20 Tips for More Efficient Google Searches

Written for Dumblittleman.com on 06/07/2007 by Leo Babauta and republished on 10/3/09. Leo offers advice on living life productively simple at his famous Zen Habits blog.

Photo Credit: manfrys

For millions of people Google is an indispensable search tool that they use every day, in all facets of their lives. From work or school, research, to looking up movies and celebrities to news and gossip, Google is the go-to search engine. But instead of just typing in a phrase and wading through page after page of results, there are a number of ways to make your searches more efficient. Some of these are obvious ones, that you probably know about. But others are lesser-known, and others are known but not often used. Use this guide to learn more about, or be reminded of, some of the best ways to get exactly what you’re looking for, and quickly.

1. Either/or Google normally searches for pages that contain all the words you type in the search box, but if you want pages that have one term or another (or both), use the OR operator — or use the “|” symbol (pipe symbol) to save you a keystroke. [dumb | little | man]
2. Quotes If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. ["dumb little man"] will only find that exact phrase. [dumb "little man"] will find pages that contain the word dumb and the exact phrase “little man”.
3. Not If you don’t want a term or phrase, use the “-” symbol. [-dumb little man] will return pages that contain “little” and “man” but that don’t contain “dumb”.
4. Similar terms Use the “~” symbol to return similar terms. [~dumb little man -dumb] will get you pages that contain “funny little man” and “stupid little man” but not “dumb little man”.
5. Wildcard The “*” symbol is a wildcard. This is useful if you’re trying to find the lyrics to a song, but can’t remember the exact lyrics. [can't * me love lyrics] will return the Beatles song you’re looking for. It’s also useful for finding stuff only in certain domains, such as
   educational information: ["dumb little man" research *.edu].
6. Advanced search If you can’t remember any of these operators, you can always use Google’s advanced search.
7. Definitions Use the “define:” operator to get a quick definition. [define:dumb] will give you a whole host of definitions from different sources, with links.
8. Calculator One of the handiest uses of Google, type in a quick calculation in the search box and get an answer. It’s faster than calling up your computer’s calculator in most cases. Use the +, -, *, / symbols and parentheses to do a simple equation.
9. Numrange This little-known feature searches for a range of numbers. For example, ["best books 2002..2007] will return lists of best books for each of the years from 2002 to 2007 (note the two periods between the two numbers).
10. Site-specific Use the “site:” operator to search only within a certain website. [site:dumblittleman.com leo] will search for the term “leo” only within this blog.
11. Backlinks The “link:” operator will find pages that link to a specific URL. You can use this not only for a main URL but even to a specific page. Not all links to an URL are listed, however.
12. Vertical searchInstead of searching for a term across all pages on the web, search within a specialized field. Google has a number of specific searches, allowing you to search within blogs, news, books, and much more:
• Blog Search
• Book Search
• Scholar
• Catalogs
• Code Search
• Directory
• Finance
• Images
• Local/Maps
• News
• Patent Search
• Product Search
• Video
13. Movies Use the “movie:” operator to search for a movie title along with either a zip code or U.S. city and state to get a list of movie theaters in the area and show times.
14. Music The “music:” operator returns content related to music only.
15. Unit converter Use Google for a quick conversion, from yards to meters for example, or different currency: [12 meters in yards]
16. Types of numbersGoogle algorithms can recognize patterns in numbers you enter, so you can search for:
• Telephone area codes
• Vehicle ID number (US only)
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC) equipment numbers (US only)
• UPC codes
• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airplane registration number (US only)
• Patent numbers (US only)
• Even stock quotes (using the stock symbol) or a weather forecast regarding the next five days
17. File types If you just want to search for .PDF files, or Word documents, or Excel spreadsheets, for example, use the “filetype:” operator.
18. Location of term By default, Google searches for your term throughout a web page. But if you just want it to search certain locations, you can use operators such as “inurl:”, “intitle:”, “intext:”, and “inanchor:”. Those search for a term only within the URL, the title,
    the body text, and the anchor text (the text used to describe a link).
19. Cached pages Looking for a version of a page the Google stores on its own servers? This can help with outdated or update pages. Use the “cached:” operator.
20. Answer to life, the universe, and everything Search for that phrase, in lower case, and Google will give you the answer.

For more on Google’s search syntax, see this guide, and this one.

Source: http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/06/20-tips-for-more-efficient-google.html

25 Things Small Businesses Should Know About the New Facebook

by onlinemba.com

Love it or hate it, the new Facebook is coming, and if you’re a small business owner, you’re going to have to learn how to deal with the changes or get left behind. The new Facebook offers even more opportunities for social engagement, Page insights, and even some free advertising, all of which can mean great things for your business if you can go with the flow. Read on to find out 25 things you really need to know to survive, and thrive, with your small business on the new Facebook.

