Go beyond the simple Google search and become a Google Power User!
This tutorial is created with a business student in mind, but may be useful to anyone.
Advanced Google Search
After completing this tutorial, you should be able to:
- Apply general and Google-specific tips to your search strategy
- Choose search operators, Advanced Search, and specialized Google tools to find better results
- Recognize how Google works
General Search Tips
- Think about “who cares” to collect or produce information & start there.
- Review your results for ideas.
- Look for leads in references and footnotes/endnotes. Go to the original source.
- Build a list of synonyms and broader/narrower terms when searching.
- Use CTRL+F (or ⌘+F for Apple) to quickly find your search term on a web page or in an online document.
- Search again with different keywords. There is no one “best” strategy.
- Keep track of your research results and cite properly.
Advanced Google Search
Want more relevant targeted results? Use Advanced Google Search.
Example: Find articles on marketing mistakes in China, but exclude stories about Coca-Cola.
Click on each box for a review on how it works.
all these words:
Enter your search terms
none of these words:
Enter the keyword(s) to exclude
narrow your results by...
Includes filters to help you limit your search.
usage rights:
Helps filter copyright-cleared items with permission for re-use.
Click the not filtered by licenses drop down arrow for examples.
You can also...
Provides links to additional features
Try it!
Search Operators
Get more search power in a simple Google box.
" " Exact phrase search
Use quotation marks when searching for the exact phrase.
OR Any or all of the words
Use OR (in caps) to expand your search to find pages that might use any or all of the words.
- Exclude words
Use the dash (without a space after) to exclude words from the search.
site: Search only a specified site/domain.
Must include colon, without a space after.
* Wild card
Use an asterisk (with a space before & after) for any unknown terms or missing words in a phrase.
filetype: Search a particular file extension
Search only specified file extensions/types - .pdf, .xls, .ppt, .doc, etc. (must include colon, without a space after)
Find reports, presentations, data, and more.
Practice
Google Search Tips
- Start broad, then filter your results. Look for filters in the header and on the left menu.
- Ignore capitalization and punctuation (except Search Operators).
- Word order matters.
- Try auto-suggested searches.
-
Use relevant terms to find what you want:
- [Product name] market research report, market size, industry trends, outlook, overview, statistics
- Logged into your Google account? Using Chrome as your browser? You may get additional search options and different results.
- Search results are not always the same. Google constantly tweaks its search algorithm; search features are dropped and added with little or no notice.
- For your eyes only: Google personalizes searches based on your search history. Control what you share with Google through privacy settings.
- For more visit - Google Help.
Verbatim Search
Want to avoid “corrected" search suggestions from Google?
Run your search and select the Search tools and then Verbatim to find the exact phrase, specific spelling, an original page, and even uncover plagiarism.
Advanced Image Search
Want better results when searching for images? Use Advanced Image Search.
Google Images may include tables, graphs, and diagrams from presentations and market research reports where you can get useful information about industry trends, market size, and more.
Example: Find images on medical device industry.
Click on each box for more information
Then narrow your results by...
using these filters
Usage Rights:
Find copyright-cleared images you are free to reuse.
Try it!
Images for Reuse
Need to find copyright-cleared images for presentations or other reuse?
- Select usage rights, as noted above in Advanced Google Image Search, or
- Run a Google Image search and select Search tools, then Usage rights, and filter accordingly.
Reverse Image Search
Already have an image and need to find similar images?
Want to know where it first appeared? Use Reverse Image Search.
Resources
Designed and developed by UTSA Libraries Learning Technology Department at John Peace Library, University of Texas at San Antonio, 2019.