The average person searches Google about four times every day. The world’s largest search engine handles 63,000 queries every second! That’s 5.6 billion searches a day.
We all have grown so accustomed to using Google that we probably no longer put a lot of deep thought into how we conduct our searches. But you may not be getting the best results – or you could get better results – if you just adopted a bit of strategy.
Don’t “Bake In” Your Results
Many people “lead the witness” when they conduct a Google search. For example, they may type in: “Does the average person drink four cups of coffee per day?”
The results that come back might include “four cups a day” when the true answer is “three cups per day.” It’s better to type: “How many cups of coffee does the average person drink per day.”
Use Better Context in Your Questions
Let’s say you want to help your kids with their math homework. They might be working on solving quadratic equations in algebra. Thus, you might type in “solving quadratic equations.”
But if you want specific strategies for helping your kids, type in something like, “A tutorial for solving quadratic equations.” Then you will not only get the “how” but the “how to.”
Pay Attention to Word Order
The words you opt to place at the beginning of a search tend to dominate the results returned. For example, it’s better to type in “kites blue and red” rather than “blue and red kites” if you are looking for a specific kind of kite.
Use Image Search More Often
Many searches are far better handled with the Google image search option, especially when you need information that is highly visual, such as remodeling your bathroom. The images returned in the search will help you get more quickly to an idea that you have in your mind in terms of what you want.
Use a Hyphen to Exclude Stuff
Let’s say you are searching for kitchen fixtures but don’t want information about certain kinds of items. Thus, you could search on “sinks -stainless” to exclude scads of data on stainless steel sinks.