1. You need to be on Facebook

   If you’re not on Facebook already, here’s this for a fact: there are 800 million users on the site, and most of them are active. In fact, Facebook recently hit a record for the most visitors in one day with 500 million. That means you can’t ignore the power of this social media site anymore.

2. Liking is no longer enough

   Facebook is introducing new custom verbs, including “listen” and “cook.” That means brands can and must get more creative with engagement, such as building campaigns around using specific words for the brand.

3. Public personal profiles may be more appropriate than Pages

   Facebook is offering the ability to turn your profile public, and allowing people to subscribe to your updates without becoming Friends. This means that independent business owners, experts, authors, and other more personal Pages might find that a profile is more appropriate now.

4. Nonfans can comment

   On the new Facebook, any fan and non-fan alike can engage on your Facebook Page. This means that you need to have a plan for dealing with negative comments, if you don’t have one already.

5. Social actions will hold more weight

   Checking in, commenting on photos, and more social actions will be more prominent on the new Facebook, so Liking is not really all that important anymore.

6. You can get recommendations on your page

   When fans Like your page now, they can add endorsements, offering even more opportunities for engagement in small business.

7. There are plenty of new apps for Facebook Pages

   Facebook is offering a bunch of new apps for Pages, including Polls, Surveys, Coupons, and Extended Info, as well as a static FBML that offers lots of new customization and interaction with fans on Facebook.

8. You can find out how many people are talking about your page

   A new metric on Pages measures user activity related to the page. however, it doesn’t offer a lot of information about what users are actually doing.

9. You’ll need to tell a consistent story

   Random updates aren’t going to cut it anymore, unless you want to be lost in the noise of Facebook. Regular updates and user interaction will earn you more exposure in Timelines.

10. Custom tabs have to be secure

    Facebook is ramping up privacy and security options, and Pages are no exception. All custom designed Facebook tabs with third party site content are now required to use SSL hosting, which is an added expense you’ll need to be aware of.

11. Custom URLs are more easily attainable

    Previously, business pages needed a number of likes to get a custom URL, but now, there is no requirement. That means it’s even easier now to point fans to your Page on Facebook.

12. Posts on public fan pages show up in friends’ Tickers

    Tickers show a lot more information than the News Feed, so every posts that fans make on your public page with show up in their friends’ Tickers. This makes it more important than ever to engage fans socially on your Page, so you’re constantly present in Tickers.

13. Smart lists make it easy to divide your lives up

    If you’re having trouble keeping up with both your grandma and your business associates, Smart Lists can help you get things sorted. Just add different categories of friends (family, business, close friends) to different lists, and you can keep everything separate.

14. Great exposure may not come free anymore

    Getting a strong presence on the new Facebook may mean using tools that aren’t free, such as third-party apps and Facebook Ads. Although these aren’t terribly expensive, it can be discouraging for small businesses who prefer to maintain a free presence on Facebook.

15. Less compelling content means less exposure

    Facebook has added a control that allows users to unmark top stories, which is used to automatically edit feeds in the future. That means businesses with boring updates with not be given as much exposure as those who offer good content.

16. Facebook is offering sponsored stories

    Facebook users may be getting good at tuning out that little ad box on the right, but marketers have a new tool: Sponsored Stories. That means small business advertisers can place their stories right in News Feeds, where most users are looking anyway.

17. Facebook will soon offer premium ads

    Facebook advertisers will soon have a new option for customer engagement in the form of premium ads, including video clips.

18. Facebook is offering free advertising

    Along with the new Facebook, you can expect to see a push for more small business on the site. In fact, Facebook will soon be offering a $50 ad credit for all small businesses to use to promote their brand, money that experts say will be well spent.

19. Customers can actually shop on Facebook

    With Facebook Fan Stores, small businesses can actually sell items on Facebook. Fans can buy and share items, and stores can promote their pages through Facebook advertising.

20. You can see who is sharing your posts

    Facebook is promoting more sharing on the site, and you can actually see how they are doing it. For any post that has been shared, you’ll see a link below it to find out who exactly has shared it. This is a great way to find out who your key influencers are.

21. You have to feed your key users

    Key influencers in your fan base will be come even more important. Use them and reward them for amplifying your messages, because you will need them to pass along your popularity.

22. You can find out how many friends your Page’s fans have

    Find out the raw number of people your page may be exposed to by checking out Friends of Fans, which shows you how many people you have the potential to touch with a fan interaction.

23. You can learn more about post impressions

    Previously, Facebook only shared information about how many people saw your post, but now, you can find detailed information. This explains what your readers are commenting on and looking at the most, as well as when they are doing it.

24. Facebook Timelines are more insightful

    You can learn more about potential customers and even employees with Facebook Timeline, which focuses on what’s important in a user’s life.

25. You’re not getting choked with constant notifications anymore

    Have you been hearing crickets in your business inbox? It may be because Facebook isn’t sending notifications for every single thing that happens on the site anymore, instead sending a daily summary, and presumably, saving millions of hours of productivity.