Google Search Tips and Tricks

In the previous issue we examined the differences between searching Google and PubMed. For the times you do use Google to search, here’s some advice on how to get the best retrieval.

For most of us, Google is the first place we turn to in order to find something on the Internet. Because it retrieves so many documents, the chances of finding something are fairly high. However, Google does not search everything on the Internet; you may find information in other search engines which cannot be found using Google. It’s helpful to know a few search techniques in order to search Google more effectively.

You can use Boolean operators in Google:

• AND (the default Boolean operator, you do not need to type it) – heart attack will search both words, even if not next to each other, and retrieves 46,800,000 documents.
• To search for a phrase, enclose the terms in double quotes – “heart attack” will search only the exact phrase within the quotes, and retrieves 29,300,000 documents.
• OR – "henry ford hospital" OR "henry ford health system"
• To exclude something from your search, use the minus sign – bush -president
• To make a term mandatory in your search query, use the plus sign – French open +tennis
• To search for Related Terms, use the tilde (~). For example, cancer retrieves 187,000,000 documents, while ~cancer retrieves 638,000,000 documents, including leukemia, oncology, tumor, and pain.

Search Hints:

• Google ignores most punctuation
• Google is NOT case-sensitive
• Google gives priority to search terms in the same order as the query
• There is a 32 word limit for your search query
• If you select Advanced Search, you are able to limit to a specific file type (PDF, Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint, Word, etc.), limit to a specific language, exclude words from your search, or change the number of results displayed per page (10 through 100).

Here are some of the unique features available on Google:

• Weather – weather Detroit, mi
• Calculator – type in the formula you need – 5280 * 16
• Stock Quotes – type in the company stock abbreviation (F – Ford Motor)
• Time Zone – time London (will give you the current time in London)
• Unit Conversion – 100 pounds in kg (will convert pounds to kilograms)
• Currency Conversion – 100 USD in GBP (you must know the currency abbreviations)
• Map – Detroit map
• Definitions – define palliative
• Find out the current population of a state - Population mi
• Find out the current unemployment rate of a state - Unemployment mi
• Local searches – Type what you are looking for followed by your zip code
Pizza 48202 or Movies 48202
• To find related web sites – related:www.medlineplus.gov (Retrieves related web sites such as MedMed, NIH, WebMD and Mayo Clinic)