and then
click on the I'm Feeling Lucky button to see Albino Blacksheep's parody
of a Google spelling correction result.
Note: Though the page looks like a Google page, if you enter another
query in the search box, it will be processed by the hosting site, listed in
your browser's address box.
Want a definition for your search terms? It's just a click away.
Google looks for dictionary definitions for your search terms. If it finds
any definitions, it shows those words as underlined links or includes a
definition link in the statistics bar section
of the results page (located below the search box showing your query). Google is
able to find definitions for acronyms, colloquialisms, and slang, as well as
words that you would expect to find in a dictionary.
Click on the underlined terms or the definition link in the statistics bar to
link to their dictionary definition, which also may include information on
pronunciation, part of speech, etymology, and usage.
For example, learn what co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and CEO Eric
Schmidt mean when they say they run Google as a triumvirate by clicking on the
link triumvirate.
Phrases with idiomatic meanings that aren't necessarily implied by the
definitions of the individual words will be linked to their dictionary
definitions, e.g., "to get wind," "happy hour," "put off," "greasy spoon," and
"raise the roof."
If Google doesn't find a definition for a term, try using Google Glossary.
The online dictionary page includes a link to an online thesaurus. Use an
online thesaurus to find suggestions for expressing yourself, whether for a
document, a speech, a book, or a query.
To view the thesaurus, first type the terms for which you want a synonym or
antonym. Click on the link to the dictionary definition in the statistics
bar. Google will display a page with the dictionary definition(s).
Then select the "Thesaurus" radio button
and click the "Look it up" button or hit the ENTER key
and your browser will display synonyms. The following screen shot shows two of
the 80 entries from Thesaurus.com for the word "precise."
These problems give you
practice in finding dictionary definitions. For hints and answers to selected
problems, see the Solutions page
in the Appendix.
- According to the dictionary, what is an "urban legend"?
- Find the history of the word 'chivalry.' From which language does it come
and from what word?
- Does Google provide a link to dictionary for definitions of terms in
languages other than English?
- What does 'zeitgeist' mean? What's on the Google Zeitgeist page www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html?
Google takes a snapshot of each page it examines and caches (stores) that
version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page
is a good match for your query.
Practically every search result includes a Cached link. Clicking on
that link takes you to the Google cached version of that web page, instead of
the current version of the page. This is useful if the original page is
unavailable because of:
- Internet congestion
- A down, overloaded, or just slow website
- The owner's recently removing the page from the Web
Sometimes you can access the cached version from a site that otherwise
require registration or a subscription.
Note: Since Google's servers are typically faster than many web
servers, you can often access a page's cached version faster than the page
itself.
If Google returns a link to a page that appears to have little to do with
your query, or if you can't find the information you're seeking on the current
version of the page, take a look at the cached version.
Let's search for pages on the Google help basic search operators.
Click on the Cached link to view Google's cached version of the page
with the query terms highlighted. The cached version also indicates terms that
appear only on links pointing to the page and not on the page itself.
Note: Internet Explorer users may view a page with any word(s)
highlighted, not just search terms, by using the highlight feature of the
Google Toolbar, which is mentioned in Part III.
When Google displays the cached page, a header at the top serves as a
reminder that what you see isn't necessarily the most recent version of the
page.
The Cached link will be omitted for sites whose owners have requested
that Google remove the cached version or not cache their content, as well as any
sites Google hasn't indexed.
If the original page contains more than 101 kilobytes of text, the cached
version of the page will consist of the first 101 kbytes.
You can also retrieve Google's cached version of a page via the cache: search operator. For example, [ cache:www.pandemonia.com/flying/ ] will show Google's
cached version of Flight Diary in which Hamish Reid documents what's involved in
learning how to fly.
On the cached version of a page, Google will highlight terms in your query
that appear after the cache: search operator. For example, in the
snapshot of the page www.pandemonia.com/flying/, Google highlights the terms
"fly" and "diary" in response to the query [ cache:www.pandemonia.com/flying/ fly diary ].
These problems give you
practice accessing Google's cached version of a page. For hints and answers
to selected problems, see the Solutions page
in the Appendix.
- After Nelson Blachman received reprints of a paper he wrote for the June
2003 issue of The Mathematical Scientist, he wanted to discover what
other sorts of papers appear in the same issue of this semiannual publication.
Find a table of contents for The Mathematical Scientist for Nelson.
- Compare the dates on the current page with the dates on the cached version
for the following organizations:
- CNN
- New York Times
- Java Pro Magazine
- North Texas Food Bank
Note: Google indexes a page (adds it to its index and caches it)
frequently if the page is popular (has a high PageRank) and if
the page is updated regularly. The new cached version replaces any previous
cached versions of the page.
Do you like a result Google found and want more like it? For example, if
you're interested in finding sites similar to that of Consumer Reports, first
search for their site.
Click on the Similar pages link that appears on the bottom line for
the Consumer Reports result.
The link may be useful for finding more consumer resources, or information on
Consumer Reports' competitors.
You can also find similar pages by using the Page-Specific
Search selector on the Advanced Search page, see Sharpening Your Query section or by
using the related:
search operator, described in the section Using Search Operators, both of which
are in Part I. If you expect to search frequently for similar pages, you
may want to install a GoogleScout browser
button as described in the section Making Google Easier with Google Tools in
Part III.
Note: The similar pages feature is most effective on pages that are
popular, i.e, that are linked to from many pages.
How
does Google find similar pages?
By finding other sites listed on pages that link to the specified page. Let's
see how Google chooses sites similar to Google Guide. I use the related:
search operator, which returns the same results as the Similar pages
link.
Now let's look at one of the sites that link to Google Guide. On the Michigan
State University (MSU) Libraries page,
www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/home/home5.htm, Google Guide is listed near the top of
the page just after a link to Google's
Zeitgeist page, www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html. The next three sites
listed as being similar to Google Guide (Metaspy, the MEL Internet Myths and
Hoaxes, and Web Characterization) are also listed on the MSU page. Google
automatically selected these sites by considering many factors including the
popularity of the pages containing links to Google Guide, the positions, sizes,
and proximities of other links to the Google Guide link, and which additional
links users click.
Another resource for similar results is the category link that may appear
just below the snippet or above your search results, which is described next.
If there isn't a category link, try using Google's Directory.
For more information about the Similar pages link, visit www.google.com/help/features.html#related.
These problems give you
practice in using Google's Similar pages feature. For hints and answers
to selected problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- Find a site that will get your name off mailing
lists so that you receive less commercial advertising mail. Click on the
Similar pages link to find other such sites.
- What sites are similar to the Internet Movie Database.
When Google finds current news relating to your query, Google includes up
to three headlines that link to news stories above your search results. Why at
most three? So as not to push the web search results off the page.
Of course, since news by definition reports recent events, you'll see the
most recent headlines about the United Nations when you enter the query
[ United Nations ].
For more news stories or to browse the latest headlines, visit Google News Search at news.google.com, which I
describe in Part III.
These problems give you
practice in searching for news headlines. For hints and answers to selected
problems, see the Solutions page
in the Appendix.
- Find the latest news about Google.
- Find the latest news on Iraq.
When Google finds products relevant to your query, above your search
results, you may find up to three links to items that merchants list in
Froogle, Google's product search service.
These problems give you
practice in searching for products. For hints and answers to selected
problems, see the Solutions page in the
Appendix.
- Find polo shorts.
- Find cell phones.
Google converts all file types it searches to either HTML or text (unless,
of course, they already are in one of these formats). Google searches a
variety of file formats including
| File Format
| Suffix
| Description |
| Adobe Acrobat PDF
| pdf
| A publishing format commonly used for product manuals
and documents of all sorts. |
| Adobe PostScript
| ps
| A printing format often used for academic papers. |
| Hypertext Markup Language
| html or htm
| The primary language for web pages. |
| Lotus 1-2-3
| wk1, wk2, wk3, wk4, wk5, wki, wks, or wku
| A spreadsheet format. |
| Lotus WordPro
| lwp
| A word processing format. |
| MacWrite
| mw
| A word processing format. |
| Microsoft Excel
| xls
| A spreadsheet format. |
| Microsoft PowerPoint
| ppt
| A format for presentations and slides. |
| Microsoft Word
| doc
| A common word processing format. |
| Microsoft Works
| wks, wps, or wdb
| A word processing format. |
| Microsoft Write
| wri
| A Macintosh word processing format. |
| Rich Text Format
| rtf
| A format used to exchange documents between Microsoft
Word and other formats. |
| Plain Text
| ans or txt
| Ordinary text with no special formating.
|
Clicking on a link to a non-HTML file will launch the associated program
for reading the file, provided it's installed on your system.
If you can't view the page in the native format -- for instance, if you
don't have Adobe Acrobat on your computer -- or if you want faster access to
the file, click on either the "View as HTML" or "View as Text" link.
Note: Portions of some files converted to HTML or text may be difficult
to read.
You can use the Advanced Search
form (see the Sharpening Your Query section in Part I) or the filetype:
search operator (see the section Using Search Operators also in
Part I) to restrict your results to a particular format.
For more information about file types that Google supports, visit www.google.com/help/faq_filetypes.html.
These problems give you
practice viewing files of different types. For hints and answers to selected
problems, see the Solutions page
in the Appendix.
- Find a document with tips on job interviewing and salary negotiation
that is in PDF/Adobe Acrobat format. What differences in the appearance of
the document result from viewing it in its native format, Adobe Acrobat
versus HTML?
