Are you using Google effectively as possible? If you’re just entering words into the search field without using these totally basic but totally essential tricks to improve your results, you’re missing out. We like to think of ourselves as Google ninjas at Lifehacker, but even we need a reminder of these crucial shortcuts now and then.
Dashes
If you want to exclude a word from your search results, put a dash in front of it.
Example:
Watch West Wing online -Netflix
Quotation Marks
Use quotation marks to search an exact set of words, such as song lyrics.
Example:
“You must remember this” song
Asterisk
Speaking of exact words, what if you can’t remember them all? No problem—just use an asterisk in place of the unknown word/s. Again, this is great for song lyrics or quotes that you may have only half heard. Alternatively, ones that are often misquoted, like below.
Example:
“Play * Sam”
Tilde
Use a tilde before a word to include all of its synonyms.
Example:
Star Wars ~Presents
As you can see, it has scraped ‘gifts’ as well:
Double Period
Use a double period between two numbers to convey ranges. This is handy for pricing, dates and measurements.
Example:
HP Spectre buy $1000..$2000
Site: Query
You can search for something within a specific website by using ‘site:’.
Example:
How I Work site:lifehacker.com
Link: Query
You can find sites that have linked to a specific URL through ‘link:’
Example: We wanted to find sites that linked to this Lifehacker post about teens and juuling.
Related: Query
If you’re looking for websites that are related to a specific site, you can use ‘related:’
Example:
related:boardgamegeek.com
Reverse Image Search
This is incredibly handy if you want to find the origin of a photo you have randomly stumbled across on the web. For example, a plate of delicious looking food that you would love to know the recipe for.
Reverse image searching is also great for tracking down original photographers, identifying things (celebrities, flora and fauna, unlabelled clothes or products you want to buy), discovering where your own work may be getting used, and debunking fake social media posts and profiles.
You can do a reverse image search by going into the ‘images’ tab on Google and clicking on the camera icon in the search bar. You can then either upload an image or insert an image address (right click on an image and hit ‘copy image address). Google will then deliver its best guess on the image.
Example:
I went to Pinterest, searched ‘Ramen’ and chose this image:
I then reverse image searched it on Google to find the recipe.
If you’ve got search tips that everyone should know about, tell us in the comments.
This post originally appeared on Lifehacker Australia.