Google Account https://www.google.com/accounts/
Your Google Account gives you access to various Google services, including Google Groups, Froogle Shopping List, Personalized Search, your Personalized Homepage, and Google Answers. If you’ve used any of these services before, you already have a Google Account. Your account username is simply the email address you used during the creation process. Creating a Google Account won’t automatically give you a Gmail account, nor will it affect your current emailing capabilities. Creating a Gmail account, however, does automatically give you a Google Account. So, if you currently have Gmail, you can use your Gmail username and password to sign in to any service requiring a Google Account.
Searches and Searching
At first glance, Google looks like a simple web search with few options, but that’s not the case. In this section I will cover Google’s search features, commands, and the content or purpose specific searches.
Matt Cutts, Senior Engineer at Google gives techniques for using Google Search.
Google’s advanced search page has several fields you can use to easily create searches with several qualifiers. To access Advanced search, click the “Advanced Search” link location to the right of the search box. Or type this URL into your browser: http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en
cache: If you include other words in the query, Google will highlight those words within the cached document. For instance, [cache:www.google.com web] will show the cached content with the word “web” highlighted. This functionality is also accessible by clicking on the “Cached” link on Google’s main results page. The query [cache:] will show the version of the web page that Google has in its cache. For instance, [cache:www.google.com] will show Google’s cache of the Google homepage.
link: The query [link:] will list webpages that have links to the specified webpage. For instance, [link:www.google.com] will list webpages that have links pointing to the Google homepage.
related: The query [related:] will list web pages that are “similar” to a specified web page. For instance, [related:www.google.com] will list web pages that are similar to the Google homepage.
info: The query [info:] will present some information that Google has about that web page. For instance, [info:www.google.com] will show information about the Google homepage.
define: The query [define:] will provide a definition of the words you enter after it, gathered from various online sources. The definition will be for the entire phrase entered (i.e., it will include all the words in the exact order you typed them).
stocks: If you begin a query with the [stocks:] operator, Google will treat the rest of the query terms as stock ticker symbols, and will link to a page showing stock information for those symbols. For instance, [stocks: intc yhoo] will show information about Intel and Yahoo. (Note you must type the ticker symbols, not the company name.)
site: If you include [site:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to those websites in the given domain. For instance, [help site:www.google.com] will find pages about help within www.google.com. [help site:com] will find pages about help within .com urls.
allintitle: If you start a query with [allintitle:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the title. For instance, [allintitle: google search] will return only documents that have both “google” and “search” in the title.
intitle: If you include [intitle:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the title. For instance, [intitle:google search] will return documents that mention the word “google” in their title, and mention the word “search” anywhere in the document (title or no).
allinurl: If you start a query with [allinurl:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the url. For instance, [allinurl: google search] will return only documents that have both “google” and “search” in the url.
Note that [allinurl:] works on words, not url components. In particular, it ignores punctuation. Thus, [allinurl: foo/bar] will restrict the results to page with the words “foo” and “bar” in the url, but won’t require that they be separated by a slash within that url, that they be adjacent, or that they be in that particular word order. There is currently no way to enforce these constraints.
inurl: If you include [inurl:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the url. For instance, [inurl:google search] will return documents that mention the word “google” in their url, and mention the word “search” anywhere in the document (url or no).
allinanchor: If you start a query with [allinanchor:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the description of a link on the page. For instance, [allinanchor: google search] will return only documents that have both “google” and “search” in the description of a link on the page. The terms used in [allinanchor:] may not be included in the same link description on a page.
intitle: If you include [inanchor:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the description of a link on the page. For instance, [inanchor:google search] will return documents that mention the word “google” in a link, and mention the word “search” anywhere in the document (link or no).
intext: If you include [intext:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the text of the page not including page titles, the alternate descriptions of images, or meta data. For instance, [intext:google search] will return documents that mention the word “google” in the page text, and mention the word “search” anywhere in the document (including page titles, alternate descriptions of images, or meta data).
music: If you include [music:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to music albums containing that word in the title of the album, the name of the artist, lyrics, or the name of a song. For instance,[music:decemberists] will return albums that contain the word “decemberists” in the name of the album, artist name, lyrics, or the name of a song.
movie: If you include [movie:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to current movies containing that word in the title of the movie or the review of a movie.