- Find a Power Point slide presentation on first aid and choking. View the
presentation as HTML.
- Find pdf or Postscript documents and course notes on symplectic geometry
that are on university and other educational sites.
This problem was inspired by Julian Uschersohn.
As the web has spread across the world, more and more web pages are
available in languages other than English. Google provides a translation link
and language tools to enable you to read pages written in unfamiliar
languages.
Google translates pages by computer. Machine translation is difficult to do
well and tends not to be as clear as human translation. But it can give you
the gist of what's written or suggestions for translating something into
another language.
Your results may include a "Translate this page" link when a results page
is written in a language different from your interface language (as specified
by your Google
Preferences, which is described in the next section). Your interface
language is the language in which Google displays messages and labels,
buttons, and tips on Google's home page and results page. You can translate
pages written in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish
into another language from that set.
Google's Language Tools overcome language
barriers. Click on the "Language Tools" link to the right of the search box on
Google's home page,
or visit www.google.com/language_tools, or select the Language Tools
menu option in the Google Toolbar (in
Part III, section Making Google Search Easier with Google Tools) to:
- Search for pages written in specific languages
- Search for pages located in specific countries
- Use the Google interface in another language,
e.g., set Google's
home page, messages and labels, and buttons to display in a specific
language
- Visit Google's site in a specific country,
e.g., http://www.google.com.ch/
in Switzerland
- Translate any text or web page from a limited set of languages including
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish into another
language in that set.
If you're interested in translating Google Guide, send email to
feedback(at)googleguide.com. (replace "(at)" by "@") The Danish Google, Guide,
bibliotek.kk.dk/soeg_bestil_forny/googleguide, is available
through the Copenhagen Central Library's website. A French translations is
underway.
These problems give you
practice with translating words, pages, and results, and with finding pages in
specific countries. For hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- Find out about public swimming pools that you can use when visiting
Naples, Italy. Hint: Find the Italian words for "public swimming
pool" and then search for them on pages in Italy.
- Find a reception hall, local caterer, disc jockey, and bartender that
you can hire for a wedding reception at a small winery in Burgundy, France.
- Translate "I wish to mail a package. Where is the nearest post office?
Thank you." into Spanish.
- Find the first chapter of Le Petit Prince online and have Google
translate it into English. Compare this translation with the first chapter
of The Little Prince translated by Katherine Woods, which you can
find online if you don't have a handy copy of this lovely book.
- Restrict your search to France and search for pages English on the war
in Iraq.
Whenever I run a new piece of software, ... I [first] ... look
at the program's 'preferences' panel. By clicking through the options, I
rapidly learn what a program can do and what its shortcomings are. Google is
no different. -- Simson Garfinkel, Getting More from Google, Technology Review, June 4, 2003
(To view the entire MIT's Alumni magazine article, click on the link and
complete the registration form.)
You can customize the way your search results appear by configuring your
Google global preferences, options that apply across most Google search
services. To change these options, click on the Preferences link,
which is to the right of Google's search box, or visit www.google.com/preferences.
From the Preferences page, specify your global preferences, including
- Interface Language: the language in which Google will display
tips, messages, and buttons for you
- Search Language: the language of the pages Google should search
for you
- SafeSearch: automatic filtering and blocking of web pages with
explicit sexual content
- Number of results: how many search results are to be displayed
per page
- Results window: when enabled, clicking on the main link
(typically the page title) for a result will open the corresponding page in
a new window
When you set your preferences, Google stores your settings in a "cookie" on
the computer you are using. Google doesn't associate that cookie with any
other computer you use. So, if you want Google to work similarly on all the
computers you use, you will need to set these preferences on each one of them.
Interface Language
The set of languages in which you want to allow messages and labels, text
on buttons, and tips to be displayed. Your choice of interface languages is
much larger than the "translate" set of languages (those that can be
translated into your interface language) and includes relatively obscure
languages, such as Catalan, Maltese, Occitan, and Welsh, and frivolous
languages, such as Bork, bork, bork!, Esperanto, Hacker, Interlingua, and Pig
Latin.
If you set your interface language to Greek, message and text on links,
tabs, and buttons will be displayed in Greek.
The interface language is configured on the Preferences page. The pull-down
menu allows you to choose from over 80 languages.
Note: If you don't find your preferred
language in the list, you can volunteer to translate Google's help information
and search interface into that language via the Google In Your Language
program, which you can find out about by visiting services.google.com/tc/Welcome.html.
If you select an interface language other than English, when using Google
Web search you will be given the option of searching the entire web or just
pages written in your interface language. For example, with French as the
interface language the search box looks like this:
Note: Most non-English Google home pages have a "Google.com in
English" link in case you can't read the rest of the page.
Search Language
By default, Google Web search includes all pages on the Web. You can choose
to restrict your searches to those pages written in the languages of your
choice by setting the search language.
If you want to restrict results to a single language for a few queries,
consider using Google's Advanced
Search page, see the section on Sharpening Your Results.
SafeSearch Filtering
Google's SafeSearch filters out sites with pornography and explicit sexual
content. Moderate filtering, the default, is set to exclude most explicit
images from Google Image search results but not Google Web search or other
Google search services.
Google's philosophy is to filter no more than necessary, i.e., as little as
possible. Google considered adding the capability to filter other
controversial content besides pornography, e.g., hate speech, anarchy, bomb
making, etc. But these are much more difficult to filter automatically. For
example, if you try to filter hate speech, you may filter out sites that
discuss hate speech.
Number of Results
The most important setting, located near the bottom of the page,
is "Number of Results." By default, Google returns just 10 results for a
search. Since Google's search algorithms are so accurate, this default saves
Google both computer resources and downloading time. But I always increase
the default to 100. Although such searches take a little longer to download
(especially over a dial-up connection), getting back 100 results saves me
time when I'm searching for anything out-of-the-ordinary; it's much faster
to scroll through a Web page than to manually click through 10 pages of
intermediate results. -- Simson Garfinkel, Getting More from Google, Technology Review, June 4, 2003
(MIT's Alumni magazine)
You can increase the number of results displayed per page to 20, 30, 50, or
100. The more results displayed per page, the more likely you are to find what
you want on the first page of results. The downside is that the more results
per page, the more slowly the page loads. How much more time it takes depends
on your connection to the Internet.
The Number-of-Results setting applies to Google's Web, Groups, News,
Froogle, and Directory search services. It does not apply to Images and
Answers.
New Results Window
After you set the Results Window option on the Preferences page, when you
click on the main link (typically the page title) for a result, Google will
open the corresponding page in a new window.
You can display the contents of the associated page in a new window in
Internet Explorer by holding down the SHIFT key while you
click on the link or pressing the right button and selecting "Open a New
Window" after clicking on the link. In Mozilla or Netscape, simply click your
mouse's middle button on the link that you wish to display in a new window.
These problems give you
practice in changing preferences. After you've changed your preferences, run a
couple of searches. For hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions page in the
Appendix.
- Change your preferences to display 20 results per page.
- Change your preferences to use strict filtering, i.e., filter both
explicit text and explicit sexual content.
- Set your preferences to open search results in a new browser window.
- Configure your preferences to suit your needs.
Some search engines sell their search results, in addition to showing ads.
A sold result means that a link to the buyer's page is put at or near the top
of the results page, just as if the search engine thought it was one of the
best results. Usually, there is no indication that the page's result location
was bought and paid for.
Google never sells its search results. If a web page appears
in Google's search results, it's because Google thought it was a relevant
result for your search, not because someone paid Google to put it there.
Google's approach to ads is similar to its approach to search results: the
ads must deliver useful links, or the ads are removed.
- Ads must be relevant to your search.
- Ads must not intrude, distract, or annoy (no pop-up or flashy ads).
- Sponsored links are clearly identified and kept separate from search
results.
- At most, two sponsored links appear above Google's search results.
You can distinguish ads by their format and the label "Sponsored Link." Ads
contain a title, a short description, and a web address (URL).
Advertisers decide which queries their ads should match, and then Google
decides on placement, i.e., which ads to show and in what order. Google
determines placement by an auction; the auction not only considers what the
advertiser will pay for the ad, but also its click-through rate, i.e., how
often users click on the ad. If users often click on an ad, Google will likely
place the ad higher up on the results page. If the click-through rate of an ad
falls below a certain level, indicating an ad isn't relevant to the query,
Google removes the ad.
For the most part, you'll find advertisements pertinent to your query.
However, Google's automatic matching to words on a page sometimes places an ad
inappropriately. For example, in September of 2003, adjacent to a New York
Post article about a gruesome murder in which the victim's body parts were
stashed in a suitcase, Google listed an ad for suitcases. Since that incident,
Google has improved its filters and automatically pulls ads from pages with
disturbing content. So Google is unlikely to make another faux pas on a
par with this one.
Some web pages display ads provided by Google's AdSense
service. The hosting website and Google share the amount an advertiser
pays when a user clicks on an ad, which varies between US$0.05 and US$50.00.
Web publisher typically place Google AdSense ads near the top, on the right,
or on the left side of a page to catch your attention. In Google Guide, I've
included such ads at the top of each page.
For why Google sells advertising and not search results, visit www.google.com/honestresults.html.
For more information
on Google's advertising programs, visit www.google.com/ads.
For tips on advertising, visit www.google.com/ads/tips.html.
For what to do if you find
a pop-up ad on Google, visit www.google.com/help/nopopupads.html.
For hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions page in the
Appendix.
- How many sponsored links (ads) appear on the first search-results page
with the answer to the following questions?
