Google: 8 Googling tips from a tech expert

Life without Google seems like an impossible one to live. Where else would we go to find out all the information about, well, everything?

Given that we rely on this tool on a daily basis, you'd think we knew how to utilize it properly. But a tech expert has revealed that most people 'suck' at using Google.

The trick to using Google

According to Chris Hladczuk, a Yale graduate and Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs, a large majority of Google users have no idea on how to optimize their searches. It seems that there’s more to googling than just typing in keywords.

Hladczuk’s tips

Luckily for us, he’s let us in on 8 tips that can change our Googling game. Here they are:

Quotation marks: Use quotation marks when you’re trying to find articles about a specific keyword. For example, if you’re looking for information about only killer whales, put it into quotation marks—‘killer whales.’ You will not get results about killers, or any other kind of whale, just killer whales.

Dashes: Hladczuk suggests that if you are trying to ‘exclude a term’ from your search, you need to include a hyphen just before the word. He gives this example:

Example: dolphins-football. You just want dolphins the animal not dolphins the professional football team.

Tilde: If you don’t know what a tilde is, it’s the squiggly line you see on your keyboard (~). By using this, you’ll be able to find search results with synonyms for the keyword you’ve inputted. When you’re looking for best films of 2021, instead type best ~films, and it’ll include results that have the word 'movies' as well.

Site: When you’re trying to search for information from a particular website, here's what you do.

Type in the keyword, and then the site you want the information from. For example: 'mental health site: gentside.co.uk.'

When you type this in, you will find all the mental health articles that has been published on that particular website.

Vertical bar: Hladczuk says that the vertical bar (|) serve the same purpose as or. Hence, if you’re looking for information about fruits and vegetables, you can simply input: fruits | vegetables, and you’ll get results for both the topics.

Two periods: To find information between ‘within two number ranges’ Hladczuk recommends using two periods, as mentioned below:

Example: movies 1980..2000.

Type this in, and you’ll be able to find all the movies between 1980 and 2000.

Location: When you’re searching for sources related to a particular location, all you have to do is type ‘location:’ and specify the place. For example, if you’re looking for information about Disneyland in the United States, write ‘Disneyland location: United States.’

Filetype: Similarly, if you’re looking for results that have a certain format, specify that in the search bar as well. Hladczuk says:

Filter by a certain file type related to your search. Example: warren buffet filetype:pdf

This filters out all the click bait news Buffet news article you don't want to read.