Do more with Google - Advanced Google search filters

Posted on March 17, 2008 at 6:33 am

Today, Google pretty much controls the way most people use the Internet. It has become, by far, the de facto search engine out there. However, Google is so much more than a search engine. If you know what to type, there is so much more you can do using Google search than just searching. This article outlines just a few of the several services Google offers.

All of these services are used by simply typing the correct phrase into the good old search bar at the Google Home Page and hitting the “Google Search” button.

Calculator

First up is Google’s built in calculator. It’s almost insultingly simple to use. You simply type in the expression for which you need a result and Google calculates. For example, performing a Google search for 1253+1518 gives me this :

Of course, it extends far beyond simple addition. You can get everything from the 5th root of 32 to the sine of 45 degrees.

But sometimes there could be a calculation that Google assumes as a search term rather than a calculation. For example, 1-800-125-2236 looks more like a phone number than 1 minus 800 minus 125 minus 2236. So you can force Google to calculate it by adding an = sign at the end of the expression. So 1-800-125-2236= would return -3160.

Also extremely handy is the conversion feature, invoked by the “in” operator. You can virtually convert anything. For example, you could say “5km in inches” and Google would return the value of 5km in inches. This even extends into currencies and a search for “15 pounds in dollars” would give you this:

Full text of Books

Google can actually get you the full text of a book whose license has expired. This means that although you won’t find the latest Harry Potter online anytime soon, you can legally go through the full text of some old books.

To do so, simply running a Google search for “books Our Day” got me the full text of the classic Our Day. The search modifier here is the word books. Usually, even without entering “books” you get the full text of a book you have queried, but adding “books” can actually give you better results, so I suggest you do it anyway.

Definitions

Why waste your precious time navigating to an online dictionary or encyclopedia [or even looking up a real one] when Google does it for you?

Google can fetch definitions for just about anything you care to name. All you have to do is precede it by the operator “define: “. So a Google search for “define: ambiguous” brings up this:

This, as you can see, gives not just the actual definition but also the source, making it one of the most useful Google services out there.

Another benefit is that it searches multiple sources, which would have taken a rather long time to do manually.

Q&A

Yes, it’s true. Google actually answers questions you might have. Okay, so it won’t tell you if you fat in that new dress, or the meaning of life or stuff like that, but question like “Birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi” or even “Capital of France” will give you a nice solid answer.

But to get the best result for your questions, remember that you are talking to a computer. Keep your questions as short and accurate as possible.

Time

Google can also act as a World Clock. All you have to do is type “time in xxxx” replacing xxxx by the place you want the time for. For example, typing “time in New York” will give you this:

Wild Cards

Google supports wild cards, that can really help you out if you’re not sure what you’re looking for. Two of the most useful are the * and the ~ wildcards. The * can be used when you’re not sure about a particular word in your search query. For example, searching for “* in Denver” would return everything from “Preschools in Denver” to “Beauty parlors in Denver”.

The ~ wild card is used to search for keywords connected to the one you have entered. For example, searching for ~sports would result in this:

Lyrics & Airline Ticket Costs

Google search also has some other cool, but less known, search options such as the ability to search for the lyrics of a song or the cost of an airline ticket between two cities.

For example, typing in san francisco to tokyo will give you the following result:

Also typing in comfortably numb lyrics will get you this:

Well, that’s all for now, but remember, this is just the surface. Google is far more useful than it appears to be, and experimenting will take you places. There is a lot of stuff to discover. Like Lyrics and Airline ticket costs.