- Where can you stay in central London at a moderate price?
- What's going on with NASA's Mars Exploration Program?
- Click on the most interesting sounding Adsense ads shown at the top of
this page.
- If you have a website, sign up for an AdWors account so that you can
purchase ads to bring users to your site
- If you have a website, sign up for an AdSense account so that you can
make revenue from advertising on your site.
Google's web-page-ranking system, PageRank, tends to
give priority to better respected and trusted information. Well-respected
sites link to other well-respected sites. This linking boosts the PageRank of
high-quality sites. Consequently, more accurate pages are typically listed
before sites that include unreliable and erroneous material. Nevertheless,
evaluate carefully whatever you find on the web since anyone can
- Create pages
- Exchange ideas
- Copy, falsify, or omit information intentionally or accidentally
Many people publish pages to get you to buy something or accept a point of
view. Google makes no effort to discover or eliminate unreliable and erroneous
material. It's up to you to cultivate the habit of healthy skepticism. When
evaluating the credibility of a page, consider the following AAOCC
(Authority, Accuracy, Objectivity, Currency, Coverage) criteria and questions,
which are adapted from www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENGI/eval-criteria1001.html.
Authority
- Who are the authors? Are they qualified? Are they credible?
- With whom are they affiliated? Do their affiliations affect their
credibility?
- Who is the publisher? What is the publisher's reputation?
Accuracy
- Is the information accurate? Is it reliable and error-free?
- Are the interpretations and implications reasonable?
- Is there evidence to support conclusions? Is the evidence verifiable?
- Do the authors properly list their sources, references or citations with
dates, page numbers or web addresses, etc.?
Objectivity
- What is the purpose? What do the authors want to accomplish?
- Does this purpose affect the presentation?
- Is there an implicit or explicit bias?
- Is the information fact, opinion, spoof, or satirical?
Currency
- Is the information current? Is it still valid?
- When was the site last updated?
- Is the site well-maintained? Are there any broken links?
Coverage
- Is the information relevant to your topic and assignment?
- What is the intended audience?
- Is the material presented at an appropriate level?
- Is the information complete? Is it unique?
Search for [ evaluate web pages ] or [ hints evaluate credibility web pages ] to find
resources on how to evaluate the veracity of pages you view.
For a printable form with most of the questions that you will probably want
to ask, visit www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/EvalForm.pdf.
If you're unable to view PDF files, you can get a free PDF viewer from Adobe
by visiting www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
For more
information on evaluating what you find, visit www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html.
Find documents on the
web that provide the answers to the following questions. What's your level of
comfort with the referring site(s) and why? For hints and answers to selected
problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- Is it true that if you touch a cold halogen bulb with
clean fingers, you will shorten its lifespan?
- Are 75% of Americans chronically dehydrated?
- Are you less likely to get dental cavities if you drink fluoridated
water?
- Is clumping kitty litter a major health hazard to cats?
- What are the benefits and drawbacks of a flu (influenza) shot?
- Does microwaving food in plastic containers or plastic cling wrap
release harmful chemicals into the food? Check whether this is an urban
legend.
Want more experience assessing the authenticity and integrity of some
websites? Try the exercises listed on www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/EvaluateWhy.html.
In this course segment, you will learn how to:
Google started by providing generalized web search and now
offers specialized searches that are accessible by clicking on the links above
Google's search box. Each link, except the last, represents a separate search
service. Click on any of the following links to learn more about the
corresponding specialized search service(s).
Google displays the current service link in black and the others in blue.
After running a search on one service, you can click on another service's
link to run a search on that service using the same terms. For example, when
you click on the News link, your search will be repeated on Google's News
service.
Topic-specific searches are accessible from the Advanced Search
form.
New! Local - Find local
businesses and services on the web
Catalogs - Search
and browse mail-order catalogs online
Apple
Macintosh - Search for all things Mac
BSD Unix -
Search web pages about the BSD operating system
Linux -
Search all Linux-friendly pages
Microsoft
- Search Microsoft-related pages
U.S. Government
- Search all .gov and .mil sites
Universities:
Narrow your search to a specific school's website, such as Stanford,
Brown, BYU, etc.
|
The word "Beta" beside a service's name indicates that Google is testing
and refining the service. Use the service, and if you are so inclined, provide
feedback to Google on how the service can be improved.
Next, we'll look at many of the special search tools listed above, as well
as:
This section ends with Google's feature
history.
The search tips and behaviors described in Part I of Google
Guide work with Google's special search tools, except in the following few
cases. The synonym operator (~) currently works only on Web and Directory
searches.
For more information on Google special services and tools, visit www.google.com/options/.
You can use Google even if the www.google.com page isn't currently in your
browser provided you're currently connected to the Internet by using one or
more of the following tools and features.
Here's how.
- Toolbar (well worth installing
if you use Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP and Internet Explorer 5.0 or a more
recent version) - toolbar.google.com
Access Google from your Internet Explorer toolbar. The following table
lists just some of the many wonderful features available through the Google
Toolbar.
| Feature
| Allowing you to ... |
| Search Box
| Access Google's search technology from your browser toolbar. |
| Search Site
| Search only the pages of the site you're currently visiting. |
| Highlight
| Highlight terms on the current page. |
| Word Find
| Find your search terms on a page and navigate to them. |
| Pop-up Blocker
| Stop annoying pop-up windows (new in version 2.0 of Toolbar). |
| AutoFill
| Automatically fill in a form (new in version 2.0 of Toolbar).
|
Below are links to more information on Google's 2.0 Toolbar:
If you use Mozilla or Netscape, try Googlebar, googlebar.mozdev.org,
which provides all of the basic search functionality of Google's Toolbar.
Googlebar works on recent versions of Mozilla and Netscape, but may not work
on older ones.
If you use Mac OS X, note that Apple's Safari web browser
includes Google search feature.
- Deskbar (well worth installing
if you use Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and Internet Explorer 5.5 or a more recent
version) - toolbar.google.com/deskbar/
Access Google from your Windows desktop toolbar. The following table
lists the Deskbar key features.
| Feature
| Allowing you to ... |
| Search Box
| Access Google's search technology even when your browser isn't
running. |
| Preview
| Preview search results in a small inset window that closes
automatically. |
| Accessibility
| Access Google from any application by pressing the CTRL, ALT, and the G keys simultaneously (CTRL+ALT+G). |
| Search Selected Text
| Select text within a Word document, e-mail, browser page, or any
other application, and then use that selected text as your search
query by pressing the CTRL, ALT, and the G keys simultaneously
(CTRL+ALT+G). |
| Keyboard Shortcuts
| Access Google News by pressing the CTRL and
the N keys simultaneously (CTRL+N), Google Images (CTRL+I), Froogle (CTRL+F), Web Search (CTRL+W), Groups (CTRL+U), I'm Feeling Lucky (CTRL+L), Definitions (CTRL+D), Stock Quotes (CTRL+Q), and Thesaurus (CTRL+T). |
For more information on what the Deskbar can do, visit toolbar.google.com/deskbar/help/cmds.html.
- Browser Buttons - www.google.com/options/buttons.html
Access Google's
search technology by adding buttons to your browser's toolbar.
Copyright © 2003 Google Inc. Used with
permission.
GoogleSearch
Performs search on any highlighted text or pops
up a search box and prompts you for search terms.
Copyright © 2003 Google Inc. Used with
permission.
- Use your mouse to highlight this phrase: Stanford University.
- Click the "Google Search" button and Google searches the web for the
highlighted phrase.
OR
- Simply click the button and enter your search terms in the pop-up
Google search box.
GoogleScout
Delivers links to sites and
information related to whichever page you are viewing.
- Go to a website such as http://www.stanford.edu/.
- Once the page has loaded, click the GoogleScout button to find other web pages
similar to Stanford's page.
Google.com
Click the Google.com button to go directly to the
www.google.com page.
NOTE: The Google Browser Buttons should work for recent versions of most
browsers, but may not work on older ones.
Google Browser Buttons are available at www.google.com/options/buttons.html.
Make Google Your Homepage
To have the
Google home page appear whenever you start your browser, click on the "Make
Google Your Homepage" link on Google's home page. If the link is missing,
follow the instructions listed on www.google.com/options/defaults.html.
Make Google Your Default Search
Engine
For instructions, visit www.google.com/options/defaults.html#default.
Set up your system to
make Google easier to access. For hints and answers to selected problems, see
the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- If you use Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and Internet Explorer 5.5 or a more
recent version, install the Google Deskbar on your system.
- If you use Internet Explorer, install the Google Toolbar on your system.
If you use another browser, install Google Browser Buttons on your system.
- Make Google your home page.
- Make Google your default search engine.
Google provides shortcuts for finding commonly sought utilities and
information, which you may have previously found offline or on specialized
sites, including
Calculator
Phone Numbers and
Addresses
Street Maps
Stock
Quotes
Definitions (Google
Glossary)
Travel
Conditions
Search by
Number
Area Code
Maps
Package
Tracking
Flight
Tracking Information
Vehicle
Information
Patent
Search
FAA
Airplane Registration Numbers
UPC
Codes
FCC Equipment
IDs
The results of these shortcuts appear to the right of a tag or specialized
icon and above your search results.
Want to add up a list of numbers, convert from miles to kilometers, or
evaluate some other mathematical expression? Instead of using a piece of
paper, your calculator, or a computer math software program, you can now solve
mathematical problems with Google's built-in calculator function.
Simply enter the expression you'd like evaluated in Google's web search box
and hit the ENTER key or click the "Google Search"
button.
