Searching for words, not meaning

When Google pursues simple searches, it looks for word occurrences, not meaning. Although this point is simple, it is probably both the most subtle and the most important for getting good search results. You need to think about how words are likely to be used in Web pages.

For example, a search for hello world in Google might seem likely to produce results pointing to pages with information about spiritualism, ecology, and kids' programs. But if you are a programmer, or have ever learned a programming language, you'll probably know that it's a common custom to write an introductory program that displays the phrase "Hello World." Most of the results for a hello world search link to pages about programming, programming languages, and learning to program.

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If you want to search for information about introductory programming, the query hello world might be a good way to go about it because on real-world Web pages the word "hello" and the word "world" usually appear in proximity in pages about introductory programs.

Effectively searching

Your simple Google searches can be highly effective, but they will probably work better if you follow these suggestions:

Refining your search

One of the biggest problems with Google searches is sifting through the large number of results that are often returned. Many of these results are not what you are looking for.

There are several easy ways to refine a simple Google search. These techniques yield essentially comparable results. You can

To add words to an existing search, first run the initial query, for example, hello world.

As I explain earlier, in "Searching for words, not meaning," a search for the phrase hello world might be useful if you are looking for introductory information about programming languages. But that doesn't mean that you'll only end up with results about programming - so such a restriction might be very helpful, seeing as how the last time I did this search, Google yielded some 16 million results.

You can refine your search so that you only find material about programming languages. Scroll to the bottom of the first Google results page and you see the Google search box with the search words hello world already in it. You can add the terms programming language immediately after the original search terms and click the Search button (see Figure 1-2). A new, refined, results page displays.

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The Google search box, with the existing search terms already in it, also appears at the top of each search results page.

Alternatively, on a Google results page, you can click the Search within results link. This link appears at the bottom of each Google search results page (refer to Figure 1-2).

When you click the Search within results link, the Google Search Within Results window, shown in Figure 1-3, opens.

In the Search Within Results window, you can add the terms, such as programming language, that you want to use to refine your search. Google searches for the new term (in this case, programming language), but only within the results for the previous search (hello world).

Number searches

We live in a world in which things - and even people, eek! - are often identified by numbers. This makes it a gosh darn good thing that you can enter most of these numbers in Google and get meaningful results.

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Google provides a shorthand way to search for a numerical range. For example, a search for 1066 ... 1099 returns results for all numbers between 1066 and 1099. You can use numerical range matching if you are sure of most of a number, but not all of it; for example, if you know the first nine digits of a number, but not the last three digits.

You may be scratching your head at this point because you're not aware of all the meaningful results you can get when you enter numbers into the Google search box.

REMEMBER

A "number" might be a mixed combination of numbers and letters used to identify something.

Some numbers you can search for include

When you enter any of these types of identification numbers in Google, you may see a typical search results page with links that provide information using the number. Sometimes, however, you may see a special search results page - for example, if you search for a Federal Express shipping number, a page with a Track FedEx package XXXXXXXXX link appears. Clicking the link opens the Federal Express page used for tracking that package.

Google shortcuts

Google provides a number of helpful shortcuts that you can use to easily find a wide array of information. In this section, I tell you about three of these shortcut techniques. I show you how to use Google to

The Google calculator

The Google calculator does arithmetic for you, and also performs more complex calculations. You just have to use the syntax specified by Google - see google.com/help/calculator.html for complete information about using the calculator - and enter your expression for calculation.

For example, enter 42*12 in the Google box and click the Search button. The answer (504) appears on the results page, along with a link so that you can learn more about the calculator. Another link appears to search for the query 42 * 12, just in case you really meant to search rather than to calculate.

Enter the expression 2*pi*26 into the Google search box and click the Search button. This expression evaluates to 163.362818 (which is the circumference of a circle with a radius of 26).

The Google calculator can do much more! Suppose you want to find the value of the famous mathematical expression e^(i pi)+1. If you enter this expression in Google and click Search, you'll find that it evaluates to 0, as you can see in Figure 1-4.

TECHNICAL STUFF

To find out more about the expression shown in Figure 1-4, search Google for Euler's Identity or click the link that lets you search for more information about the expression e^(i pi)+1.

Finding out about stocks

To find out about a publicly traded stock, enter the word stock, followed by a colon, followed by the ticker symbol for the company (all without spaces) in the Google box and click Search. For example:

stock:goog

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If you don't know the ticker symbol for a company, you can usually find it by searching for all (or part) of the company name, followed by the word ticker, for example:

Google ticker

When you use the stock: operator with a valid stock ticker symbol, the first link on the Google results page that appears is a Stock quotes link. Click this link to open a framed, tabbed page of financial and securities information. Tabs with information are provided by Yahoo! Finance, The Motley Fool, MSN MoneyCentral, and ClearStation.

Getting travel information

Finding travel information quickly is simple when you use the Google search box. Here are a couple of the travel shortcuts provided by Google:

Getting local information

Google also provides some tools to help you find specific local information.

If you add a zip code (or city) after your other search terms, the first few results Google returns are local results within the zip code (or city) you specified. These local results are indicated with a little compass icon (see Figure 1-5). A compass icon appears at the top-left side of the search results page; click it if you want to see more local results.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Building Research Tools with Google For Dummies by Harold Davis Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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