phonebook: If you include [phonebook:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to residential phone listings. Type any of the following combinations into the Google search box:
first name (or first initial), last name, city (state is optional)
first name (or first initial), last name, state
first name (or first initial), last name, area code
first name (or first initial), last name, zip code
phone number, including area code
last name, city, state
last name, zip code
filetype: or ext: If you include [filetype:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to files of that type. For instance, [filetype:ppt google] will return PowerPoint files that contain the word “google”. Google can search the following filetypes
* Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf)
* Adobe PostScript (ps)
* Lotus 1-2-3 (wk1, wk2, wk3, wk4, wk5, wki, wks, wku)
* Lotus WordPro (lwp)
* MacWrite (mw)
* Microsoft Excel (xls)
* Microsoft PowerPoint (ppt)
* Microsoft Word (doc)
* Microsoft Works (wks, wps, wdb)
* Microsoft Write (wri)
*Keyhole Markup Language – Google Earth
(kml)
* Rich Text Format (rtf)
* Shockwave Flash (swf)
* Text (ans, txt)
date: I have tested this feature and it doesn’t work in the regular Google search.
safesearch: The operator [safesearch:] does not work, you can use the preferences to set the SafeSearch level.
Symbol and Boolean Operators
OR Search for one term or the other. For instance, [google OR search] with return documents that contain the word “google” or the word “search”.
“” Inclosing a phrase in quotes [“”] searches for a phrase. For instance, [“Center for Instruction and Research Technology”] will return documents that contain the phrase “Center for Instruction and Research Technology” (all the words in that specific order).
- Putting a [-] in front of a word (with no space between them) will exclude the word from the search. For instance, [virus –computer] will return pages that contain the word “virus” but do not contain the word “computer”
+ Putting a [+] in front of a word (with no space between them) will include the word in the search. This is useful to find words that Google considers bad search terms, like “a” and “the.” For instance, [Episode +I] will return documents containing the words “Episode” and “I.” Google is getting better at identifying when a term should be included or excluded.
~ Putting a [~]in front of a word (with no space between them) will include the word and synonyms in the search. For instance, [~auto loan] will return documents containing “auto loan”, “car loan”, “truck loan”, etc. . . If you use a [~] in combination with a very common term you may never see the synonyms because, Google will give a higher rank to pages that contain the term than ones containing a synonym.
* Putting a [*] between two terms will include documents that have both terms, but they must be separated by one or more words. For instance [red * blue] will return documents that contain both the words “red” and “blue”, but never “red blue”.
… Separating two numbers with […] will search for any numbers in that range. For instance [UNF 1990…2006] will return documents that contain “UNF” and any number that falls in the range between 1990 and 2006, inclusive.
Calculator Functions You can type calculations into the Google search. For detailed information, see the Google Calculator page http://www.google.com/help/calculator.html.
+ addition, [1+1] will return 2
- subtraction, [1-1] will return 0
* multiplication, [1*1] will return 1
/ division, [1/1] will return 1
% of percentage, [1% of 100] will return 1
^ exponentiation, [1^1] will return 1
th root of root, [2th root of 16] will return 4
% modulo, [8%7] will return 1
sin, cos, etc. trigonometric functions, [tan(45 degrees)] will return 1
ln & log logarithmic functions, [ln(17)] will return 2.83321334
! factorial, [5!] will return 120
X choose Y choose determines the number of ways of choosing a set of Y elements from a set of X elements, [18 choose 4] will return 3 060.
in the [in] operator is used to specify what units you want used to express the answer. Put the word in followed by the name of a unit at the end of your expression. This works well for unit conversions, [5 kilometers in miles] will return 3.10685596 miles.
What is Google Scholar?
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Google Scholar helps you identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research.
How are articles ranked?
Google Scholar aims to sort articles the way researchers do, weighing the full text of each article, the author, the publication in which the article appears, and how often the piece has been cited in other scholarly literature. The most relevant results will always appear on the first page.
Search Operators Most of the Google search operators will not work in the scholar search, but the scholar search has a couple unique operators:
author: If you include [author:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to scholarly literature with the specified author. For instance, [author:”d knuth”] will return literature where “d knuth” is listed as an author.
intitle: If you include [intitle:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to scholarly literature with the specified word in the title. For instance, [intitle:ritual anthropology] will return literature where “ritual” is in the title and the word “anthropology” is in the document.
What is Google Book Search? Search the full text of books to find ones that interest you and learn where to buy or borrow them.
How does Google Book Search work? Just do a search on Google Book Search or on Google.com. When we find a book whose content contains a match for your search terms, we’ll link to it in your search results. Click a book title and you’ll see, like a card catalog entry, some basic information about the book. You may also see a few snippets of text from the book showing your search term in context. If the publisher or author has given us permission through our Partner Program then you’ll see a few full pages from the book and if the book is out of copyright, you’ll be able to page through the entire book. In all cases, you’ll see links that lead directly to online bookstores where you can buy the book.