The calculator can evaluate mathematical expressions involving:
- Basic Arithmetic
- Compute expressions containing standard mathematical symbols. The
following table lists operators that come between the two numbers on which
they operate, e.g., to multiply 2 times 3, use 2 * 3.
Note: To do multiplication, you must include the * symbol;
[ 3 * 4 ] will be calculated, 3 4 won't.
- Advanced Math
- Compute results involving mathematical constants, such as e,
pi, i (the square root of -1), and mathematical functions.
The following table lists just some of the functions built into Google's
calculator.
| Operator
| Function
| Example |
sin, cos, tan,
sec, csc, cot, etc.
| Trigonometric functions (arguments
are assumed to
be in radians)
| [ cos(pi/6) ]
[ cosine(pi/6) ]
|
| arcsin, arccos, arctan, arccsc, etc.
| Inverse trigonometric functions
| [ arccos(.5) ]
|
| sinh, cosh, tanh, csch, arsinh, arccsch, etc.
| Hyperbolic trigonometric functions
| [ cosh(6) ]
|
| ln
| Logarithm base e
| [ ln(16) ] |
| log
| Logarithm base 10
| [ log(16) ] |
| lg
| Logarithm base 2
| [ lg(16) ] |
| exp
| Exponential function
| [ exp(16) ] |
| !
| Factorial
| [ 5! ] |
| choose
| x choose y calculates the number
of ways of
choosing a set of y
elements from a set of x distinct elements
| [ 5
choose 3 ]
|
The following table lists just a few of the commonly used mathematical
constants known to the calculator function.
| Name and description
| Example |
| base of the natural system of logarithms
| [ e ] |
| pi, the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of
a circle
| [ pi/6 ] |
| imaginary number, i, which represents one of the two
square roots of -1
| [ i^2 ] |
| Euler's constant, gamma
| [ e^gamma ] |
- Units of Measure and
Conversions
- Compute expressions involving different units. By default, units are
converted to and results expressed in meter-kilogram-second (mks) units.
Many units have both long and short names. Use whichever name you prefer.
| Type of Units
| Examples |
| Mass
| kilogram or kg, grams or g, grains, pounds or lbs,
carats, stones, tons, tonnes, etc. |
| Length
| meters or m, miles, feet, Angstroms, cubits,
furlongs, etc. |
| Volume
| gallons, liters or l, bushels, teaspoons, pints, etc.
|
| Area
| square kilometers, acres, hectares, etc. |
| Time
| days, seconds or s, centuries, sidereal years,
fortnights, etc. |
| Electricity
| volts, amps, ohms, henrys, etc. |
| Energy
| Calories, British thermal units (BTU), joules, ergs,
foot-pounds, etc. |
| Power
| watt, kilowatts, horsepower or hp, etc. |
| Information
| bits, bytes, kbytes, etc. |
| Quantity
| dozen, baker's dozen, percent, gross, great gross,
score, etc. |
| Numbering systems
| decimal, hexadecimal or hex, octal, binary, roman
numerals, etc. Prefix hexadecimal numbers with 0x, octal numbers
with 0o and binary numbers with 0b. For example: 0x7f + 0b10010101.
|
Here are calculations that involve units.
[ 2 meters + 5 feet ]
Convert from one set of units to another by using the notation, x
units in y units.
[ three quarters of a cup in teaspoons ]
[ 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit in degrees Celsius ]
[ 130 lbs in kg ]
[ 130 lbs in stones ]
[ 65
mph in kph ] or [ 65
mph in km/h ]
Warning: When your query includes "Calories" with a capital "C,"
Google returns kilocalories called "calories" by nutritionists.
[ 160 pounds * 4000 feet in Calories ]
Convert from one numbering system to another.
[ 1500 in hex ] or [ 1500 in hexadecimal ]
[ 64 in
binary ]
[ LVII in decimal ]
- Physical Constants
- The following table lists just a few of the many commonly used
physical constants known to the calculator function.
Here are some calculations using built-in constants.
[ 1 AU/c ]
[ 1.21 MW / 88 mph ]
[ (G * mass of earth) / (radius of earth ^ 2) ]
Parentheses can be used whenever they'll serve to make complicated
expressions unambiguous, but also that sets of parentheses can be used
within parentheses; don't use brackets for grouping.
The following are tips from Google's online help for the calculator,
which can be found on the web at www.google.com/help/calculator.html.
You can force the calculator to try to evaluate an expression
by putting an equals sign (=) after it. This works only if the expression
is arithmetically computable. For example, 1-800-555-1234= will return a
result, but 1/0= will not.
Parentheses can be used to enclose the parts of your expression that
you want evaluated first. For example, (1+2)*3 causes the addition to
happen before the multiplication.
Feel free to experiment with the calculator as not all of its
capabilities are listed here.
If you want a visual reminder of some of the capabilities of Google's
calculator, visit Soople's Calculator page,
www.soople.com/soople_intcalchome.php .
This problem set is
designed to give you practice in using Google's new calculator function. For
hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions page
in the Appendix.
- Convert 1 mile to meters.
- Convert 1 kg (kilogram) to lbs (pounds).
- Convert 0 degrees Kelvin to Fahrenheit or Celsius.
- Compute the number of minutes in a 365-day year.
- Which is larger pi^e or e^pi? The same relationship holds between
x^e and e^x for all non-negative values of x except
e. The exponential constant, e, is approximately 2.72 and the ratio of the
circumference to the diameter of a circle, pi, is approximately 3.14.
- How many lottery combinations are there if the winning combination
consists of 5 distinct integers between 1 and 99, i.e., there are 99 balls
in an urn and once one is selected, it isn't returned to the box.
- Compute the probability of your winning the lottery if you buy 1,000
tickets each bearing five distinct independently randomly chosen integers
between 1 and 99.
Use Google if you want to look up a phonebook listing for someone who
lives in the United States. Just enter a person's name and a city, state, or
zip code in the standard web search box. Then hit the ENTER key or click the "Google Search" button.
If you have easy access to the web, Google's phonebook feature can be
more convenient than your local phonebook and more extensive.
On the results page, phonebook listings are next to a telephone icon.
Google's residential phonebook feature recognizes inputs in the following
formats.
| To find a US residence, enter either ...
| Examples |
First name (or first initial), last name,
city
(state is optional)
| [ Monty Python Oakland ] |
| First name (or first initial), last name, state
| [ Monty Python CA ] |
| First name (or first initial), last name, area code
| [ M Python 510 ] |
| First name (or first initial), last name, zip code
| [ Monty Python 94601 ] |
| Phone number, including area code
| [ 510-555-1212 ] |
| Last name, city, state
| [ Python Oakland CA ] |
| Last name, zip code
| [ Python 94601 ]
|
Notice that Google supports reverse look up. You can enter a phone number
with area code and learn to whom that number belongs.
Be aware that some listings are out of date, including the examples in
the previous table.
When you want a US business white-page phonebook listing, enter a
business name and location or phone number.
If there are more than two listings, Google includes a "More phonebooks
listing"" link after the second entry.
To see other listings, click on the "Phonebook results" link that's just
above the phonebook icon.
Notice that when Google provides an address, it includes links to map
providers. In the next section, we'll look at how to obtain a map and
directions.
If Google doesn't return a phonebook link, try using the phonebook:
search operator.
Need an email address? Though it would be a nice feature for you and me,
Google doesn't offer an email-lookup service, since spammers could use it to
get your address and send you unsolicited spam email.
This problem set
gives you practice with looking up phone numbers and addresses. For hints
and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- What is the address of the Empire State Building in New York City in
the state of New York (the two-letter state code is NY)?
- Check whether Google knows your phone number and address. If you wish
to remove your listing from Google's PhoneBook, complete the name removal
form, which you can find at www.google.com/help/pbremoval.html or by searching for
[ remove phone number Google ].
Want to find where something is or how to get there? Instead of visiting
an online map-providing service, just enter an address into Google. You can
also copy and paste addresses, even ones with embedded carriage returns,
into Google's search box. When Google recognizes your query as a location,
the results page includes links to map providers for that location. Clicking
on a map-provider link takes you to a map showing the location result.
Enter a U.S. street address, including zip code or city/state. Often, the
street address and city name will be enough.
Beside an icon of a map are links to map providers, as shown below.
Click on either the Yahoo! Maps link or the MapQuest link to view a map showing Google's headquarters
at 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy in Mountain View, California.
Sometimes the Google
Local service, which I describe in Part III, can find where
something is located without your providing an address.
Click on the link to a map provider to obtain a map.
Click on the link "To this location" in Yahoo!Maps or on the radio button
"Driving Directions from this location" in MapQuest and specify your
starting location.
Then you'll get a nice set of directions that you can print out and take
with you when driving.
This problem set
gives you practice with looking up addresses and with getting directions.
For hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions page in
the Appendix.
- Get a map showing the most crooked section of Lombard Street in
San Francisco, which is between 1000 and 1100 Lombard Street.
- If you live in the United States, obtain a map showing where you live
by entering your address into Google and clicking the link to a map
provider.
- If you live in the United States, get directions from your house to
either a good friend's place or a great restaurant.
Looking for Google's stock symbol or financial information? Google isn't
public yet so doesn't have a stock symbol but that will change shortly.
Google announced at the end of April 2004 that it's going public (having an
IPO and selling stock publicly) in 2004. It's Securities and Exchange Commission Form S-1 (IPO) Registration
Statement is now available.
