How can I get better search results with Google?
Answer
Here are some tips to improve your Google (or Yahoo, Bing, etc) searches:
- Limit to a specific site or type of site
- To limit to government websites, add site:.gov to the end of your search string. To limit to educational institution websites, add site:.edu to the end of your search string. To search through the Defiance College website using Google, add site:defiance.edu to to end of your search string. You can control the types of results that you get back - kick all those untrustworthy .com sites to the curb!
- Use keywords and search strings instead of typing in sentences
- Make the search engine look only for the terms that matter and improve your search results. Google suggests searching for "headache" instead of searching for "my head hurts" and "bats good omen" instead of "countries where bats are considered to be good omens." It makes a difference!
- Use the limitation features that are offered
- Pay attention to the options on the side. Limit to news, images, videos or maps. Only get results published within a certain time frame. Use the Advanced Search feature to get really specific about what you want the search engine to find.
Also, keep in mind that searching in places like Google Scholar or the library's databases might save you more time than sorting through Google results!