Tip of the Week: How to Customize Your Google Search for Better Results

You probably use Google more than you care to admit, so what if we told you that you could be getting even more value out of your Google searches? Today, we want to share some strategies to customize your Google search results by making your searches more effective from the outset.

Use Quotes to Find Specific Instances

Here’s a trick that teachers use to catch plagiarism in papers and essays. You can search for a specific phrase, wrapped in quotes, to discover where it came from. Google will then return searches for known quotes and passages, helping you find out where exactly the phrase came from in the first place.

Use Asterisks If You’re Unsure of a Word

This one’s helpful for finding lyrics, quotes, or phrases, but mostly if you’re unsure about a specific word or instance. Just replace the instance of the word with an asterisk. The search engine will then show you results, taking into account that there should be a word in place of the asterisk.

Use the Minus Sign to Narrow Down Search Results

It’s easy to run a Google search only to get results that have nothing to do with what you’re looking for. You can omit certain words or phrases through the use of the minus sign in your search. 

Use a Colon to Search Specific Websites

If you want to run a search on a specific website, you can use a colon in conjunction with your chosen search query to narrow down the results. This is helpful if you don’t want to see results from other sources and are instead trying to find something from one specific website.

We hope you find these tips helpful! Make sure you keep an eye on our blog for more great ways to make the most of your technology.

White Mountain IT

Related Posts

The Key to Understanding How Bandwidth Works

The Internet is a staple in most offices around the world, and you’d be hard-pressed to find one that doesn’t rely on it in some fashion. A big part of seeing success with the Internet depends on your bandwidth, as well as your network’s capacity to reach the capabilities of your Internet service provider. Today, we want to break down what bandwidth is, as well as how you can make the most of your...

What to Know About Your Business’ Wireless Router

The modern workplace wouldn’t exist as it does without the advent of wireless Internet or Wi-Fi. Understanding how your wireless router works can be incredibly helpful for any business owner, and it can help you get even more out of your wireless connection. Today, we want to share some information about wireless routers that can help you use them more effectively. But First, the Basics One of...

Tip of the Week: Making Your Network VoIP-Friendly

We could go on and on about the benefits of using Voice over Internet Protocol (also known as VoIP) for your business telephone needs. However, it is important that you do everything you can to prepare your network for this kind of utilization. Let’s review a few tips to help make sure your network is properly optimized for VoIP. How to Prepare Your Network for a VoIP Implementation Ensure You...

Protecting Your Identity and Privacy on Social Media in 2024

Social media is constantly evolving, and if the big social networks had it their way, it would be the only place people go when they log onto the Internet. Whether you have strong feelings for or against social media, or perhaps you are indifferent, it’s important to understand how to protect yourself when using social media. What are the Risks of Using Social Media? For many, social media has...