75.2% of the searches happening on Google followed by Bing 8.4% and Baidu 7.69% as per netmarketshare.com
Source : NetMarketshare.comBut Are we using it effectively?the answer is No most of us don’t know how to use the engine effectively here are some tips which could save your time and do search efficiently .I read about these tricks in some forums ,articles and found in some videos and compiling it for you to use it better.
1.Exclude the search terms :
If you are searching for “Apple” but you don’t want search results for apple mobiles then you can filter it out by saying google .
Apple –mobiles
This search will bring you the results other than apple mobiles its like you are subtracting mobiles from the search.
2.Search for specific term
If you are searching for phrases then you can put that inside the quote “Donkey knows camphor smell” Google will bring you the result only if the phrase matches with the result .
But in general if you search for Donkey knows camphor smell then you get the result matches the words in search term in any order it won’t look for the exact order if it is not inside quote.
3.Get the definition
If you are looking for the definition of any word you need not to refer any individual websites rather you can ask google directly.
“define feminism”
If you type like that in search bar then you will get the definition of feminism.
4.Search for specific website
If you are looking for information about any single website then you can try this search
“site:sketchpencils.in”
It will bring the results only about the website sketchpencils.in not any other websites.
5.Find linking pages
If you are looking for the website which is linked to some other sites then you can find it easily. For example you can find the websites that is linked to your sites by doing
“link:website.com”
It will fetch the websites linked to the site you are searching.
Read : 5+ Google search hacks for bloggers and marketers
6.Find a song lyrics
If you are searching for a song lyrics but you don’t know the first line itself properly then you can make a search like this using asterisk wildcards
When I *get* older
Now google will consider that the word with in the asterisk can be any thing it will replace the word which matches better and will bring the result. Its not only for song you can use it for general search also.
7.Find similar websites
You can find the similar websites of example website like this
related :flipkart.com
When you do the search like this google will fetch the result that is similar to flipkart.com and brings some ecommerce websites other than flipkart.com
8.Find the competition
You can compare two websites and see the competition between them for example
shopclues vs snapdeal
This will bring the competition between two ecommerce sites how they are performing in market actually.
9.Find the weather
You can find the weather of specific area without opening any website just do this
Weather Thanjavur
It will show you the weather in Thanjavur(a place in south India) you can also use zip code to find weather.
10.Find nearby
You can find the nearby shops by simple search like this
Pizza shops nearby
Google will take your location and show you the nearby places where you can get pizza .
11.Find a file
You can find a file for specific searches
*search term*filetype:docx
Replace the search term with what you are searching and use the command filetype followed by the file extension you are looking for.
12.Search for local movies
You can find the local movies in specific zip code by doing
Movies,600025
This will bring the result of local movies in the specified zip location.
13.Search for product price range
If you are looking for a price range of a product , do a search like this
Plastic bucket $5…$10
This will fetch the websites which are selling the plastic bucket between this price range.
There are lot of stuff to refine your search further but those sounds like technical these are some useful tips where you can practice in every search.If you know other than this please share it in comment section.