5 Tips to Become a Better Googler

It’s true, anyone can do a Google search to find what they want.  You simply type in the phrase: dental braces and Bam!  You get back pages and pages of results that have the word dental and braces in them. However, did you know there are certain things you can do to make your Google search more applicable to exactly what you’re searching?  You can easily limit your frustrations and streamline the results you get to more quickly locate your target with just a few adjustments to your query.

Here are a few tips that the average searcher doesn’t know that can help improve the search experience:

Search with “Quotations “

If you simply type in the phrase Seo Services, Google will return any results that have the words seo and services in them in no particular order or relevance.  So you could end up with random blog posts, press releases, quotes  and stories that don’t actually find you seo services.  If you add quotations: “Seo Services”, your search gets smaller because Google will only return results that have the words of the searched phrase together.

Use the +1 Feature

If you’ve done your search and found exactly what you’re looking for, you can use the +1 feature to make it come up again the next time that you’re looking for the same thing.  For example, you did the “Seo Services” query and found AbsolutePlacementToday.com– You can now push the +1 that displays on the top right hand corner of the listed result and Google will automatically push it up to the top of your individual search results.

Search with a Minus –

Let’s say you’re doing research for your fantasy football team and looking for stats on players.  If you’re thinking about snagging Donovan McNabb but you want to know what he’s done since leaving the Eagles, you can search like this: “Donovan McNabb stats” -“Philadelphia Eagles”.  Make sure to put a space before the minus sign but no space after.  This will tell Google to return results on his stats unrelated to his time with the Eagles.

Search by Using InUrl:

If you use InUrl in your searches, Google will only return results that have the searched term in its url.  See here: InUrl: “Designer Shoes”

Search with a Plus Sign +

You can manipulate results with a plus sign in the same way you can with a minus sign.  If you’re looking for schools that offer online college degrees, your search might look like this: “University” +”Online College Degrees”

There you go!  Now you’re ready to search like a pro!

Will Google+ Change Everything about Search?

There’s a lot of buzz these days about Google+.  We’re hearing stories of it being blocked by Facebook, that it’s already being favored by the male population ( I have a theory on that…but it’s not blog friendly ) and that it’s basically setting the stage to complete Google’s process of complete world domination.

Upon my first visit to Google+ a little over a week ago, I find that it’s extremely user friendly.  I mean, how hard is it to drag someone into a circle?  But, let’s look at this a little deeper.  Google already knows more about me than my mom does.  And that’s saying a lot.  I talk to my mom on average of at least 2 or 3 times a day on the phone, we do lunch frequently and she stops by my house on her way home on a regular basis.  I tell her everything.  But, she doesn’t know exactly what I’m doing on my computer 12 hours out of the day.  She doesn’t know that I have a penchant for visiting shopping sites like Piperlime ( in my free time, boss ) to fill up my cart as a ‘wish list’ of purchases I’ll make when I’m filthy rich.  (I guess that cat’s out of the bag now…)  Google has known for a long time and Google+ now knows my friends, what I look like, who I converse with regularly or just stalk.  What will it do with all of that information?  Google+ is not for the paranoid or faint of heart.

For those who may not be in the know, Google+ is the new social networking site that’s been launched by Google.  It works a little bit like Twitter and a little bit like Facebook – a bit of a hybrid if you will.  You follow people, put them in your circles and they put you in theirs.  You can read the posts of people you’re following even if they’re not following you.  There’s an iPhone app and it’s already reportedly grown to around 18 million users in three weeks.  For reference, it took Facebook a little over a year to get to 5 million.

How it will affect businesses and their organic search engine results is to be determined.  I think it will change the game completely.  That’s just my opinion.  And I’m wrong A LOT.  But if you’re a business owner, you might want to at least brush up on how Google+ works because the business friendly version is coming soon.  Get ready, people. Google+ is coming for you.