Become A Google Certified Power Searcher

Search, search, search. Aren’t you just tired of searching for something only to get results that don’t matter to you? Are you looking for something specific that takes you like forever to find the answers? Do you sometimes want to perform a simple calculation, only to find out that you don’t know where you left your calculator? Did you know that there several techniques (cheat) to perform a search on Google? Pure keywords or even long tail phrases sometimes just don’t do the trick. There are other methods which you can use to take more advantage of the power of Google’s Magic Box, and that is to become a power searcher or user:)

Google’s Answering Machine

When you type www.google.com, it is almost annoying that the only thing that appears is a white page with some few links and a box. If you knew what is behind that box, you will go nuts. Freud will not be able to explain it, for sure. He will probably just say – “hey! This is not just a search engine, this is an answering machine”.

Say you want – to look for a specific Hotel, perform a simple calculation, translate your currency to another, find blogs that has the same title as yours, free eBooks, etc.., all this is possible in Google’s magic box. Yes, that tiny box on Google.com performs wonders if you know how to use it. Heck, you can almost talk to it (by typing of course).

Become a Power Searcher/User

Following below is the beginning of your certification to become a Power Searcher or User. Try this methods the next time and compare it to your traditional way of using Google’s magic box. Have in mind though that even very advanced searchers, use these features less than 5% of the time. Let the certification begin:

QUERY	RESULTS
BASIC OPERATOR	FINDS PAGES CONTAINING
vacation Europe	the words vacation and Europe
Spain OR Italy	either the word Maui or the word Hawaii
“Museums in Spain“	the exact phrase Museums in Spain
phones -mobile	the word phones but NOT the word mobile
+safe	Only the word safe, and not the plural or any tenses or synonyms
~auto loan	loan info for both the word auto and its synonyms: truck, car, etc.
define:spyware	definitions of the word spyware from around the Web.
affiliate * marketing	the words red and blue separated by one or more words.
CALCULATOR OPERATORS	TYPE INTO MAGIC BOX
+	addition; 10+10
-	subtraction; 10-9
*	multiplication; 10*9
/	division; 12/2
% of	percentage; 50% of 100
^	raise to the power of; 5^2
ADVANCED OPERATORS	FINDS PAGES CONTAINING
site: (Search only one website)	site:www.iblogzone.com “SEO”
#…# (search within a range of numbers)	iPhone $400…$500
link: (linked pages)	link:www.twitter.com (find pages that links to Twitter.com)
info: (find information about a page)	info: www.twitter.com
related: (related pages)	related: www.twitter.com (finds pages related to Twitter)
safesearch: (exclude adult content)	safesearch: breast cancer
filetype: (restrict search to specific filetype)	article marketing filetype:DOC
allintitle: (search for keywords in page title)	allintitle: “money”
allintext: (return pages with all words specified in body text)	allintext: work at home
cache: (view cached page)	cache: www.iblogzone.com
inurl: (restrict search to page URLs)	inurl:writing
intext: (search for keyword in body text)	intext:best affiliate network
OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO	TYPING IN: RETURNS
? US Dollars To ?	50 US Dollars to Philippine Peso (converts 50 US to Philippine Peso)
? km to feet	5 km to feet (converts 5 kilometers into feet)
? US gallons to liters	100 US Gallons to liters (converts Us Gallons to Liters)
?C to F	45C To F (returns 45 degrees Celsius To Fahrenheit)
?Days in years	23455 days in years (returns 23 455 days = 64.2176618 years)
and many more….

If you have a sharp eye, I am sure that there are a few “features” here that will really be of benefit to you. Some of these options might not be of great use to you, but nevertheless, you know now that Google’s Magic Box is very powerful (useful for SEO?). That said, congratulations, you are now are certified power searcher/user of Google’s Magic Box (provided you use this cheat sheet).

Over to you. Do you know of any other features that I left out in this list? If you do, please leave your comment here and share it with us.