Searching on Google like an expert
Perform a Basic Search
Open your web browser and navigate to Google.
Then, enter your query into the search bar. It can be a word, phrase, or question. Make your query as specific as possible to get the most relevant results.
For example, if you want Jamie Oliver’s recipe for lemon meringue pie and not anyone else’s, Google “jamie oliver lemon meringue pie recipe” instead of just “lemon meringue pie recipe.”
Whether you type your query in uppercase or lowercase doesn’t matter. Google will also automatically fix any spelling and grammar mistakes it recognizes.
As you start typing your query, you’ll see a list of suggested searches:
Skip to the First Result
After typing your query, click the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button under the search bar to directly visit the first search result.
This can be useful for navigating to a specific page or website.
Do a Voice Search
Speak your query instead of typing it. Which is convenient if your query is long, your hands are busy, or you aren’t sure of its spelling.
Here’s one way to do a Google search with your voice:
Click the microphone icon to the right of the search bar.
Refine Your Search
If you’ve run a basic search and can’t find what you want, applying search settings will help you refine your results.
Here are a few options:
Provide More Details
Use the topic bubbles at the top of the SERP to make your query more precise.
See Only a Certain Type of Result
Click the relevant tabs under the search bar to see only results that are images, videos, news articles, map locations, books, and so on.
For example, if you want to know what Stonehenge looks like, clicking the “Images” tab for the “stonehenge” SERP will show you pictures of the landmark. So you don’t have to sift through irrelevant non-image results.
View Results within a Certain Time Period
Let’s say you want to see only results published within a certain time period. For example, within the last year if you want only the latest news, information, or data.
Click “Tools” under the search bar and select the “Any time” drop-down to select your preferred date range.
Get Verbatim Results
View only verbatim results that match your query closely (or even exactly). To do this, select “Tools” under the search bar. And go to “All results” > “Verbatim.”
This is helpful if you want to know how to search in Google for something that could easily be mistaken for something else. Like if you want information on a person named “Kevin Mayar” instead of French athlete Kevin Mayer.
Get Direct Answers
Google can directly provide answers on the SERP for certain simple queries. So you don’t have to visit any sites to learn the answer.
For example, searching for “weather in hong kong” will show you the current (and upcoming) weather forecast for Hong Kong.
You can also find out the:
-
Current time in a particular place—e.g., by searching “time in cairo”
-
Meaning of a word—e.g., by searching “define lackadaisical” or “lackadaisical meaning”
- Amount of something in another unit of measurement—e.g., by searching “500 pounds in kg”
- Latest stock prices—e.g., by searching “semr price”
- Latest sports scores—e.g., by searching “football scores” or “lakers scores”
Get Results in a Certain Language and Region
Specify the language and region you want search results from if these differ from Google’s default settings for your region. This is helpful for viewing news results from your home country while vacationing abroad, for example.
Here’s how to do this if you’re logged in to Google:
Click your profile icon at the top right of the SERP and select “Language.”
Then, adjust the “Results language & region” settings.
Click the back arrow next to the “Language & region” heading to return to the SERP. And view the updated results.
Use Search Operators
Google Search operators are commands you can add to your query to narrow your search. And find more specific information.
For example, you can enclose a phrase in quotation marks to view results that contain it exactly (as opposed to broader results that appear without quotation marks).
Search a Certain Site
Search for results on an specific site by adding “site:[domain]” to your query.
Search for Files
Add “filetype:[file format]” to your query to search for files in that format. For example, if you’re looking for a research paper on a certain topic that’s in PDF format.
Exclude Results
Add a minus sign in front of what you don’t want to see in the SERP. This can be:
- Certain words if the subject of your query could easily be mistaken for something else
- A domain you don’t want results from, like your own if you’re monitoring online sentiment toward your brand
Add “-[word]” to get results without this word:
Search Using an Image
Searching the web with an image instead of text (i.e., reverse image search) comes in handy if you aren’t sure how to describe what you want to search.
Here’s one way to Google something with an image:
First, select the camera icon to the right of the search bar.
Provide Google with your image by uploading it or dragging it into the upload box. Or, paste the image’s link and click “Search.”
Google will return images similar to yours. And information on the object(s) in it.
