How to search on Google

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/134479?hl=en

Tip 1: Start with the basics

No matter what you're looking for, start with a simple search like where's the closest airport?. You can always
add a few descriptive words if necessary.

If you're looking for a place or product in a specific location, add the location. For example, bakery seattle.

Tip 2: Search using your voice

Tired of typing? To search with your voice, say "Ok Google" or select the Microphone . Learn more about how
to search with your voice.

Tip 3: Choose words carefully

When you're deciding what words to put in the search box, try to choose words that are likely to appear on the
site you're looking for. For example, instead of saying my head hurts, say headache, because that’s the word a
medical site would use.

Tip 4: Don’t worry about the little things

Spelling. Google's spell checker automatically uses the most common spelling of a given word,
whether or not you spell it correctly.
Capitalization. A search for New York Times is the same as a search for new york times.

Tip 5: Find quick answers

For many searches, Google will do the work for you and show an answer to your question in the search results.
Some features, like information about sports teams, aren't available in all regions.
Weather: Search weather to see the weather in your location or add a city name, like weather seattle,
to find weather for a certain place.
Dictionary: Put define in front of any word to see its definition.
Calculations: Enter a math equation like 3*9123, or solve complex graphing equations.
Unit conversions: Enter any conversion, like 3 dollars in euros.
Sports: Search for the name of your team to see a schedule, game scores and more.
Quick facts: Search for the name of a celebrity, location, movie, or song to find related information.

Expert Search tips

Search operators
Reverse image search
Image search on Google
Filter your search results
Advanced Search

Search operators
You can use search operators and other punctuation to get more specific search results. Except for the examples
below, Google Search usually ignores punctuation.
Punctuation & symbols
Even though you can use the punctuation marks below when you search, including them doesn’t always
improve the results. If we don't think the punctuation will give you better results, you'll see suggested results for
that search without punctuation.

Symbol How to use it

+ Search for Google+ pages or blood types
Examples: +Chrome or AB+

@ Find social tags

Example: @agoogler
$ Find prices
Example: nikon $400
# Find popular hashtags for trending topics
Example: #throwbackthursday

- When you use a dash before a word or site, it excludes sites with that info from your results. This is
useful for words with multiple meanings, like Jaguar the car brand and jaguar the animal.
Examples: jaguar speed -car or pandas -site:wikipedia.org
" When you put a word or phrase in quotes, the results will only include pages with the same words in
the same order as the ones inside the quotes. Only use this if you're looking for an exact word or
phrase, otherwise you'll exclude many helpful results by mistake.
Example: "imagine all the people"
* Add an asterisk as a placeholder for any unknown or wildcard terms.
Example: "a * saved is a * earned"
.. Separate numbers by two periods without spaces to see results that contain numbers in a range.
Example: camera $50..$100

Search operators
Search operators are words that can be added to searches to help narrow down the results. Don’t worry about
memorizing every operator, because you can also use the Advanced Search page to create these searches.

Operator How to use it

site: Get results from certain sites or domains.
Examples: olympics site:nbc.com and olympics site:.gov
related: Find sites that are similar to a web address you already know.
Example: related:time.com
OR Find pages that might use one of several words.
Example: marathon OR race
info: Get information about a web address, including the cached version of the page, similar pages, and
pages that link to the site.
Example: info:google.com
cache: See what a page looks like the last time Google visited the site.
Example: cache:washington.edu
Note: When you search using operators or punctuation marks, don't add any spaces between the operator and
your search terms. A search for site:nytimes.com will work, but site: nytimes.com won't.
Reverse image search
You can use a picture as your search to find related images from around the web.

How reverse image search works

When you search using an image, your search results may include:
Similar images
Sites that include the image
Other sizes of the image you searched for
Search using an image works best when the image is likely to show up in other places on the web. So you'll get
more results for famous landmarks than you will for personal images like your latest family photo.

Reverse image search using your computer

You can search using an image on these computer browsers:
Chrome 5+
Internet Explorer 9+
Safari 5+
Firefox 4+

Upload an image

1. Visit images.google.com or click the camera icon in the search box on any Images results page .
2. Click Upload an image.
3. Click Choose file.
4. Select the image from your computer.