Want info on a publicly traded stock or mutual fund? Enter one or more
NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, or mutual fund ticker symbols and Google will return a
link to stock and mutual fund information.
Click on the "Show stock quotes" link to see financial information, which
may include the price of the last trade, the range of prices for the day and
for the year, a one-year target price estimate, the previous days closing
price, the opening price for the day, the volume of shares traded during the
day, the PE radio, dividends per share, the dividend date, and a chart.
Note: Entering a ticker symbol in the search box and then clicking
on I'm Feeling Lucky will not take you to that symbol's financial
information page. Instead, Google displays the first search results, whose
link appears just below the box enclosing the stock information link.
Click on the "Stock quotes" link to view a chart for each stock symbol in
your query.
You can also retrieve stock information via the stock: search operator. For example, [ stock:brcm brcd ] will return a link to stock
information about Broadcom Corporation and Brocade Communications System.
Enter the name of a corporation traded on one of the stock exchanges.
When you look up a publicly traded company, at the end of the first
result (the company's corporate web page) is the company's ticker symbol,
which links to the company's stock information.
This problem set
gives you practice in obtaining financial information for US publicly traded
companies. For hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- Obtain a chart of Ebay's stock price for the past 5 years by entering
Ebay's stock symbol, ebay, clicking on the link "Show stock quotes" and
then selecting a 5-year chart.
- Find current financial information for Yahoo and Amazon.
- Using the similar pages
feature, find competitors to google.com that are run by public companies.
Check whether their stock prices have been climbing or dropping in the
past three months.
When you include "define," "what is," or "what are" in your query in
front of a word, phrase, or acronym, Google displays one Glossary definition
above your search results. Google Glossary provides definitions for words,
phrases, and acronyms that Google finds on web pages. The Glossary is good
for finding definitions for terms that aren't in some dictionaries, e.g.,
slang words, technical terms, ethnic words and other specialized terms.
In February of 2003, Google acquired Pyra Labs, a company that makes it
easy for you to create your own blog. What's a blog? Let's ask Google to
define the term.
You can search for blogs with Google, in the same way that you search for
other documents. You can easily create a weblog (blog) post pointing to the
web page you're visiting by pressing the "BlogThis!" button on the Google Toolbar and
publish your thoughts on the web so others may find them. You can learn more
about this feature on toolbar.google.com/button_help.html.
Google Glossary can also find definitions of acronyms.
One definition appears to the right of the
words "Web Definition," below the statistics bar and above Google's search
results.
When your query includes the "define:" operator, Google displays all the
definitions it finds on the web.
If you want a dictionary definition, learn about a shortcut in the Dictionary Definitions
section in Part II.
These problems give
you practice in finding definitions. For hints and answers to selected
problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- What does aka mean?
- What is Google bombing? If Google Glossary doesn't find the
definition, find it yourself.
- Google is named after the word 'googol.' What is a googol?
- What does the abbreviation IRL commonly stand for?
Restrict your search to a particular geographic area.
Google Local, aka Search by Location, local.google.com, scouts
the web for addresses and clues to pinpoint where things are located.
Not only is Search by Location good for finding businesses and
landmarks, but it can find locations of places that aren't listed in
phonebooks. For example, you can find places that appeared in the film
Sleepless in Seattle.
See these results on a map by clicking on the link just above your
search results.
This problem set
gives you practice with using Google Local. For hints and answers to
selected problems, see the Solutions page
in the Appendix.
- Find Thai restaurants in the zip code 94041 in Mountain View,
California.
Google provides a shortcut for learning about delays and weather
conditions at a US airport. Just enter the airport's three-letter code
followed by the word "airport" into Google's search box.
Note: This feature may not work if you search from any of
Google's non-US sites, e.g., google.de, google.com.co, google.ca nor from
a foreign-language site, e.g., Swahili or Latvian.
For example, find conditions at Honolulu International Airport. If you
don't know the airport code, look it up on Google. If your city has more
than one major airport, include the airport name as well as the city in
your query.
You don't need to click on the first result to see that the airport
code for one of Honolulu's airports is HNL, because you can find that code
in the first line of the snippet.
If you find the snippet difficult to read, just click on the title to
view the Honolulu Airport entry from World-Airport-Codes.com.
Now let's request travel conditions at Honolulu International Airport.
Click on the "View conditions" link to see the FAA's airport status
information.
These problems give
you practice in finding travel conditions. For hints and answers to selected
problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- Find the travel conditions for Los Angeles International Airport.
- Find the travel conditions for Kennedy Airport in New York City.
"Parcel tracking IDs, patents, and other specialized numbers can be
entered into Google's search box for quick access to information about
them," according to the Google
Web Search Features page, www.google.com/help/features.html.
Special searches by number types include:
The rest of this page contains examples of input and output for most of
these types of searches.
Area Code Map
Want to see a map of where a
US telephone area code is used? Just enter the area code in Google's search
box.
Click on the link to view a map.
Package Tracking
Instead of going to the
FedEx (http://www.fedex.com/), UPS (http://www.ups.com/), or US Postal Service (http://www.usps.com/) sites to
find out where your package is located, now you can enter parcel tracking
IDs directly into Google's search box.
Click on the link to view tracking information for a parcel.
Find the latest information about your UPS package by entering the
tracking ID into Google's search box. (I haven't been able to get a link to
UPS package tracking information. Perhaps I haven't entered a valid UPS
tracking ID.)
Flight Tracking Information
Look up
information on a flight by typing the airline name or code followed by a
space and a flight number.
Click on the Travelocity link to view tracking information on the flight.
Click on the fboweb.com link to view how the actual flight is
progressing.
Vehicle Information
Look up automobile
vehicle information by entering a vehicle ID (VIN) number.
Click on the link to view information on the specified vehicle.
Patent Search
Look up a patent by typing
"patent" followed by a space and a patent number.
Click on the link to view information on the patent.
FAA Airplane Registration Numbers
Find out
about a particular airplane by entering its FAA airplane registration number
into Google's search box. An airplane's FAA registration number is typically
painted on its tail.
Click on the link to view information about the aircraft.
UPC Codes
Find information about an item by
entering its UPC code into Google's search box.
Click on the link to view information about this item.
FCC Equipment IDs
Find information about FCC
equipment by typing "fcc" followed by a space and the equipment's ID number.
Click on the link to view information about this equipment.
Looking for an image, map, graphic, photo, design or drawing? Try Google's
Image Search by clicking on the Images link above Google's search box or
visiting images.google.com.
Enter your query and click on the "Google Search" button. Alternatively,
enter your query and then click on the Images tab. Google Image Search
works best when there are many images available to choose from, e.g., photos of
Anna Kournikova, the most photographed tennis player.
Click on the image that interests you. You'll
go to a framed page with two parts. On top, you'll see Google's image thumbnail.
On the bottom, you'll see the full page on which the image appears.
Clicking on the thumbnail image or on the "See full-size image" link that
appears just below the thumbnail image will display the full-size image.
Save the image to your hard disk by either selecting "Save As" or "Save Page
As" from the File menu of your browser or by clicking the mouse's right button
and selecting "Save As" or "Save Page As" from the pop-up menu.
To view the page containing the image without the thumbnail image on top,
click on the page's URL, which appears between the thumbnail image and the page
itself following the text "Below is the image in its original context on
the page."
How Does Google
Image Search Work?
Notice that when you search for images of Google founders Larry Page and
Sergey Brin, Image Search returns some photographs of Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
The words "Larry Page" and "Sergey Brin" appear near images of Eric Schmidt,
or in image captions, or in links to those images. Google makes a guess that the
words are related to the image. Google technology isn't yet to the point where
it can tell what's in an image by looking at it directly.
Focusing Your Image
Search
As with text searches, you can focus your search when it finds too many
images. Restrict your results to images that are large, medium, or small by
clicking on one of the links that is in the upper right corner on the Images
results page.
Alternatively, narrow your query by using Google's Advanced Image Search
form. To get there, either click on the Advanced
Image Search link or go to images.google.com/advanced_image_search.
You can specify:
| Option
| Restrict results to
| Values |
| Size
| images of these relative dimensions
| small, medium, large |
| Filetype
| image files whose names end with the specified suffix
| jpg, gif, png |
| Coloration
| images with the specified color depth
| black and white, grayscale, full color |
| Domain
| a specific site or domain (for a description of site and domain
names, see Anatomy of
a Web Address in the Sharpen Your Query section in Part I)
| Domains such as .com, .edu, .nl, or sites such as pandemonia.com |
| SafeSearch
| the specified level of filtering. Be aware that Google's automatic
filtering doesn't guarantee that you won't be shown offensive content.
| none, moderate, strict |
The Size restriction refers to the height and width of the image in pixels.
The following table lists the approximate dimensions for each relative size
specification.
| Size Value
| Approximate Dimensions
in pixels
|
| small
| 150 x 150 or smaller |
| medium
| larger than 150 x 150 and
smaller than 500 x 500
|
| large
| 500 x 500 or larger |
For more information on Google's Image Search visit images.google.com/help/faq_images.html.
These problems give you
practice with finding images. For hints and answers to selected problems, see
the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- I used a color chart to select colors for this tutorial. Find some color
charts that show the HTML input to render at least 100 colors.
- Google displays special logos on its home page on holidays and birthdays.
Find some of these logos. Click on the link "repeat the search with the
omitted results included" to view more amusing logos.
- Find a photograph of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain to see whether you
want to take a vacation and visit the Alhambra.
- Obtain a map of the London Underground.
