Part I:

Part I: Query Input

The more you know about how Google works, its features, its capabilities, and how it displays results, the better it can serve your needs. A query is the request you send to Google. This part of Google Guide explains how to write a query that will help you find just what you want.

Entering a Query

If you have little or no experience with Google, read on. Otherwise, skip ahead to Going Directly to the 1st Result.
If your browser isn’t pointing to Google, visit Google’s home page by entering one of the following web addresses into your browser:
http://www.google.com/ (the full web address for Google)
www.google.com (a common abbreviation for Google’s web address)
google.com

Going Directly to the First Result

Click on the I’m Feeling Lucky button on Google’s home page to go directly to the first result for your query. Instead of showing you a list of pages, Google sends you immediately to the result that may be most relevant to your query. For example, if you enter the query [ california driving ]

Selecting Search Terms

The search terms you enter and the order in which you enter them affect both the order and pages that appear in your search results. In the examples below, click on the similar ways of specifying various searches and note how the results differ.
For simplicity sake, this tutorial uses square brackets to denote Google’s search

Interpreting Your Query

Understanding how Google treats your search terms will help you devise effective queries and revise ineffective ones.
1. All Search Terms Count
Google returns only pages that match all your search terms.
A search for [ compact fold-up bicycle ] finds pages containing the words “compact” and “fold-up” and “bicycle.” 

Crafting Your Query by using Special Characters

By using special characters and operators, such as " ", –, ~, .., *, OR, and quotation marks around a phrase, you can fine-tune your search query and increase the accuracy of its results.
For details, click an operator above or look in the following seven pages:
Quoted Phrases
Quotation Marks Replace the + Operator
The – Operator
The ~ Operator

Quoted Phrases

To search for a phrase, a proper name, or a set of words in a specific order, put them in double quotes.
A query with terms in quotes finds pages containing the exact quoted phrase. For example, [ “Larry Page“ ] finds pages containing the phrase “Larry Page” exactly. So this query would find pages mentioning Google’s co-founder.

Quotation Marks Replace the + Operator

Google elimiated the + operator in October 2011 and expanded the capabilities of the quotation marks (” ”) operator. In addition to using this operator to search for an exact phrase, you can now add quotation marks around a single word to tell Google to match that word precisely. So, if in the past you would.

The - Operator

Precede each term you do not want to appear in any result with a “–” sign.
To find pages without a particular term, put a – sign operator in front of the word in the query. The – sign indicates that you want to subtract or exclude pages that contain a specific term.

The ~ Operator

Find synonyms by preceding the term with a ~, which is known as the tilde or synonym operator.
The tilde (~) operator takes the word immediately following it and searches both for that specific word and for the word’s synonyms. It also searches for the term with alternative endings. The tilde operator works best when applied.

The OR and | Operators

Specify synonyms or alternative forms with an uppercase OR or | (vertical bar).
The OR operator, for which you may also use | (vertical bar), applies to the search terms immediately adjacent to it. The first and second examples will find pages that include either “Tahiti” or “Hawaii” or both terms.

The .. Operator

Specify that results contain numbers in a range by specifying two numbers, separated by two periods, with no spaces.
For example, specify that you are searching in the price range $250 to $1000 using the number range specification $250..$1000.
[ recumbent bicycle $250..$1000 ]
Find the year the Russian Revolution took place.
[ Russian Revolution 1800..2000 ]
tags (keywords): fine tune, narrowing search, numbers,

The * Operator

Use *, an asterisk character, known as a wildcard, to match one or more words in a phrase (enclosed in quotes).
Each * represents just one or more words. Google treats the * as a placeholder for a word or more than one word. For example, [ “Google * my life“ ] tells Google to find pages containing

Special Characters: Summary

This table summarizes how to use the basic search operators described in this chapter. You may include any of these operators multiple times in a query.
Notation
Find result
Example
term1 term2
with both term1 and term2
[ carry-on luggage ]
term1 OR term2 term1 | term2
with either term1 or term2 or both
[ Tahiti OR Hawaii ]
[ Tahiti | Hawaii ]

Advanced Search Form

When you don’t find what you’re seeking, consider specifying more precisely what you want by using Google’s Advanced Search feature. Don’t be frightened by the name “Advanced Search”; it’s easy to use, and it allows you to select or exclude pages with more precision than Google’s standard search box.

Other Search Forms

11. Alerts
Once you’ve refined your Advanced Search, you can watch for changes in the top 20 results by setting up Google Alerts. Google will find and deliver links to new web pages once a week, once a day, or as soon as Google finds them.

Refining a Query

Refining a query means changing or adding to the set of search terms to do a better job of returning the pages you’re seeking. Successful researchers frequently enter several queries to find what they’re seeking.
The search boxes at the top and bottom of the results page show the query for the current results page.

Anatomy of a Web Address

If you already know how to read a web address or URL (Universal Resource Locator, pronounced “you are ell”), skip this section. Otherwise, consider the web address http://www.googleguide.com/searchEngines/google/searchLeader.html. Here’s what it all means:
http
transfer protocol (type of information being transferred)
www.googleguide.com
website name, host name
googleguide
second-level domain name
com
top-level domain name
searchEngines
directory name (major category)
google
sub-directory name (sub-category)
searchLeader
file name (a file within the directory)
html
file format

Using Search Operators

You can use most of the options we discussed in Google’s Advanced Search Form in a regular search box query. If you’re a frequent searcher or a “power searcher,” this can save time because you don’t need to open the Advanced Search page and fill in various boxes; instead,

Search Operators

The following table lists the search operators that work with each Google search service. Click on an operator to jump to its description — or, to read about all of the operators, simply scroll down and read all of this page.
Search Service
Search Operators
Web Search