Google has become THE icon of the internet. This search engine has so thouroughly transformed navigation of the internet that its name has become a verb. Yet most people do not know how to use this tool to its fullest extent. This FAQ focuses on the advanced commands available on Google. For readability's sake I put search terms inside of <>. So entering 7900gt voltmod into the search field in google will appear in this FAQ as <7900gt voltmod>.
Quotes - The simplest advanced command is the quotation. Google's engine typically ignores word order. Searching for <X Y Z A B C> will return about the same results as <Y B Z C X A>. The results will be slightly different because of how google searches its servers, but it will still look for sites containing these elements regardless of order. Entering <"X Y Z A B C"> will search only for sites containing the string X Y Z A B C, with all elements included, in that order, one after the other.
site - Sometimes you will want to search a site that does not have a search function. Don't worry - google will come to the rescue. In order to search for the string 7900gt voltmod on overclock.net, simply enter
<"7900gt voltmod" site
verclock.net>. No http:// or anything like that is required, just <{search terms} site:{URL}>. Don't forget the ":" between "site" and the url
filetype - Just as you can use google to search on a particlular site, you can use google to search for a specific filetype. To search for PDF files on Intel products search for <Intel filetype
DF>. The format for this search is <{search terms} filetype:{extention}>. Extentions do not require "." before them. To search for, say, a daa fire - search <{st} filetype:daa>.
*NOTE - Google does not go all-out to index every file type. Searches for anything other than .pdf, .ps, .doc, .xls, .ppt, or .rtf (thos listed in advanced search under filetype) will not return vary many results.
inurl - Searches the URL of a site rather than its contents. To search for sites with overclocking related url's - enter <inurlverclock>. This can be used in conjuction with other searches. For example, <intel inurlverclock> will search for sites with url's containing overclock for text containing intel.
Similar to this is the allinurl command. This will allow the user to search for more than one word in a url. The search <inurlverclock intel> will behave like the search above, and <allinurlverclock intel> will search for both intel and overclock in a site's url.
intext - the intext command searches the actual text of a website rather than its tags. It can get annoying when you search for a word/phrase - find a promising website - then find out that what you searched for is not actually on the site. The intext command solves this. The related allintext works in the same way as allinurl.
.. - the ".." command searches for ranges. Searching for any GPU in GeForce's 7 series can be challanging, so you can input <GeForce 7600..7950> to get results of any Geforce from the 7600 to the 7950.
*NOTE - This search will also search for 7601, 7602... It does not (to my knowledge) allow for incrementing.
- - the "-" or minus command excludes terms from a search. Let's say that you want to search for a game called "World War II" but you want the game and not the War. Many sites about the War will have the word Nazi in them. So search for <"World War II" -Nazi> to search for sites including "World War II" that do not contain the word Nazi.
~ - Including a tilde in front of a word searches for that word and its synonymns. A search for <~angry> will search for angry, mad, furious, etc.
OTHER GOOGLE TRICKS
Google cache - When the googlebot visits a web page, it takes a picture of it and stores it on its server. If you have the url of a site that has been taken down, google the url. If you are lucky, google has a cached image that you can view. This is also useful for looking for sites that have been changed recently.
In the right hands Google can be one of the internet's most powerful tools. Knowing exactly what google can do will make finding exactly what you want much easier.
Quotes - The simplest advanced command is the quotation. Google's engine typically ignores word order. Searching for <X Y Z A B C> will return about the same results as <Y B Z C X A>. The results will be slightly different because of how google searches its servers, but it will still look for sites containing these elements regardless of order. Entering <"X Y Z A B C"> will search only for sites containing the string X Y Z A B C, with all elements included, in that order, one after the other.
site - Sometimes you will want to search a site that does not have a search function. Don't worry - google will come to the rescue. In order to search for the string 7900gt voltmod on overclock.net, simply enter
<"7900gt voltmod" site
verclock.net>. No http:// or anything like that is required, just <{search terms} site:{URL}>. Don't forget the ":" between "site" and the urlfiletype - Just as you can use google to search on a particlular site, you can use google to search for a specific filetype. To search for PDF files on Intel products search for <Intel filetype
DF>. The format for this search is <{search terms} filetype:{extention}>. Extentions do not require "." before them. To search for, say, a daa fire - search <{st} filetype:daa>.*NOTE - Google does not go all-out to index every file type. Searches for anything other than .pdf, .ps, .doc, .xls, .ppt, or .rtf (thos listed in advanced search under filetype) will not return vary many results.
inurl - Searches the URL of a site rather than its contents. To search for sites with overclocking related url's - enter <inurl
verclock>. This can be used in conjuction with other searches. For example, <intel inurlverclock> will search for sites with url's containing overclock for text containing intel.Similar to this is the allinurl command. This will allow the user to search for more than one word in a url. The search <inurl
verclock intel> will behave like the search above, and <allinurlverclock intel> will search for both intel and overclock in a site's url.intext - the intext command searches the actual text of a website rather than its tags. It can get annoying when you search for a word/phrase - find a promising website - then find out that what you searched for is not actually on the site. The intext command solves this. The related allintext works in the same way as allinurl.
.. - the ".." command searches for ranges. Searching for any GPU in GeForce's 7 series can be challanging, so you can input <GeForce 7600..7950> to get results of any Geforce from the 7600 to the 7950.
*NOTE - This search will also search for 7601, 7602... It does not (to my knowledge) allow for incrementing.
- - the "-" or minus command excludes terms from a search. Let's say that you want to search for a game called "World War II" but you want the game and not the War. Many sites about the War will have the word Nazi in them. So search for <"World War II" -Nazi> to search for sites including "World War II" that do not contain the word Nazi.
~ - Including a tilde in front of a word searches for that word and its synonymns. A search for <~angry> will search for angry, mad, furious, etc.
OTHER GOOGLE TRICKS
Google cache - When the googlebot visits a web page, it takes a picture of it and stores it on its server. If you have the url of a site that has been taken down, google the url. If you are lucky, google has a cached image that you can view. This is also useful for looking for sites that have been changed recently.
In the right hands Google can be one of the internet's most powerful tools. Knowing exactly what google can do will make finding exactly what you want much easier.
It goes to eleven
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It goes to eleven
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