Google Search Tips & Tricks

Google Search is one of the most popular search engines to find information on the World Wide Web. As translators, most of us rely on Google Search to look for all the information and resources we need to perform our jobs. 

Here are some useful tricks & tips to use this tool more efficiently, as well as to get better search results and more quickly!

- Use quotation marks (“ ”) to look for exact words or phrases. This trick will narrow down your search to the exact words or phrases you are searching for.

- In order to exclude words or a phrase in the search results, use the minus sign (-). This is useful to exclude words that usually are related to the term or phrase we are looking for, but they are not relevant to our search.

- In case you do not know an exact phrase, use an asterisk (*) to replace an unknown word and search all variations of that phrase.

- You can use the tilde symbol (~) to search for a word and all its synonyms.

- If you use OR, you will search for multiple words at once, and you will get one result or the other.

- Use two or three dots (…) to search for a range of numbers. This is particularly useful if you are looking for time periods or prices.

In case you want to make your search specific, try adding the following words:

- define: This will help you find the meaning of a word, phrase, or acronym. Example: define:wanderlust.

- site: Use this to search for something on a particular website. Example: site:www.grammarly.com passive voice.

- intitle: It allows you to search for words or phrases in titles. Example: intitle:COVID vaccines.

- linked: You can search for webpages that link to a particular website. Example: linked:www.gitstranslations.com.

- filetype: This is useful to look for specific file types. Example: filetype:pdf translation services.

- related: Use this to search for similar websites. Example: related:grammarly.com.

Also, if you want to convert measurement units or currencies, you can simply write the units “cm to feet” or the currencies “USD to ARS”, and a calculator will appear for you to do the conversion.

Similarly, you can perform basic math calculations directly in the search bar, and a calculator with the answer will appear as the search result.

With these tips & tricks to search in Google, you can find whatever you need, while you save time and get the search results you want!

Do you know another search trick that was not mentioned in our blog post? Leave your comment below!





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