Google Search Tips List
November 6, 2018
Another Google Search Tip List Fails
Listicles are popular articles, because they can be easily digest, curated, and take huge advantage of ad placement if you put the listed information on separate pages. One type of listicle that always pops up is how to get the best out of your Google search and the search results. The Teche Blog adds its own post to the Google tips archive with “Customize The Date Range Of Your Search And 10 More Use Google Tips.”
The article starts with a Google history tidbit:
“Most know that Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University, California, but did you know that the company has also experimented with becoming an Internet carrier? That’s right, in February 2010, Google Fiber was announced, a fiber-optic infrastructure that was installed in Kansas City; while in April 2015, it launched Project Fi in the United States, combining Wi-Fi and cellular networks from different providers; and in 2016, it announced the Google Station initiative to make public Wi-Fi available around the world, with initial deployment in India.”
The search tips in the post are either useless or already known. For instance, the wildcard asterisk * tip to replace words you don not know is as old as the Internet as is the next tip about putting a word in quotes for the exact phrase. It also tells readers about how Google can define words, convert measurements, track flights, flip a coin, and exclude specific keywords. UGH!
There are a few useful tips, such as how to search for a specific file type: [keywords] filetype:[filetype], search within a specific Web site: site:[Web site] [keywords], and related Web sites: related: [Web site].
These tips, however, are outdated, old fashioned, and most people already know them. Try something a little more robust next time.
Whitney Grace, November 6, 2018