How can I find books that I can download? Visit books.google.com. Search for downloadable books by clicking on the “Full view books” radio button before entering your search terms. Once you select a book from your results, you’ll see a “Download” button on the right side of the page if the book is out of copyright. Click the button to download a PDF of the book to your computer. Once the book is downloaded, you can print it and read it at your own pace.
Search Operators Most of the Google search operators will not work in the book search, but the book search has a few unique operators:
isbn: If you include [isbn:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to books with the specified isbn. For instance, [isbn: 0060930314] will return the book with the isbn “0060930314”.
author: If you include [author:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to books with the specified author. For instance, [author:kerouac] will return books where “karouac” is listed as an author.
intitle: If you include [intitle:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to books with the specified word in the title. For instance, [intitle:ritual anthropology] will return books where “ritual” is in the title and the word “anthropology” is in the document.
date: If you include [date:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to books published within that date range. For instance, [date:1800-1970 memoir] will return books published between 1800 and 1970 inclusive and contains the word “memoir” in the document.
A Novel Approach to News Google News is a computer-generated news site that aggregates headlines from more than 4,500 English-language news sources worldwide, groups similar stories together and displays them according to each reader’s personalized interests.
Traditionally, news readers first pick a publication and then look for headlines that interest them. We do things a little differently, with the goal of offering our readers more personalized options and a wider variety of perspectives from which to choose. On Google News we offer links to several articles on every story, so you can first decide what subject interests you and then select which publishers’ accounts of each story you’d like to read. Click on the headline that interests you and you’ll go directly to the site which published that story.
Articles are selected and ranked by computers that evaluate, among other things, how often and on what sites a story appears online. As a result, stories are sorted without regard to political viewpoint or ideology and you can choose from a wide variety of perspectives on any given story.
Personalizing Google News If you have a Google Account you can personalize Google News to include the sections that you want to appear and in what order they appear. You can also create a custom section based on a search query. This functionality lets you build a virtual newspaper.
Google News search results feeds You can also get a feed for any search you do on Google News. First do any search on Google News, then simply use the Atom or RSS link on the left-hand side of your search results page to generate the feed.
What is a Custom Search Engine? A Custom Search Engine is a tailored search experience, built using Google's core search technology, which prioritizes or restricts search results based on websites and pages that you specify, and which can be tailored to reflect your point of view or area of expertise.
What is Google Maps?
Google Maps is a Google service offering powerful, user-friendly mapping technology and local business information-including business locations, contact information, and driving directions. With Google Maps, you’ll enjoy the following unique features:
Integrated business search results - Find business locations and contact information all in one location, integrated on the map. For example, if you search for [ pizza in San Jose, CA ], locations of relevant listings and phone numbers appear on the map. You can also view additional information like hours of operation, types of payment accepted, and reviews.
Draggable maps - Click and drag maps to view adjacent sections immediately (no long waits for new areas to download).
Satellite imagery - View a satellite image (or a satellite image with superimposed map data) of your desired location that you can zoom and pan.
Detailed directions - Enter an address and let Google Maps plot the location and/or driving directions for you. Click any part of the driving directions to see a magnified map or satellite image of that part of the route.
Keyboard shortcuts - Pan left, right, up and down with the arrow keys. Pan wider with the Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys. Zoom in and out with the plus (+) key and minus (-) keys.
Double-click to zoom functionality - Double left-click to zoom in, and double right-click to zoom out (Ctrl+ double-click for Mac users).
Scroll wheel zooming - Use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out of the maps.
How can I get driving directions using Google Maps?
You can find directions on Google Maps in several ways:
Click your desired location on the map to view a pop-up window for that specific business. Click "To here," enter your starting address, then click "Get Directions." Google Maps will display your route and provide step-by-step directions. You can click any part of the directions to view a magnified map, satellite, or hybrid image of that part of the route. (Click "Reverse directions" to plot your return route.)
Include the words "to" or "from" in your search query on the main search box. For example, if you search for [ San Jose to 1585 Charleston Road, Mountain View, CA 94043 ], Google Maps will display a route and provide directions from San Jose to that address.
Click "Directions" next to the search query box on the Google Maps page, then enter your starting and destination addresses.
How do I find something in my city?
If you want to find a business in a city use the [in] operator to add a location to the search. For instance, [bookstore in Jacksonville, Fl] will return a map of Jacksonville with pins noting the locations of bookstores.
Desktop http://desktop.google.com/ Google Desktop gives you easy access to information on your computer and from the web. It’s a desktop search application that provides full text search over your email, files, music, photos, chats, Gmail, web pages that you’ve viewed, and more. By making your computer searchable, Google Desktop puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files, emails and bookmarks. It makes searching your computer as easy as searching the web with Google.
