As you have probably seen, Google is the number one ranked search engine and they have many features that can aid you in your online searching. Most people will just go to the search box, put in their keywords or search words and will just deal with what they get. I bet you did not even know there were other search features?
It is just like when you get that shiny new toy and you just run out and start using it. Now you know it came with directions but who has time for that. Besides, after a while you will figure it out and get it to work the way you want it to.
But, to get the most out of your search time on Google or dive into your keywords and learn about them to enhance your result findings, try exploring the search functions of Google a little more. And it doesn’t even require you to read a long instruction manual either!
Say you went to Google and did a regular search, let’s say for… internet marketing outsourcing. If you were to spell it wrong, as I just did, Google would ask you if you meant the correct spelling. Gee thanks for the help Google. Try bringing it up so you can get an idea what I am talking about here.
What you are looking at are all of the matches with those three words in their title or description, right? You will also see all of the sponsored ads on the right. Now click on the little link under the Google logo called “Show Options…”
What an awesome feature because you now have options to narrow your search. Just click on “Videos”, “News”, “Blogs”,”Books” or “Forums”. Now what if I wanted to find a video on internet marketing outsourcing. If I click the “Videos” link, I am then given the option to pick a “Short”, “Medium”, or “Long” video.
Maybe you are trying to find a recent article about internet marketing outsourcing or just want to see if your blog post with those keyword has been indexed by Google yet.Your options to click are, “Past hour”, “Past 24 hours”, “Past week”. “Past year” or “Specific date range”. You can really get a feeling for how helpful this search feature will be for you.
Another self-explanatory function is “Sort by Relevance” or “Sort by Date”. When I hit the “Sort by Date” link, at the top of the results is an article that was written just 33 minutes ago.
Some of my favorites are the next two features; “Timeline” and “Wonder Wheel”.
The “Timeline” allows the viewing of how the topic has evolved over time via a bar graph. If we look at internet marketing outsourcing shows a timeline from 1990-2009. If you want you can further narrow it down by clicking on a specific year and then a month. I see a big spike in January 2009 and if I was really interested in why, I would investigate further.
The “Wonder Wheel” is a really cool tool. Your keywords are the center of the wheel and related topics go out from it like spokes. By clicking on one of the spokes, that link becomes a second wheel center with it’s own related spokes. Now then, if you are looking for further research, or more ideas of topics you might like to write about or create a product around, this is YOUR function. Do you notice how throughout your playing around with the buttons, the regular search is on the right and keeps updating.
There, now you can see some of the wonderful search features offered by Google and how easy they are. It can help you to be more focused if you use these web searching options. You might want to remember them the next time you want an enhanced search.
November 4th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Google definitely allows you to customize your search in numerous ways and there are a number of ways you can take advantage of that.
November 4th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I am often surprised at how many options there are when searching Google. Like you said, many times we just do a basic search forgetting that there is a whole bunch of options for us to narrow down the results. It’s a great research tool!
November 5th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Simply amazing. Google is a well oiled machine. No wonder it’s the number one search engine. I really had not spent to much time playing with this feature – will have to now.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
The Wonder Wheel in the Google search is one of the best tools for finding related keywords and/or subjects for related articles and blog posts, especially if you think you’ve exhausted all the possible subjects to boost your targeted traffic to your blogs, sites or affiliate links.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Its been a while since I’ve used these options. I know about them, but they kind of fade away for lack of use. Thanks for reminding me. The wonder wheel alone is worth searching out more.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Ditto to Earl. I had these features recommended, tried them once and then promptly forgot. Thanks for the refresher. Now to use them before I forget again.