Google Search Tips to Enhance your Productivity

When logging on your computer and entering an online browser, typically the first thing we do is make a visit to Google to make a search. So it’s no surprise that every minute over 2.4 million searches are made on Google alone. Although, do you often find the process of trying to find the information you are after is not as quick as you would’ve liked? We can end up spending an unnecessary amount of time going through pages and pages of information to determine its relevancy and to find exactly what we are after. This blog provides a range of Google search tips to prevent this issue from occurring and to help you to maximise your productivity.

With more and more web results getting added to search pages each day the amount of pages for us to look through has dramatically increased – meaning there is only going to be more for us to look through.

To help improve the quality of your searches, there are numerous “secret” Google search tips which can help you to narrow down the search results when you’re performing any type of search and help to minimise the burden on your brainpower.

Google search tip for searching a specific website – “site”

Sometimes when you are searching for something you may want to bring up information only on a specific website e.g. if you need a particular statistic from a certain source.

You can search for a certain keyword across a specific website using the “site” function, you can use the following format:

Site:(site url) (keyword)

This will ensure the results of the search are only for that specific URL you are after.

For example, if you wanted to find out more about the IT support services Ipswich based Corbel Solutions Limited provide, then you would have to search the following:

Flight details without leaving Google

If you need to check your flight information last minute when you’re on-the-go, having multiple windows open at once to try and obtain all the information you need can be confusing. With another Google search tip, it is possible to bring up all the relevant information you may need onto one page.

It’s simple to activate this, all you need to do is type in your flight number, the name of the airline you are flying with and it will provide you with a listing of important flight information.  

Google search tip for looking for certain document types – filetype abbreviation

There may be some situations where you want to look for a particular document type, for example if you are trying to get inspiration of how others have formatted a PowerPoint. It can be difficult to filter through search pages to find both the filetype and relevant information you are after.

There is a function Google has which allows you to search based on a file type – meaning the search results will be specific to that filetype only. To activate this, you should use the following format:

filetype:(type) (keyword)

In a situation where you want to search for PowerPoints for example you should use the phrase ‘PPT’ – other file types that this format can work for are: DOC, PDF, XLS or XLSX, SVG and more.

Setting a timeframe in your search

When searching for statistics or numerical data we seek accuracy and relevancy, however sometimes the results that appear in our search can be out-of-date or no longer make contextual sense.

To set a specific timeframe to restrict the results in your SERP, the following steps should be followed:

• Search your keyword in the search bar
• Under the search bar click on the “tools” link
• Then click the link “Any time”
• Select your timeframe

You can then either set a standardised timeframe or allocate a custom data range for your results depending on your particular search.

Google search tip for finding similar sites – “related”

When conducting research online, you may find it beneficial if you come across a useful page to see other related sites to it that have similar ideas. This could be useful for product comparison or if you want to get various perspectives on a particular point.

Using the “related” function you will be able to search for similar websites to the one you are viewing – the format you should take for this is:

related:https://website/com

This could be a particularly beneficial search tip for those who are wanting to see competitors’ websites.

Getting rid of results that you do not want to see

Another thing which can negatively impact our efficiency when searching is filtering through non-relevant results when the search may have a dual meaning or a closely related keyword.

To prevent this from affecting you, the following format should be followed:

(keyword) – (keyword)

You essentially just put a minus sign in front of a keyword that you do not want to be a part of your search.

Looking for ways to stop wasting time and enhance your team’s productivity?

Ipswich based IT support company, Corbel Solutions Limited offer IT consultancy services to help understand your goals and explain how technology can enable them. With the wide range of services available you are able to streamline your businesses processes, to help enhance productivity and prevent time wasting, alongside implementing the google search tips as outlined above.

If you feel you could benefit from these services or want to enquire about our range of other IT support services then feel free to give us a call on 01473 241515 or email us at info@corbel.co.uk.

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Ipswich based Corbel, work with businesses as an IT Support partner in Ipswich, Felixstowe, Stowmarket, and the surrounding Suffolk areas in a proactive way to help provide a range of services including Cyber Security, Office 365 Support and Cloud telephony.