Search Engines are a key source of information for people of all ages. Although search engines are designed to search for information on World Wide Web using even a single word, sometimes you might have to scan through pages of results to find relevant results.
No matter which field you belong, using the following methods and tricks can make your GOOGLE Search an absolute breeze. You can not only search in a timely and efficient manner but also limit the responses to those most relevant to your research and avoid frustration.
1. Use quotation mark (“”) for Exact phrase search
To restrict your search results to the exact phrase that you wish to search, use quotation marks. You can either do this by putting your search terms in quotation marks in the search bar or via the “this exact word or phrase” option on the advanced search page.

For Example, If you search for Cleanliness is half the faith, it will return results that include all combinations of words given in the search bar. If you use quotation marks “Cleanliness is half the faith”, your results will include only those pages where the words are used in the specific order in which you have typed them.
2. Find anything nearby using ‘near me’
If you are looking for something important near you such as food, best schools, Free parking or Coffee, just type in for example coffee near me and google will display all relevant details of nearby coffee shops along with their location in Google Maps, hours as well as ratings.

3. Check flight status
To check the status of a flight, you no longer need to visit the website of the relevant airport. Simply type the flight number and all the flight related details will be displayed immediately.

4. Use ‘AND’ for more relevant results
Use AND to combine different concepts to make your results more relevant. For Example if you wish to search about Technology in higher education in Pakistan specifically, then search using AND operation.
Use of AND reduces the number of results you retrieve but this is useful as this search will only return sources where both Technology and Higher education in Pakistan, are referenced. And you will not have to browse through unnecessary details.
5. Use ‘OR’ for more comprehensive results
Use OR to combine synonyms to make your results more comprehensive. For Example if you wish to search on all aspects Technology in higher education in Pakistan, use OR operation.
This search will return all sources for Technology and all sources for higher education in Pakistan, including those instances where a source references both searches. Using OR increases the number of results you retrieve as this search will represent what you might get when you combine two separate searches for Technology OR higher education in Pakistan
6. Searching within a specific website
If you wish to restrict your results from a specific website than type [search word] site:yourwebsite in the search bar. Alternatively you can use the site or domain option on the advanced search page.


When you search using operators or punctuation marks, don’t add any spaces between the operator and your search terms. A search for Planets site:Britannica.com will work, but Planets site: Britannica.com won’t.
7. Range restrictions
If you are looking for list of events or pages published or updated within a specific time-frame, type the years or numbers separated by “..” in search bar. Alternatively, use the search tools option directly beneath the search bar; then click any time, then custom range
Search tools ==> any time==> custom range

This can also be used to separate numbers to see results that fall within that range.

8. Restrict File Type
If you are looking for a specific file type such as a word document or a .pdf file then save your self a considerable amount of time by using the filetype operator. You can get results of a specific file type by typing filetype:pdf or filetype:doc in search bar. You can search any file type such as doc, xls, kmz, kml, dwf etc. Alternatively, you can utilize the file type option on the advanced search page.

9. Use “Related” to find similar sites
To find sites that are similar to a web address you already know, type “related” in the search bar. For example you like a website about making videos but you wish to explore some other sites to find better features then type related:[your website] and the results will display the similar sites that offer the same services.

10. Exclude irrelevant information using (-) minus sign
If you wish to explore a topic but you do not wish to see results from a site such as wikipedia.org then use ‘-‘ . Using a dash (-) before the search word or site, exclude the results from that particular site or word from your results.
Example:
East India Company -site:wikipedia.org

11. Use ‘info’ to get details about a website
If you wish to find the detailed information about some website, use info:[website address]. This will display complete results about a website such as the cached version of the page, similar pages, videos and images used and pages that link to the site.

12. Find Definition of a word
Instead of going through several results before you find the required definition. Use “Define: your word”. This will display the definition of the word along with related details just with one click.

13. Secret google games
If you are bored and are not sure what to search, then try one of the Google’s secret games that you can play on your computer, phone or tablet. Simply type one of the following and you can play them without having to download or visit any gaming site.
- PaCman
- Atari breakout
- Snake game
- Google Guitar


And there is even a Google Guitar for music lovers, where they can also record the music they create using this guitar. You can access this guitar here.

14. Track your Package
To track your package or documents you don’t need to go to the shipping company website and enter the tracking number. Google Search has sorted this for you. Simply check the delivery status of your Parcel by typing the Parcel tracking number in the Google search query and Google will figure out which carrier has the package and will link you directly to the package’s status page.
15. Find missing words or phrases using asterisk (*)
If you are unable to remember that one word or phrase which you are looking for, you can use asterisk (*) . Place it in the word or phrase that you wish to search and let Google do the rest. For Example a search for Electric* will display results including electricity, electrical, electric etc.

16. Search using your voice
Are you tired of typing? Try searching using your voice. Select the microphone option, say your search words and let Google search it for you.
17. Searching images using images
If you find the image of an item such as a clock or a dress that you like but you are not sure where to get that from……Google it by using the image search option. To start with, save the picture and upload it by clicking the camera icon on google images. Google will find the similar pictures on the web and will direct you to the websites where similar images are found.
