When searching for information on the search engines most people just type in their keywords and then dig through the thousands (usually millions) of pages until they find what they are looking for. This can be very tedious and time consuming. It can also be very frustrating especially if you are short on time or have limited access to a computer.
The ability to find what you need quickly and painlessly is what the internet is supposed to be about. Here are some tips to help you understand how to maximize your search results while minimizing your time spent searching.
Finding the exact phrase: If you know the exact phrase you're looking for, tell the search engine to return only pages with the words in the order in which you type them. This type of search provides you with fewer search results than the Find All of The Words search. Syntax example: "internet marketing tips".
Finding at least 1 of the words: You can tell Google to find pages with any of the words or phrases you provide. Syntax example: rodent OR racing
Omit pages with particular words: You can tell Google to search for a phrase but to omit pages that contain particular words. For instance, you may want to find all the pages with the phrase internet marketing but omit the pages containing the word affiliate. Syntax example: "internet marketing" -affiliate
Find a page in the index: Google provides a way to search for a particular page to see if it's in the Google index. However, Google is a little inconsistent in its results; sometimes it provides a lot of information about the page and sometimes only a little (less than it has available). It also provides four links to other types of searches: the page stored in the cache, pages that are similar, pages that link to the specified page, and pages that contain the URL in their text. Syntax example: info:internet-marketing.com or internet-marketing.com
There are many more ways to maximize your search results and spend less time searching and more time finding. May your searches be more productive and your search engine experience less painful.