Using google is one of the most powerful ways of finding out any information around the globe without having to leave the comfort of your chair. At the click of a button you can instantly find books, watch videos and even access scholarly articles
In this section, we will be exploring how you can use search operators to modify your results, speed up the process of searching and eliminate any erroneous information. The real beauty of the operators below is that you do not just have to build one or the other but can combine them in any way you see fit.
So, whether you’re looking to research your ancestors for free, wanting to cut down the time spent poring through reams of search results or just want to learn to use search engines better, we’ve got the perfect guide for you.
Standard Search: William Strahan
When searching within google without any search operators, what you’re telling it is to find any of the words you’re searching for, anywhere in the text. Whilst this can be great for cursory searches or if you exact a long list of words to appear at any point in the text, it can get tiresome when you must scroll through 3,000 results.
Exact Match Search: “William Strahan”
By adding quotation marks to your search, what you’re telling google is that the words must exactly match as they are any results. Thus, a site which mentions William at the top and Strahan at the bottom but not together would not appear.
Negative Search: William Strahan -peas
Likewise, you can tell google specifically what you do and do not want to appear. For example, let’s say there was a famous William Strahan who developed a new-fangled strain of peas which, whilst laudable, wasn’t relevant to who we were trying to research. By adding a minus sign next to a word, you can remove them in search.
Wildcard Search: William * Strahan
Let’s say for example that we’re looking for William Strahan, but we don’t know his middle name. Wildcard searches will return any results which contain William and Strahan but will also try and populate the missing information inbetween.
AND/OR: William Strahan AND Falconry/ William Strahan OR falconry
AND typically is included in google searches by default, however it is best used when combined with other search strings i.e. “William Strahan” AND -falconry. Likewise, OR will return pages which match either one or the other criteria: this is great when you’re not 100% on something. The | symbol on the keyboard can also be used.
Grouping Brackets Search: (William Strahan OR Falconry) AND (Peas OR William * Strahan)
The purpose of the brackets is to calculate individual queries and to combine/contrast results of the whole. So what the above search is saying effectively is that we either want a page about William Strahan or Falconry but that page must also contain peas or William something Strahan. Easy peasy, huh?
NOT: William Strahan NOT Saturn
What the whatnot NOT operate does (trying saying that after a few brandies…) is tell google in a similar way to the ‘–‘ operator, to exclude certain results. Thus you can rest assured that any results containing the above planet would not appear.
So we’ve covered off above the 7 basic search operators which can be used to better how you search: in their own right they are powerful, in conjunction, omniscient.
Examples in use:
Let’s say I’m looking to research a man called Alexander Moir and I know that he is wanted for a crime but I’m not sure quite which, how would I go about it?
“Alexander Moir” AND ( Crime OR Felony OR Prison OR Court)
Maybe we know a crime has been committed but the transcription is a little fuzzy and while the surname is definitely Rungay, the first name is obscured.
( Crime OR Felony OR Prison OR Court) AND * Rungay
So, there we have it, a rundown of the most basic search parameters to help you get the most out of google.
Keep your eye on our announcements as we will be adding more google tips in future.