Google Desktop doesn’t just help you search your computer; it also helps you gather new information from the web with Sidebar, a desktop feature that shows you your new email, weather, stock information, personalized news, RSS/Atom feeds, and more. Sidebar is personalized automatically, without any manual configuration required (though you can certainly make your own customizations if you want to or turn off automatic personalization).
Earth http://earth.google.com/
The idea is simple. It’s a globe that sits inside your PC. You point and zoom to anyplace on the planet that you want to explore. Satellite images and local facts zoom into view. Tap into Google search to show local points of interest and facts. Zoom to a specific address to check out an apartment or hotel. View driving directions and even fly along your route.
Google US Government Search http://www.google.com/ig/usgov
Google has added two new layers to the US Government section: U.S. Senators, and US Congressional Districts. The U.S. Senators layer shows the current senators with links to their websites, images, and news. U.S. Congressional Districts layer shows congress district boarders and representatives, with links to the website of the representative, images, and news.
SketchUp http://sketchup.com SketchUp is a deceptively simple, amazingly powerful tool for creating, viewing, and modifying 3D ideas quickly and easily. SketchUp was developed to combine the elegance and spontaneity of pencil sketching with the speed and flexibility of today’s digital media.
Picasa http://picasa.google.com/ Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you will recognize. Picasa also makes advanced editing simple by putting one-click fixes and powerful effects at your fingertips.
Picasa also makes it a snap to share your pictures – you can email, print photos at home, and make gift CDs. And with the new Web Albums feature, you can upload your photos to the web with just one click. You can even download your friends’ photos directly back to Picasa on your own computer. It’s never been so easy to share photos online.
Hello http://www.hello.com When you use Hello, you get to see your photographs together with your friends online. You don’t have to wait for huge email attachments to download or upload your pictures to a public website. Just point at a picture and you can tell the person who sent it exactly what you think. With just one click, you can get the original high-quality, full-sized file to print.
Notebook http://www.google.com/notebook/ With Google Notebook, you can browse, clip, and organize information from across the web in a single online location that’s accessible from any computer. Planning a trip? Researching a product? Just add clippings to your notebook. You don’t ever have to leave your browser window.
Google Notebook makes web research of all kinds – from planning a vacation to researching a school paper to buying a car – easier and more efficient by enabling you to clip and gather information even while you’re browsing the web.
And since Google Notebook lives in your browser, you won’t be left with a scattered collection of notes, Word docs, and browser bookmarks to sort through; all your web findings will be gathering into one organized, easy accessible location that you can access from any computer.
Blogger http://www.blogger.com/start
Blogger is an online application for creating, updating, managing, and hosting blogs.
Reader http://reader.google.com
Google Reader is Google’s Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed reader.
Docs & Spreadsheets http://docs.google.com Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a web-based word processing and spreadsheet program that keeps documents current and lets the people you choose update files from their own computers. You can, for example, coordinate your student group’s homework assignments, access your family to-do list from work or home, or collaborate with remote colleagues on a new business plan.
Translate http://www.google.com/language_tools
A translation service that can translate between languages. It can be used to translate a word, a phrase, or an entire webpage.
Calendar http://www.google.com/calendar A free online shareable calendar service. With Google Calendar, it’s easy to keep track of all your life’s important events – birthdays, reunions, little league games, doctor’s appointments – all in one place.
Using Google Calendar, you can add events and invitations effortlessly, share with friends and family (or keep things to yourself), and search across the web for events you might enjoy. It’s organizing made easy.
Gmail http://mail.google.com/
Gmail is Google’s free webmail service. It comes with built-in Google search technology and over 2,600 megabytes of storage (and growing every day). You can keep all your important messages, files and pictures forever, use search to quickly and easily find anything you’re looking for, and make sense of it all with a new way of viewing messages as part of conversations.
Groups http://groups.google.com Google Groups is a free service which helps groups of people communicate effectively using email and the Web. Every group has a home page hosted by Google where members can start new discussions or reply to older topics. Every group also has its own email address to help its members stay in touch with each other. Members can read and search all public Google Groups content, including more than 1 billion postings from the Usenet bulletin board service, dating back to 1981. Every group has its own Google-fast search, making it easy to find discussions locked away deep in your group’s archive.
Base http://base.google.com Google Base is a place where you can easily submit all types of online and offline content, which we’ll make searchable on Google (if your content isn’t online yet, we’ll put it there). You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they do related searches. In fact, based on your items’ relevance, users may find them in their results for searches on Froogle, Google Maps and even our main Google web search.
Page Creator http://pages.google.com
Google Page Creator is a free tool that lets you create web pages right in your browser and publish them to the web with one click. There’s no software to download and no web designer to hire. The pages you create are hosted on Google servers and are available at http://yoursitename.googlepages.com for the world to see.
