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Thanks to a unique algorithm that produces most relevant results to any given
query, Google has become, indisputably, the best search engine on the Internet.
On the last count, Google has indexed over 4 billion pages and tackles around
200 million searches a day! A cluster of 100 thousand servers are used to store,
crunch and spew out the query results with lightning speed that you are so accustomed
to see.
This phenomenal growth has made Google from a garage startup to an Internet
behemoth faster than any company has done before. The prodigies behind this
unique search engine, Larry Page and Sergey Brin in the process already got
enlisted themselves in billionaire club.
Google is no longer a mere search engine! It is increasingly broadening its
offerings to include great new services and excellent tools. Among these services,
most notables are News - a news aggregation and searching service, Blogger -
an online journal-keeping solution, Froogle - a marketplace for comparison shopping,
Groups - online discussion groups, Answers - a place to get hard-to-find information
for a price, etc.
Google also recently unveiled two more programs. Orkut - a social networking
service and Gmail - a free web mail service. Orkut is an online community, where
a person can participate in it by invitation from a member only.
If you constantly frown over limited space of your hotmail or Yahoo accounts
because they get filled up with junk mails and force you to delete old messages
frequently, you will love Gmail with its 1 GB of storage capacity. There are
several great features available in Gmail system too. One of them, dubbed as
Conversations, allow you to view all exchange mails with somebody, once you
select one of the mails. Sorting and searching emails also become much easier
with Gmail. The only catch is Gmail displays relevant ads - based on the keywords
found in your email - on the right side of the screen when you view an email,
much like Google displays ads when you view search results.
Although, Google is constantly adding new and extremely useful features, most
of us unfortunately do not use all the capacities of the search engine itself.
The following tips will make your Internet browsing more effective if even you
are an avid net user.
Choose most specific search words
Google returns web pages that contain all the words in your query. If you would
like to see the most relevant pages on the first page of your search result,
be very specific with your choice of words. For example: if you would like to
research on former NHL hockey player Makarov, you should start your search with
Makarov not hockey player. Even better if you search for the words: hockey player
Makarov. Because just the word Makarov will show web pages on "Makarov"
a Russian-made handgun and numerous other people and products with the name
Makarov. Refining your query in Google means adding more specific words to your
initial search. In this example you will hit the right web pages if your search
contains: NHL hockey player Makarov.
Sets - a new feature
What if you are looking for a pair of Valentino designer jeans but can't recall
the name of the designer? Query on Italian designer jeans may bring you the
right result; however, there is a better tool that Google is planning to implement
soon, called "Sets".
Fill up the names of some designers that you remember in the given form such
as Levis, Wrangler, Versace and click either of the two buttons and voila! You
will get a list of designers name and probably, Valentino will be there. But
bear in mind that this feature is still at Beta stage.
Calculator
The other day, I was sitting in a colleague's office. She needed to calculate
some basic stuffs and looking for her calculator on her desk. Much to her dismay,
she could not find the calculator and started to fumble through her computer
programs in her attempt to find Microsoft calculator. I noticed that she was
online and the browser was open. I, politely, asked her whether she knew that
Google could actually calculate most common mathematical expressions. It came
out to be, she did not! She was just amazed after trying it herself. Google
is even capable of unit conversion! Give it a try!
Definition
If you are looking for a definition of a particular word or a phrase, Google
is the best place to get it. In Google search box, write "define: the word
or phrase" without the quotation marks and click search button. If there
is a definition available for your search term you will, most certainly, get
it. It's a very useful feature for students and people, those who write research
papers.
Synonyms
You may think that search engines are too dumb to show query results of the
synonyms of your search term. It's not so! At least, in the case of Google!
If you use tilde "~" in front of a keyword in your search term, Google
will bring results on the synonyms of that word as well.
Searching within a website
Another great feature of Google search engine allows you to make your query
within a specific website. First you write your search term in the Google search
box and then write "site: the website or domain name". For example:
if you are looking for word "Microsoft" within the website www.micromedia.com
you will write: Microsoft site:
micromedia.com.
Check backward links to your website
If you have a website, Google search engine also has a nice feature to show
you which web pages are linking to yours. In the search box, write: Link: you
website address.
Other important tips to remember are:
There is no need to use "AND". Google always relate all the words
in a search term with Boolean "and".
However, if you would like to make your query for two words - one or another
- you can use "OR". You have to write "or" in capital letters
to give it Boolean value.
Google is not case sensitive. You can write your search terms either in capital
or in small letters. You can even mix them up.
Google omits most of the very common words, such as the, in, etc. If you, indeed,
need to add a specific word forcefully, use plus (+) sign in front of that particular
word. Same way, you can exclude a word from your search expression
by putting minus (-) sign in front it.
If you would like to make a search on an exact phrase or expression, put the
words within quotation marks. That way, your search result will show only those
pages where the exact expression was found. In order to search the phrase: For
whom the bell tolls, write "For whom the bell tolls" in the search
box.
I'll also suggest you to download the Google Toolbar. Apart from the search
box and its ability to block pop-ups, Google Toolbar also shows the pagerank
of the website you are visiting now. Pagerank is a system of evaluating web
pages - developed by Google founders and used as the core of Google's search
engine algorithm. The Toolbar also includes feature with the ability to fill
up online forms from stored information automatically. You can also keep your
daily journal or blog right from the toolbar.
Much to net users delight, Google, in accordance with its ambitious mission
statement to organize world's information and make it universally useful and
accessible, so far doing a great job by providing us the best search engine
and extremely handy features and services. We can only hope that the flow of
innovative ideas from Google will not slow down in future, when it becomes a
public company.
About the Author:
Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present CEO of Rusbiz.com.
A Ph. D. in Information Technology, he has wide experience in Business Consulting,
International Trade and Web Marketing. Rusbiz is a Global B2B Emarketplace with
solutions to start and run online business.You can contact him at mailto:nowshaderusbiz.com,
http://ezine.rusbiz.com, http://www.rusbiz.com |