Want advice, opinions, and recommendations that haven't necessarily been
edited?
Then consider using Google Groups, which provides access (posting and
reading) to Usenet discussion forums, an enormous storehouse of discourse,
including
- Forums on practically everything from aviation
to zymurgy (brewing beer)
- Opinions, advice, and resource information, e.g.,
- Annoying posts
- Spam (widely distributed junk messages)
- Gripes
- Flames (insulting criticism or remarks meant to incite anger)
The Internet connects people from all over the world. When the Internet was
initially established, people used it to send email messages to each other. As
with physical mail, email must have the address of the recipient. In 1979-1980,
Steve Bellovin, Jim Ellis, Tom Truscott, and Steve Daniel at Duke University and
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill implemented a distributed
bulletin board system supported mainly by UNIX computers. It became known as
Usenet, which was short for Users Network, and, because it was free and
non-proprietary, it swiftly became international in scope. Usenet discussion
forums became popular in the 1980s before the birth of the World Wide Web. In
1995, a company named DejaNews began archiving Usenet. In 1999, during the .com
boom, DejaNews changed its name to Deja.com. Like many .com companies, Deja.com
didn't do well financially. In February of 2001, Deja.com sold its Usenet
archives to Google for an undisclosed amount. Google made Deja's entire archive
(dating back to 1995) as well as lots of material posted earlier available from
the Google Groups home page.
Click on Groups link above Google's search box or visit groups.google.com to access
this comprehensive archive of human conversation, dating back to 1981.
Note: Particularly in the latter part of the 1980s, there are some
significant gaps in the archive. As traffic expanded, volunteers who had been
saving Usenet traffic at their own expense were overwhelmed, and stopped
archiving some groups. While the Google Groups archive is the most complete
Usenet Archive known to exist, it is not a complete archive prior to the 1990s.
Newsgroups or forums are grouped into several large areas, each of which is
broken into subareas. The different parts are always separated by a "."
(period). The first part of a name is called its hierarchy. Consider, for
instance, the name rec.sport.tennis. The newsgroup is in the rec or recreation area, in the sports subarea. Within each
newsgroup, there are messages (also referred to as articles or postings) that
look like email from one user to another. But instead of just being exchanged
between two people, these messages are available to everyone who accesses the
Usenet or Google Groups. The top level hierarchies on Google Groups are:
alt. |
Alternative discussions (any conceivable
topic) |
biz. |
Business products, services, reviews, etc. |
comp. |
Relating to computers |
humanities. |
Fine art, literature, philosophy, etc. |
misc. |
Miscellaneous topics, e.g., employment, health,
etc. |
news. |
Relating to Usenet netnews itself |
rec. |
Relating to recreation, e.g., games, hobbies,
sports |
sci. |
Relating to the sciences |
soc. |
Relating to social issues, culture |
talk. |
Long arguments, current issues and debates,
frequently political |
Below are some examples of newsgroup names.
| alt.graphics.photoshop |
misc.jobs.offered |
| alt.atheism.moderated |
rec.aviation.soaring |
| alt.fan.letterman |
rec.food.recipes |
| alt.personal.ads |
rec.music.classical.guitar |
| biz.books.technical |
soc.feminism |
| misc.invest.real-estate |
talk.politics.misc |
Discussion groups can be unmoderated (anyone can post) or moderated
(submissions are automatically directed to a moderator, who edits and filters
out inappropriate and irrelevant material). Some discussion groups have parallel
mailing lists, with postings to a group automatically propagated to its mailing
list and vice versa. Some moderated groups are even distributed as digests,
groups of postings periodically being collected into a single large posting with
an index. The names of some moderated groups include the suffix .moderated,
e.g., rec.martial-arts.moderated.
Click on a topic (hierarchy) or enter your query.
Click the title to view the original article with your search terms
highlighted.
Click on the "View Thread" link to see the original article together with
followup articles. (Google Groups displays the entire contents of articles and
does not clip the right side as I have done so the following screen shot is no
wider than any other screen shot in Google Guide.)
Want to participate in a discussion? For information on how to post messages,
click on the "Groups Help" link above or to the right of the Google Groups'
search box or visit the Google Groups Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about
posting at groups.google.com/googlegroups/posting_faq.html. Also be sure
to read the first answer in Google Groups Posting Style Guide. Usenet has a very strong
culture, and well-established ways of doing things. In order to get the best
responses to your post, you should try to conform to Usenet standards.
If you post to Usenet via Google Groups, your email address will be
distributed widely and you may receive lots of spam as a result. Consider
getting another email address from Yahoo, Hotmail, or some
other free service to use for your public postings.
Want to search for a specific message or those written by a certain person?
Click on the Advanced Groups Search link or visit www.google.com/advanced_group_search.
For more information on Google Groups visit groups.google.com/googlegroups/help.html.
These problems give you
practice in searching Google Groups. For hints and answers to selected problems,
see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- Find recommendations for sites for booking
flights online.
- Find travel tips for places to stay and visit in central London.
- Find reviews of online banking services.
- What are some ways to automatically block spam?
- How can you remove varnish from a maple coffee table?
- Click on the link "rec." and browse the names of the recreational
subgroups.
- Find the list of especially memorable articles and threads from Usenet
that Google has compiled.
After the tragedies of September 11, 2001, Krishna Bharat, a Google engineer,
built a tool to crawl news sites and organize news into ranked clusters. Because
of its popularity, Google expanded the demo into Google News.
Google News:
- Presents information culled from thousands of news sources worldwide.
- Updates entries continuously throughout the day.
- Groups together related headlines and photos.
- By default, automatically displays the latest headlines.
Click on the News link above Google's search box or visit news.google.com.
Google news indicates how fresh a story is by listing how long ago it was
posted, e.g., 30 minutes ago for the top story on the left in the screen shot
above. Click on the title to display the article. Notice the "and 565 related"
link at the bottom of the entry of the story on the left of the above screen
shot. If you click an entry's "and XXX related" link, you'll see a page listing
all articles related to the same topic.
Search news by entering your query and clicking on the "Google Search"
button.
By default, results are sorted by relevance to your search terms. When you
wish to see articles ordered chronologically, click on the "Sort by date" link,
located in the upper right corner of the results window.
Advanced
News Search, accessible from the Advanced Search link on the News page,
enables you to search by news source, location, date range, and other criteria.
It's also available at news.google.com/advanced_news_search.
International versions of Google News are available for countries including
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, and the U.K.
Making Google News Your Home
Page
If you like keeping up with the latest news, consider making Google News your
home page and/or setting up Google News Alerts. Make Google News your home page
by clicking on the "Make Google News Your Home Page" link, which appears on the
left of Google News' home page, if the option works on your browser. If the link
is missing, follow the instructions listed on www.google.com/options/defaults.html.
Google News
Alerts - www.google.com/newsalerts
Set up Google News Alerts to get email when news articles on topics of
interest to you appear on the web.
In February of 2003, Google engineer Naga Sridhar got tired of regularly
visiting Google News to check for developments in the imminent US war with Iraq.
So he put together an application that would email him when a news story broke
that matched a specified query. Naga demonstrated his prototype to co-founder
Sergey Brin, who set up a news alert for "google." With encouragement from both
Sergey and Marissa Mayer (Google's Director of Consumer Products), Naga began
working full-time on what has become News Alerts. Six months later, links to
News Alerts were added to Google Labs' home page and to Google News.
After you've set up a News Alert, Google finds and delivers links to news
articles as they appear online or once a day.
Consider using Google News Alerts to:
- monitor a developing news story
- keep current on a competitor or industry
- get the latest on a celebrity or event
- keep tabs on your favorite sports teams
- learn where you are or your company is cited or quoted
Note: News Alert is just one of several different services that will
email you Google search results. Google Alert, a third-party service available
at http://www.googlealert.com/, will automatically email you
results from several search queries either daily, every other day, twice weekly,
or every week.
For more information on Google News visit news.google.com/help/about_news_search.html.
If you're a news junkie, check out Topix.net, which you can find at http://www.topix.net/ and Columbia
Newsblaster, which you can find at http://newsblaster.cs.columbia.edu/. Like
Google News, Topix.net and Newsblaster are systems that automatically track the
day's news. Why am I including non-Google sites in a tutorial on Google? To make
you aware of sites offering capabilities different from Google News's and to
publicize a friend's site.
According to the About Columbia Newsblaster page, which you can find at
http://newsblaster.cs.columbia.edu/faq.html, "There are no human editors
involved -- everything you see on the Newsblaster main page is generated
automatically, drawing on the sources listed on the left side of the screen."
Unlike Google News, Newsblaster summarizes clusters of articles about the same
topic. "The end result is a Web page that gives you a sense of what the major
stories of the day are, so you don't have to visit the pages of dozens of
publications," according to About Newsblaster page.
This problem set gives
you practice with using Google News. For hints and answers to selected problems,
see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- Find today's current top stories listed on Google News.
- Find the latest news about Google.
- Set up a Google News Alert to automatically email you news about Google
features and services or some other topic of interest to you.
Froogle is a searchable and browsable shopping index tuned to finding
products for sale online. Click on the Froogle link above Google's search
box or visit froogle.google.com. Search results include price, brand,
description, and, if available, a photograph. Note that unlike other online
shopping services, Froogle doesn't actually sell things.
Froogle obtains listings for products from vendors and from scouring the web.
When Google runs across a page that appears to sell something, it feeds the
information it collects to Froogle. Vendors don't pay to have their products
included in Froogle's search results. However, they can purchase sponsored
links, which appear along the right side of Froogle's results pages.
