10 Tips to Supercharge your searching game (for google, outlook, and most search engines)

Hey Heroes!

From the day to day, Google is the bread and butter of our searching. How to do something, research info, context information, websites, etc. But are you aware of how much time you waste retyping search terms because you are not getting the results you wanted from the first go?

Here are some incredible tips you can use on your every day to supercharge your searching game:

1.       Quotes (“ ”). It will look for the exact phrase in between the quotes

2.       Use – to exclude words (Poison Ivy -plant). This will look for all results excluding the word plant

3.       Use ~ to search for similar words (~cell phone). This will look for all results with cell phone, but also mobile phone, cellular phone, wireless phone, etc.

4.       OR (trip to Rio OR São Paulo). This will look for websites that list “trip to Rio” or “Trip to São Paulo”

5.       Conversions. You can use this for currency as well as measurements. If you type 1 USD to MXP, it will give you the current rate of conversion immediately (be mindful of using the correct ISO Currency Code), or 1 IN to CM will give you the conversion measurement of 1 inch to centimeters.

6.       Define: (define:anthropomorphic). This will give you a list of websites with the definition of the word. You can also type the word and add definition at the end (example: anthropomorphic definition)

7.       Use wildcards (*). If you are not sure about a word, let’s say you are trying to remember a phrase but don’t know the exact words, you can substitute the unknow for a wildcard. Example: “Our deepest fear is *, is that we are powerful *”

8.       Search by voice. Are you unsure of how to spell a word but you know how it sounds? Click on the microphone on the google search bar and give it a go. (Hors d'oeuvre comes to mind🤷‍♂️)

9.       Search for the current time in a city. You can type “Time in Mexico City” to get the current time at the time of your search (remember to refresh the page if you keep it open in the background)

10.   Time restrain your search results. Want to see only search results from the past week? Or past month? Or a past year? Click on tools after doing your search and then select a time range from the “any time” option available.

In general terms, remember to keep it simple, use important or relevant words only, and try to use words that the websites would likely use. This will help you define and refine your search results.

Happy searching! 😊 Did you find this useful and easy to do?