Top 10 handy search tweaks

Wanna extract some extra juice from Google other than naive searching.Try these handy tweaks.They are simple & most are quite easy to remember but are really useful.

1. Use Of '+' sign :
This ensures that the results returned to you will definitely consist of the word following the '+' sign. For e.g. :
Search: reviews of +i Phone and i Pod
This will show results containing the word reviews or i Pod but the results will definitely consist of i Phone !

2. Use Of '-' sign :
Using '-' sign before any word will ensure that the particular word will not be included in the results !

3. Use Of '~' sign :
Using '~' before any word will return the results also containing the synonyms of the word !

4. Search a particular site :
To search a particular website you can use the following syntax in the google search :
Search: site:www.xyz.com
For e.g. :
Search: site:http://koolstud.blogspot.com/

5. Define a word :
To get the definition of a word just use :
Search: define:abc
For e.g.: Search: define:Computer
This will return you results which define 'Computer'.

6. Find Pages similar to a page :
To find a page similar i.e. consisting of same type of content, use the following syntax :
Search: related:http://www.xyz.com/

7. Search for exact phrase :
To search a set of words exactly together i.e.
For e.g. :
Search: "contact us"
This will return the results containing both contact and us together !

8. Using the wild card '*' :
The * sign can be used in places where the whole word is not known.
For e.g.:
Search: friend*
This will return the results containing friend , friends , friendship.

9. Using the '?' sign :
This is used when the full spelling of the word is not known.
For e.g.:
Search: fri??d
This will result that in the results in which any alphabet can take the place of '?' sign.

10. Use of boolean operators :
The boolean operators like AND,OR,NOT can be used in search box to connect the words !
The search engine understands them as what they mean but the must be in capital letters !
For e.g.:
Search: swim OR float
This will return the results containing either swim or float.

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Socializing online search

Searching for information online is not always a cake walk although information organization is reaching new heights with Google indexing a whooping 8 billion pages as of now. With search engines keeping the tempo up with time by innovating & modifying their search algorithms, still there is a lot that is untapped behind those glossy webpages.

On artificial intelligence front they are delving in from all spheres but one common thing is missing that is the human element. Every body has his/her own way & preferences while searching the web & a fair scope of human participation like providing on spot suggestion, comments, ratings is certainly likely to go down well with the users.

Community based search would further narrow the domain for searching like Community of “Rock Music Downloaders”, that will further categorize & ensure much optimal utilization of resources online. One such attempt I have come across is Wikia Search which is an open sources search engine. Although far behind from mainstream bosses like Google & Yahoo, it is an innovative move & is trying its best to harness the potential of user participation with the features I have mentioned. In fact Wikia is relying a lot on Google APIs & Yahoo’s open source BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) platform.

But the big bosses have their own policies & can’t risk their business .So, the extent of openness to the users expected to be implemented is entirely their dice to role.

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