No need to bookmark Froogle or remember its name, which is a combination of
the words "Google" and "frugal." Just use Google to find
it or any other service you desire.
You can browse products by clicking on a category or you can search by
entering your query in Froogle's search box. Interested in buying a watch for a
child? Try searching on Froogle for [ watches children ].
![Screen shot of what Froogle returned when searching for [ watches children ]](Google Guide Making Searching Even Easier - Printable Version_files/froogleWatchesChildren.gif)
The results included the verb "watch" and pages selling children's jewelry.
Study results to get ideas for more effective search terms. Consider searching
for specific brands.
![Screen shot of results from [ watches children timex ]](Google Guide Making Searching Even Easier - Printable Version_files/froogleWatchesTimex2.gif)
Search for specific types of watches.
![Screen shot of results from [ watches children teacher ]](Google Guide Making Searching Even Easier - Printable Version_files/froogleWatchesTeacher.gif)
![Screen shot of results from [ analog watches children ]](Google Guide Making Searching Even Easier - Printable Version_files/froogleAnalogWatches2.gif)
When Froogle finds more than one product from a site, it includes the link
"See all results from vendor." Limiting the number of results from a
given site to just one ensures products from a single vendor won't dominate your
search results and that Froogle provides pages from a variety of sites.
Want products with prices in a specified range? Enter a price range just
above the results or fill in a field in Froogle's advanced search form. Access
the advanced search form by clicking on the Advanced
Froogle Search link next to the search box on a Froogle page or visiting froogle.google.com/froogle_advanced_search.
For more information on Froogle visit froogle.google.com/froogle/about.html.
These problems give you
practice with shopping on Froogle and Google Catalogs. For hints and answers to
selected problems, see the Solutions page in
the Appendix.
- Find 100% cotton comforter covers on Froogle.
- Find unbreakable 8 oz. drinking glasses in the price range $10 - $30.
- Tired of putting on sun screen? Find sun-protective clothing with Froogle.
- Find heated toilet seats with Froogle.
Click on the more » link above Google's search box to
learn about many of Google's search services and tools. In Google Guide, click
on any of the following images or links to learn more about these services and
tools.
Google Services
Google Tools
After acquiring a fancy scanner, Larry Page, co-founder of Google, encouraged
engineers to come up with a search service that would take advantage of its
speed and flexibility. Lauren Baptist started by developing a service around
mail-order catalogs because they posed the least copyright issues. Some vendors
have better pictures in their catalogs than on the websites. Now you can throw
out your mail-order catalogs and browse or search for their contents online,
even if the company hasn't listed them on the web. Visit catalogs.google.com. But,
if you don't have a high speed connection, the catalog pages load slowwwwwly.
Since Ikea gives out their catalogs sparingly, check out their catalog
online.
Like Froogle, Catalogs doesn't sell things. Instead, use this service to
browse and/or search print page catalogs. For example, search for a sun hat.
![Screen shot of results from a Catalogs search for [ sun hat ].](C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Keyboard Connections\Google\Google Guide Making Searching Even Easier - Printable Version_files\catalogs(1).gif)
For more information on Google Catalogs visit catalogs.google.com/googlecatalogs/help.html.
These problems give you
practice with shopping with Google Catalogs. For hints and answers to selected
problems, see the Solutions page in
the Appendix.
- Find 100% cotton comforter covers.
- Find unbreakable 8 oz. drinking glasses in the price range $10 - $30.
- Tired of putting on sun screen? Find sun-protective clothing.
- Find heated toilet seats.
- Check out the prices of flying saucers, superballs, night lights, or
whatever interests you in the wholesale Rhode Island Novelty catalog.
There are two basic ways to find information systematically on the Web:
browsing and searching. Chris Sherman and Gary Price offer the following
description of browsing versus searching in their book The Invisible Web.
... think of how you use a library. If you're familiar with a
subject it's often more useful to browse in the section where books [on
that] subject are shelved. Because of the way the library is organized, often
using either the Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress Classification system,
you know that all of the titles in the section are related, and serendipity
often leads to unexpected discoveries that prove quite valuable.
If you're unfamiliar with a subject, however, browsing is both inefficient
and potentially futile if you fail to locate the section of the library where
the material you're interested in is shelved. Searching, [with the aid
of] specialized tools offered by a library's catalog, is far more likely to
provide satisfactory results.
Using the web to find information has much in common with using the
library. Sometimes browsing provides good results, while other information
needs require nothing less than sophisticated, powerful searching to achieve
the best results.
Up until now, I've shown you how to choose search terms and craft your
queries to locate the information you seek. This section describes how to browse
by following links on Google's Directory.
Google organizes the Directory into categories that are classifications of
pages by subjects. The Directory is similar to the table of contents in a book.
Browsing a book's table of contents, which includes the titles of chapters and
sections, allows a reader to quickly find interesting sections of the book.
Similarly, browsing a subject-oriented directory, enables a user to quickly
locate categories containing related documents. However, there's no assurance
that what you're seeking will be in the book or web page.
See the top level classifications by visiting directory.google.com.
Google's web-search index is built automatically by computers that crawl the
web. Google's Directory is created by volunteer human-subject matter experts who
contribute to the Open Directory Project (http://www/dmoz.org). The raw open-source
directory is used not just by Google, but also by Netscape Search, AOL Search,
Lycos, HotBot, and DirectHit. The volunteers evaluate, classify, and annotate
each entry. The entries are then ranked by Google's PageRank algorithms.
Consider using the Directory instead of Google's web search whenever you want
to:
- Familiarize yourself with a topic.
- Get suggestions for ways to narrow your search.
- Find ideas for query terms.
- Figure out the scope of a given category,
e.g., the number of
newspapers in California.
- View only pages that have been evaluated by a human editor.
Fewer sites are included in the Directory than in Google's web search but
those that are included tend to be of high quality.
Use Google's Directory when you want to explore by clicking on topics, i.e.,
browse. For example, learn about travel by clicking on the Travel category,
which is included in the top-level category Recreation, which in the future I'll
abbreviate as Recreation > Travel.
To broaden your search, consider browsing subcategories or related
categories, which the Directory includes on your results page. Next to each
subcategory is a number in parentheses (), which is the number of links included
in that category. Names of categories with lots of entries are shown in
boldface.
With Google's Directory, you can browse and/or search to find pages of
interest to you. If you're unfamiliar with a topic, browse through a few levels
of categories and then restrict your search to a particular branch of the
Directory by selecting the "Search only in ..." radio button before entering
your query in the search box. If you're familiar with a topic, search the
Directory by entering your query and clicking on the "Google Search" button.
Then you can either refine your search by changing your search query or entering
additional terms or browse by clicking on a subcategory or a related category.
![Results from looking up [ newspapers California ] on Google Directory](Google Guide Making Searching Even Easier - Printable Version_files/directoryEgSmall.gif)
Directory drawbacks include: size, timeliness, and coverage. Since computers
can crawl the web and add index entries much faster than humans can travel the
web and evaluate pages, most directories, including Google's, have significantly
fewer entries than searchable indices. Since directory links are maintained by
hand, upkeep and maintenance are time-consuming. It's difficult for editors to
keep up with the dynamic nature of the web. Because different people edit,
annotate, and add entries, some categories in a directory are well-populated and
others are sparse.
For more information on Google Directory visit www.google.com/dirhelp.html.
This problem set gives
you practice in using the Google Directory. For hints and answers to selected
problems, see the Solutions page in
the Appendix.
- Find bed and breakfast sites in Florence, Italy.
- Find sites that focus on changing careers.
- What are the names of the California state parks and their points of
interest?
- List categories where you can find lawn furniture.
Looking for an easier way to find information on a specific topic or at a
specific website?
Google provides the following specialized search engines:
Why these topics? Early on in Google history, some engineers created these
specialized search engines to serve their own interests. They've remained part
of the site though Google has turned its attention to other types of search
services and features.
You can find links to these specialized search engines, as well as Froogle
and Google Catalogs, on the Advanced Web Search form.
This problem set gives
you practice in using Google's specialized search engines. For hints and answers
to selected problems, see the Solutions
page in the Appendix.
- What was special about the Apple Lisa computer, and why did it fail?
- What are the advantages of Linux over Windows and vice versa?
Having trouble creating a query to find the information you seek? Don't have
time to research the topic yourself? Consider asking Google Answers, which, for
a fee of your choosing, provides assistance from researchers with expertise in
online searching.
If your query returns few results or none, there may be a link to Google
Answers on the results page. Otherwise, visit answers.google.com.
Reluctant to use Google Answers? Think you can find the information you want
if you search a bit longer? If you feel that way, you're not alone.
Nevertheless, many people who have asked questions of Google Answers are now
fans of the service. Not only does it save them time, but the answers they get
are packed with useful information and links. It's a wonderful service that's
well worth your checking out, whether you're a novice or an experienced
searcher.
Here's how it works:
- Enter a question.
- Specify an amount between US$2 and US$200 that you're willing to pay for
an answer. Google adds on a US$.50 listing fee, which you are charged
regardless of whether your question is answered or not.
- A Google Answers researcher will search for the information you want and
post an answer. The researchers are screened and approved independent
contractors who get paid for posting "answers" to the site.
- You will be notified via email when any responses are posted to your
question, unless you specify in your Google Answers' Profile that you would
rather not receive status information on your questions.
Before posting your first question, check out Google's tips
for getting a better answer to your question, which can be found on the web
at answers.google.com/answers/help.html.
