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Google Advanced Features

This document provides an overview of advanced search features in Google such as query modifiers, wildcards, proximity searching, and limiting searches by file type or site. It explains how to focus searches using modifiers like intitle, inurl, allintext and allinanchor. Proximity searching and wildcards are also covered to help find related search results. The document aims to help users get the most relevant results through advanced search techniques.

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Nishant Mishra
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© © All Rights Reserved
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318 views

Google Advanced Features

This document provides an overview of advanced search features in Google such as query modifiers, wildcards, proximity searching, and limiting searches by file type or site. It explains how to focus searches using modifiers like intitle, inurl, allintext and allinanchor. Proximity searching and wildcards are also covered to help find related search results. The document aims to help users get the most relevant results through advanced search techniques.

Uploaded by

Nishant Mishra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 26

11/23/2003

Google Search Tips:


Advanced Features
By Robin Hartman, Associate Librarian
Darling Library Hope International University

Adapted from A Google Gambol (Internet Librarian 2003)
Greg Notess, Creator, Search Engine Showdown & Reference
Librarian, Montana State University
11/23/2003
Advanced Features of Google
Query modifiers
filetypes
define
Wild Card Word in Phrase (WCWIP)
GAPS (proximity search)
Punctuation
Diacritics
11/23/2003
Query modifiers
Use these commands in the search window.
intitle:test
allintitle:test results
inurl:testresults
allinurl:testresults personality
allintext:test results personality
allinanchor:test results personality
site:loc.gov
filetype:doc
11/23/2003
intitle:test results
This search returns
sites with the word test
in the title and results
anywhere in the
document.
11/23/2003
allintitle:test results
ALL of the search terms will
be found in the title.
Note: In this
example there are
much fewer hits
when both terms
(test AND results)
must be found in the
title of the page.
11/23/2003
inurl:test results
inurl:test results only test must be
found in the web address (URL)
11/23/2003
allinurl:test results
Both test AND results must be found in
the web address.
11/23/2003
allintext
Sometimes you get pages that do not
have your search term/phrase in them.
Why? Because Google also searches for
pages that just link to the target page.
Use allintext to get only those pages
that have your search terms in them.
Compare the searches in the next two
slides
11/23/2003
1. crash test results

11/23/2003
2. allintext:crash test results

Different pages float
to the top of your
hit list.
And you get fewer
pages than before.
11/23/2003
allinanchor
Returns only pages that link to pages
with your search terms, but not in the
actual pages.
This is the opposite of allintext.
11/23/2003
site:
Limit your search to a specific web site.
Enter search terms then qualifier.
EXAMPLES:
elephant race site:fullerton.edu
Finds elephant race(s) on the Cal State Fullerton site
dinosaur site:si.edu
Finds dinosaur on the Smithsonian Institute site
One more
11/23/2003
schwarzenegger site:sen.ca.gov
Limits search of
schwarzenegger to
official California
senate pages.
11/23/2003
filetype:
You can specify a type of document to
search.
EXAMPLES:
pdf Adobe readable files
doc Microsoft Word documents
mdb Microsoft Access databases
jpg, gif, tif graphics, photos
ppt Microsoft PowerPoint presentations
11/23/2003
Putting it all together
Limits search of
schwarzenegger to
find only pdf files on
official california
government pages.
Search Sample schwarzenegger filetype:pdf site:ca.gov
11/23/2003
define:
will provide definitions of the words,
gathered from various online
sources.
11/23/2003
Wild Card Word in Phrase *
Using a wildcard (*) for a character
does not work in Google.
cat* returns the same results as cat.
However
You can replace unknown words with
an asterisk (*).
11/23/2003
Possible Uses for WCWIP
Searching out suspected plagiarism.
Common misspellings all the spellings
of a word will be found.
Variations
Harry Potter and the * Stone returns
both US (Sorcerer's ) and UK
(Philosophers) versions of the book title.
And
11/23/2003
Fun
Finding parodies.
11/23/2003
GAPS by Staggernation.com
Google API Proximity Search
A script that searches Google for two search
terms that appear within a certain proximity
of each other on a page.
Studies show that the closer search terms are in
proximity, the better chance that the document is
relevant to the searchers need.
For more info go to:
http://www.staggernation.com/gaps/readme.html
11/23/2003
http://www.staggernation.com
Searching for all kinds of
cookie recipes with chocolate
but not oatmeal?
This search will get:
Chocolate chip cookie recipes
Chocolate cookie recipes
Chocolate covered cherry
cookie recipe
11/23/2003
Punctuation: it might matter
Google (and most other search engines)
used to drop punctuation and replace it
with a space (i.e., CD-ROM = CD ROM).
But now Google is including the
underscore (_) and ampersand (&) as
well as enabling searching for terms
such as c++ programming.
11/23/2003
Diacritics
Unite or unit?

You have an option to
search for English only.
And you can have this
page translated from the
French to English.
11/23/2003
Diacritics OR (try both)
Rene = about
36,700 hits
Ren =about
6,880 hits
BOTH = about
41,500 hits
11/23/2003
Search Engine Showdown
For in depth information on how Google
and other web search engines work, go to
Greg Notess Search Engine Showdown:
The Users Guide to Web Searching at
http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/
11/23/2003
See More Google
This is one of three presentations on
Google Search Tips. Others include:
Lesser Used Features
Lesser Used Databases
Advanced Functions

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