Like a Librarian. All search terms count; for example, “compact fold- up bicycle” A search in Google will find all pages containing the words “compact”

How to Search Google

Like a Librarian

All search terms count; for example, “compact

fold-up bicycle” A search in Google will find all pages containing

the words “compact” and “fold-up” and “bicycle”. You don’t need to include the word “and” in-

between your search terms; when searching Google the “and” is implied, this is called an implicit and.

Sometimes Google will pull up pages that do not contain your search terms; these pages are brought up because your search terms are included in the linked text to another page.

All Search Terms Count

“Google simply matches strings of characters

together and doesn’t currently base inferences on uses of the language. Although this method has some drawbacks, it harnesses one of the fabulous powers of computers, the ability to shift through enormous heaps of data quickly and accurately” Ned Frelden (Internet Research, 2nd ed).

Search Terms Match Up Exactly

If you Search Google Won’t Find

Cheap Inexpensive

TV Television

Effects Influences

Children Kids

Car Automobile


However Google will find pages that include

synonyms, for example


If you Search Google Finds

NYC New York City

SF San Francisco

Google will automatically find pages that

contain words that are similar to some or all of your search terms, for example

Similar Words Match

If you Search Google will Match

Child ChildChildrenChildren’s

Bicycle BicycleBicyclesBicycle’s Bicycling Bicyclists

Google calls this function word variations or

automatic stemming. Stemming is a technique to search on the stem or root of a word that has multiple endings.

If you want to only search for pages that contain the search term or terms exactly, you will need to put quotations marks around the word or words, for example “child” and “how to bake an apple pie”.

Similar Words Match

Some common words are considered stop words in

Google; stop words generally don’t add meaning to the search terms.

Stop words are for example; the, on, where, how, de, la and certain single digits and letters.

If you are using Google to search for, What to read for a London tourist. Because this search includes stop words, Google will only

look for pages that contain “read” and “London tourist”. If you want Google to search all of your terms you will

need surround you search phrase with quotation marks.

Stop Words

Google limits search queries to 32 words.

Google will indicate a message below the search box if your search exceeds the 32-word limit; this limit does not apply to stop words.

Also please note it does not apply to search operators and indicators.

Word Limit

Google tends to favor pages that have your

search terms near each other; normally this proximity will be within a page.

For example the search for snake grass will pull up pages about a plant. If you search for a snake in the grass Google tends to pull up pages about sneaky people. Although “in” and “the” are stop words; Google will actually pull up pages in which snake and grass are separated by at least two words.

Terms Nearby

Google tends to pull up pages that have terms

in the same order as your query.

Terms in Order

Google is not case-sensitive, it will pull up

results which are both upper and lower case. The only words that need to be upper case are

your search operators OR and AND.

Not Case-Sensitive

Google ignores some punctuation and special

characters; for example

Punctuation is not as important as your search terms, however there exceptions such as C++.

Characters Ignored

! ]

? @

, /

. $

; <

[ >

Google will match words with an apostrophe

with words with an apostrophe.

Apostrophes

If you Search Google will Find

Google Won’t Find

We’re We’re Were

Were Were We’re

Because people vary on how they enter in

hyphenated words Google will search both hyphen and spaced words. For example

Hyphenated Terms


Part-time Part-timeParttimePart time

Quoted Phrases

To search for a phrase, a proper name, or a set of words in a specific order you need to put them in double quotes.

Using quotes ensure that you will be pulling up pages containing the exact quoted phrase.

Instructors can use quoted phrases to detect plagiarism by entering the exact phrase from a student’s paper into the search box with quotations surrounding it.

Crafting your Query with Special Characters

Use Quotes for For Example

Speech search syntax “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all me are created equal” Martin Luther King Speech.

Proper names “Lucille Ball”

Pages containing lists “Best book club books”

Common words that are normally ignored “To be or not to be”

To stop automatic stemming “Favorite book”

The – Operator

Precede each word you don’t want to appear in any result with a “-” sign. Do not insert a space between the “-” and the word you want to exclude.


If you Search Google Won’t Find

Dolphins -Football Pages on the Dolphins Football team

The ~ Operator

Find synonyms by preceding the term with a “~”, which is known as the tilde or synonym operator.

The “~” operator takes the word immediately following it and searches both that specific word or the word’s synonyms.



~inexpensive Inexpensive CheapAffordable Low Cost

The OR or “|” Operator

If you want Google to pull up pages containing any instead of all of your search terms, use the OR or “|” operator.

The OR or “|” operator applies to the search terms immediately adjacent to it.

The OR needs to be in upper case, if not Google will treat it as a search term not as an operator.


For example

Tahiti OR Hawaii

Tahiti|Hawaii

The .. Operator

Specify that results contain numbers in a range by specifying two numbers, separated by two periods, with no spaces.


For Example

Recumbent bicycle $250...$1000

Russian Revolution 1800..2000

The * Operator

Use of the “*” character, known as a wildcard. The “*” operator is used to match one or more words in a phrase.

Google treats this as a place holder for a word or more then one word.



“Google * my life” Pages that contain a phrase that starts with Google and ends with my life.“Google ruined my life”“Google runs my life”“Google is my life”

When you don’t find what you are looking for in

Google’s basic search, try using the Advanced Search option.

The advanced search will allow you to tell Google specify what you are looking for; it will allow you to select or exclude pages with more precision than Google’s basic search box.

Advanced Search

Questions??? Comments...

Contact Tracy Ponder at417.447.8173

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Like a Librarian. All search terms count; for example, “compact fold- up bicycle” A search in Google will find all pages containing the words “compact”