Want the answer to a question? First, create a Google Account by providing
your email address, a password, and a nickname. Your nickname will be shown on
every Google Answers question, answer, or comment that you post. Then enter the
topic of your question, your question, the amount between US$2 and US$200 you're
willing to pay for an answer, and the category most appropriate for your
question. For example:
Subject: Enter the topic of your question for
our researchers (e.g. "Hiking in New Mexico").
Nina Totenberg, NPR
legal affairs correspondent, birthday, education, and degree
Question: The more details you provide, the better the
results you'll receive.
When was Nina Totenberg, National Public
Radio's (NPR) legal affairs correspondent, born, where was she educated, and
what degrees does she have? Did she attend law school?
Price: Set a price between $2.00 and $200.00.
$2.00 (Google Answers bills your credit card this amount after a
researcher answers your question.)
Category: Select the category most appropriate for
your question.
Reference, Education and News > General Reference
The more you're willing to spend on an answer, the more likely a researcher
will answer it and the more likely the answer will be comprehensive.
When a Google Answers researcher or anyone else writes a response to your
question, the answer and/or comments will be posted to Google Answers. You may
request in your Google Answers' Profile to be notified by email either once a
day or whenever there is new activity with any of your questions.
After a researcher has answered your question, you are given an opportunity
to rate the answer from one star (very poor answer) to five stars (great
answer), provide comments that anyone who uses Google Answers can access, and
tip the researcher between US$1 and US$100, if you feel that you have received
an exceptional answer.
Click on a researcher's handle to see the ratings and comments that
researcher has received from users who have posted questions. You may specify
which researcher(s) should deal with your question when you submit it.
You can search or browse previously asked questions, both those that have
been answered and those that haven't. At the bottom of the Google Answers
home page, find questions (some with answers) by either:
- Entering search terms.
- Clicking on one of the topic headings.
- Selecting a link to a recently asked question.
- Clicking on the view all the questions link.
By default, Google Answers displays questions, their associated comments, and
their answers in reverse chronological order (most recently asked question is
listed first). Click on either the Date or Price links just above all the
questions to sort on that field. When you sort by date, a triangular icon
indicates whether the field is sorted with the most recent listed first
(triangle points down) or is sorted with the oldest listed first (triangle
points up). Click on the triangle to reverse the order.
You'll find answers there to many already asked questions, including
Answers to many questions can be found on the web. Users also seek and obtain
answers to questions of a more personal nature,
Some of the answers are indexed by Google and then searchable through
Google's web search.
For more information on Google Answers visit answers.google.com/answers/help.html and answers.google.com/answers/faq.html. To see what users are
saying about the service and how they are using it, visit answers.google.com/answers/testimonials.html.
These problems give you
practice in asking questions and in browsing those that have been posted to
Google Answers. For hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions page in
the Appendix.
- View a recently asked question.
- View a recently answered question.
- Click on the "view all questions" link in the lower right corner of the
Google Answers home page and browse some of the questions that have been
answered.
- Look up the answer to the question "How can I rid my apartment of ants?"
- Look up in Google Answers whether clicking on an unsubscribe or remove
link in a spam message does what it's advertised to do.
- Look up in Google Answers the recommended gratuity to give to the server
when purchasing take-out food.
- Review tips for great answers, which you can access by clicking on the
"Tips for great results" link that appears in the border of the box for
entering your question.
- Enter a question you have or one of the exercises in this tutorial that
you haven't been able to answer. Provided you have a credit card, offer to pay
the minimum amount, i.e., US$2. When your question is answered, your credit
card will be billed US$2 for the answer plus a US$.50 listing fee.
Note: If you go through the entire question-posting process and actually
post a question, and if someone answers it, your credit card will be
charged for the amount you specified. Finish this exercise only if you are
willing to spend that amount.
Google's mission is to "organize the world's information and make it
universally accessible and useful." To this end, Google showcases some
prototypes and products in development on the Google Labs, the web site of
Google's research group.
Visit Google Labs' home page at labs.google.com.
.gif)
Note: Google Labs updates its site periodically. So you may find
prototypes or demos different from the ones shown here.
In
Parts II and III, I mention graduates of Google Labs, services and tools that
have been refined and made available through Google's home page.
Search by
Location (Google Local)
Google News
Alerts
Google
Glossary
In this final lesson of the Special Tools section,
I describe a couple of Google Labs' prototype search tools including
Google
Sets
Personalized Web
Search
Google will likely refine some of these demos and make them available through
Google's home page. If you want to become part of Google's development process,
try out these prototypes and provide feedback to the engineers who developed
them.
|
Google Sets -
labs.google.com/sets
Automatically create sets of items from a few
examples.
Enter a few items from a set of things. Then press the "Large Set"
button or the "Small Set" button and Google Sets will try to predict other
items in the set. For example, if you enter Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of
Fine Arts, and Coit Tower, Google Sets suggests other places worth
visiting in San Francisco. |
Use Google sets to suggest: people who might share interests with you, places
to visit, books to read, movies to see, synonyms, food you might enjoy, stores
where you can buy a particular type of item, etc.
Click on the Create Profile link to reate a profile of your interests.
Answers to frequently asked questions about Google Personalized Web search
are available at http://labs.google.com/personalized/faq.html.
These problems give you
practice in using Google Labs prototypes and demos. For hints and answers to
selected problems, see the Solutions page in the
Appendix.
- Visit Google Labs and try out two of the prototypes and demos that are
listed on the site.
- Get suggestions for books by entering some of your favorite authors or
titles and asking Google Sets to predict other members of the set.
- Enter some of your favorite movies and see if Google Sets recommends
either movies you haven't seen or other of your favorite movies.
Google is constantly enhancing its search engine. The
following table lists when Google and Google Guide added services and features
and links to where they are described in Google Guide or on the web.
Resources helpful in putting together this table include Google Press
Releases, the archive of Google-Friends Newsletters, and Google: Search Engine Showdown News Archive.
If you don't have a website and aren't interested in developing one, skip to
the Appendix. This part
covers
Most of the information in this section is based on my experience in
designing and developing Google Guide, which is now the top result for the
queries [ Google tutorial ], [ Google guide ], [ Google ~guide ], and [ Google stock symbol ].
There are thousands of sites devoted to developing a website and optimizing
its performance. So should you need or want more detailed information, just
search for it. But be careful: there are sites that charge good money for bad
information.
When putting together content for this page, I came across wonderful pages on
creating content for websites. So, rather than writing yet another, here are
links to two of my favorites.
If you know or run across any other great sites on creating content for your
website, please let me know.
This problem set gives you
practice in developing a page for your website. For hints and answers to
selected problems, see the Solutions page in
the Appendix.
- Create a web page with names of friends and colleagues whose contact
information you desire. On the page, ask these people (or anyone who has their
contact information) to get in touch with you.
When these people search for themselves, they may run across your page and
get in touch with you.
At the 30th Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop, Bill Chewsick suggested this
approach to searching for people if you don't find them in Google's phonebook.
If you know HTML, it's relatively easy to make links to Google's search
results. Following each link in the examples below is the code that produces it.
[ Google
tutorial create link ]
[ <a class="results"
href="http://www.google.com/search?q=Google+tutorial+create+link">Google
tutorial create link</a> ]
The following code creates a link that will open up a new window that
contains the search results for the query [ Google tutorial create link ].
[ <a target="_blank" class="results"
href="http://www.google.com/search?q=Google+tutorial+create+link">Google
tutorial create link</a> ]
Provide a search box and search results to your visitors like the following
The search box was
generated by using a service that's called Google Free. <!-- Search Google -->
<FORM method=GET action="http://www.google.com/search">
<TABLE bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><tr><td>
<A HREF="http://www.google.com/">
<IMG SRC="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_40wht.gif"
border="0" ALT="Google search box with [ define blog ]." align="absmiddle"></A>
<INPUT TYPE=text name=q size=25 maxlength=255 value="Google ~Guide">
<INPUT type=submit name=btnG VALUE="Google Search">
</td></tr></TABLE>
</FORM>
<!-- Search Google -->
Learn more about Google Free at www.google.com/searchcode.html.
These problems are
intended to give you practice in creating links to Google's search results. For
hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions page
in the Appendix.
- On one of your web pages, create a link to a Google search result.
- On one of your web pages, create a link that opens a new window and
displays a Google search result.
- On one of your web pages, make a Google search box.
I'll be updating this page shortly.
If you've written a tutorial on creating a Blog that you think I should
reference or include in Google Guide, please let me know.
Get other sites to link to your website. When Google's robots or spiders,
known as Googlebot, crawl the web, they should run across your site within a
month or so. As I mentioned in the How Google Works page,
there are two types of crawls, fresh crawls
and deep crawls. Your site most likely will first get a fresh crawl in which
only pages Google deems most important are crawled. After Google runs a deep
crawl of your site, most, if not all of the pages on your website that contain
links from other pages will be crawled and subsequently listed on Google, except
pages that are included in the file robots.txt, which contains pages that you
don't want Google to crawl and pages that contain code that Google is unable to
parse.
Submit your site to Google by completing its add URL form which you can find
at www.google.com/addurl.html.
For more about how to get your site listed on Google, visit www.google.com/webmasters/1.html.
Include useful high-quality information on your site and then publicize your
website. Getting others' websites to link to yours usually helps your PageRank
and ranking on Google. But if Google suspects that you've traded links with
other sites for the sole purpose of improving your ranking, it might penalize or
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