Google search is the most used search engine in most parts of the world, and what was once a simple search engine that could bring you a list of the websites you’re looking for is today a far more advanced page, capable of its own computations, contextual searching and more.
Here are ten Google Search tips and tricks that once mastered, will help you reach your search results faster than anyone else.
Use search filter tabs
Search filters are your best friends when you’re looking for a particular kind of result. For instance, if you are looking for cafes, malls or parks near you, you can simply switch to the ‘Map’ tab to see more relevant results and less clutter. You can also use the Image, News and other tabs to get results that are articles, images, etc.
Use quotation marks (“ ”) for exact results
When you use Google to search for multiple words, the results can often include them in any order and not just the particular order that you searched for. While this may be useful in some cases, sometimes you may want precise results, for instance when you’re searching for song lyrics. This is when you can use quotation marks to search for exact results.
Colon for site-specific searches
Google allows you to search for elements only belonging to one particular website. To do this, you can simply add ‘site:xyz.com’ (where ‘xyz’ could be any website you want) to your search to get results from the particular website. For instance you can search for ‘Willem Dafoe site:Wikipedia.com’ to get straight to a link to the actor’s Wikipedia page.
Asterisk wildcard
There may be instances when you want to search for something precise but you may not have the right words. This is when you can simply add an asterisk in place of the words you can’t recollect and Google will fill in the blanks for you. For instance, if you’re looking for the anime Attack on Titan, but can’t remember if the exact name is Attack on Titan or Attack of Titan, you can simply search for Attack * Titan, and Google will help you out.
Quick calculator and currency conversion
Google’s tiny search bar is actually also a calculator and converter in disguise. The next time you want a quick conversion and your phone or calculator is nowhere to be found, you can simply Google your math query and get answers. For instance, you can Google “768 times 4” to directly get the answer, which is 3072.
You can also get direct results for data conversions including currency conversions as per real-time rates. For instance, you can Google “37.99 USD in INR” to get a direct result in Rupees.
Ask Google the time, or sunset/sunrise timings
Google keeps track of the time, not just in your city but every city in every timezone. So if you want to know what time it is in a particular city abroad, anywhere in the world, all you need to do is Google “time (name of city)” and you will get the local time for that region.
You can also get timings for sunrise or sunset in any city by simply searching for “sunrise (name of city)” or “sunset (name of city)” to get quick results.
Look for specific files
Google lets you search for specific files when you want to quickly get to particular jpeg images, pdf files, or anything of that sort. To do this, users can type their search query followed by “filetype: (file extension)” to get precise results. For instance, you can search for “(your file name) filetype:pdf” to look for a particular .pdf file.
Set timer/stopwatch
Google also lets you set a timer or stopwatch right from a new tab on your phone or computer. Simply search for something like “timer 7 minutes” to start a timer. In the adjacent tab in the Timer Box, you can even find the Stopwatch function.
Ask Google your IP address
Google knows your device’s IP address, even though you always may not. To find out the IP of the device you’re currently using, simply open Google and search for “what’s my IP?” to get your public IP address quickly.
Reverse image search
Using Google to get to the images you want is great, but you can also take Google’s help to get from an image to its original source, or find the same image in a higher resolution, or similar images. To this, first go to the dedicated Google Images homepage. You can do this by visiting the Google page and clicking on the “Images” button on the top right.
Once on the Google Images page, find the camera-shaped icon in the search bar. It will usually be the second icon from the right inside the pill-shaped search bar. Click on the button to upload an image from your phone or computer and Google will reverse search for the same.