Drag & drop an image into the search box

If you're on Chrome or Firefox 4+, you can drag an image from your computer into the search box.
1. Visit images.google.com.
2. On your computer, click the image you want to search for.
3. While holding down the mouse, drag the image into the search box.

Search using an image URL

1. On any website, right-click an image and select Copy image URL.

2. Visit images.google.com or click the camera icon in the search box on any Images results page .
3. Click Paste image URL.
4. Paste the URL you copied into the box.
5. Click Search by image.

Right-click an image on a site (Chrome & Firefox)

Chrome
1. Right-click any image you see on a website or in search results.
2. Click Search Google for this image.
3. A new tab will open with your results.
 Firefox
1. Download the Search by Image extension.
2. Right-click any image you see on a website or in search results.
3. Click Search Google with this image.
4. A new tab will open with your results.

Reverse image search using your phone or tablet

You can search Google to find images that are similar to ones you see in search results. This is available on the
Chrome app (Android and iPhone or iPad).
1. Use the Chrome app to do a search.
2. Touch the image you want to search with to open a larger version of the image.
3. Press and hold the image. In the box that appears, touch Search Google for this image.

How Google uses the image you search with

When you search using an image, any images or URLs that you upload will be stored by Google. Google only
uses these images and URLs to make our products and services better.
Filter your search results
You can filter and customize your search results to find exactly what you want. For example, you can find sites
updated within the last 24 hours, or photos of a certain color.
Note: Filtering your search results doesn't change any of your search settings. To change settings like
SafeSearch, results per page, languages, or delete past searches, visit the Search settings page.

Add or remove filters

Computer
1. Do a search on Google.
2. Choose the type of result you want to see, like Images or News, by selecting a type under the search box.
Click More to see extra choices.
3. Below the search box, click Search tools to see more filters you can apply to your search. The Search
tools you see will be different based on your search and the filters you've already used, so you won't see
all the options every time.
4. To remove any filters you've added through Search tools, click Clear.

Mobile browser
Use these instructions if you're searching on a mobile browser, like Chrome or Safari, on your phone or tablet.
1. Do a search on Google.
2. Choose the type of result you want to see, like Images or News, by selecting a type under the search box.
Touch More to see extra choices.
3. Touch More > Search tools to see more filters you can apply to your search. The Search tools you see
will be different based on your search and the filters you've already used, so you won't see all the options
every time.
4. To remove any filters you've added through Search tools, touch Clear.

Ways to filter search results

Type of result: At the top or bottom of a search results page, you’ll see a number of ways to filter your
results to see one type of content. For example, click Images to have all of your search results be pictures, or
Shopping to see search results that help you find ways to buy the things you searched for.
Search tools: Once you’ve decided which type of results you want, you can refine your results even further
using Search tools. Search tools can include things like location, color, size, and the date a page was
published.
 Types of search tools
Some Search tools aren't available in all languages or only show if you're signed in to your Google Account.
Search tools you can use for Web results
Search tools will be different based on the type of results you’re looking at, but may include:
Publish date: Limit results according to when they were published on the Web.
Verbatim: Search for exact words or phrases.
Dictionary: Find definitions, synonyms, images, and more for your search term.
Private: If you're signed in to your Google Account, you can see content that was shared with you on
Google+ or Gmail.
Nearby: See results for your current location.
Videos: Filter by length of video, quality, and source, like youtube.com.
Recipes: Filter by ingredients, cook time, and calories.
Applications: Choose the price and operating system, or OS, for available apps.
Patents: Select a patent's filing or publishing date, the patent office it was filed in, filing status, and type.
You can also do a patent search directly at patents.google.com.
Search tools you can use for Images results
Size: Pick among large, medium, or icon, or set the exact dimensions.
Color: Find images of a certain color, black and white, or transparent.
Type: Only see images that are faces, photos, clip art, line drawings, or animated GIFs.
Time: Find a photo that was recently published, or published on a certain date.
Usage rights: See photos that you can reuse or modify. Learn how to find content to reuse.

Search operators
Another way to filter results is by using search operators, which are words or symbols that help you narrow
down your results.

Advanced Search
Narrow down search results for complex searches by using the Advanced Search page. For example, you can
find sites updated in the last 24 hours or images that are in black and white.

Do an Advanced Search
1. Go to the Advanced Search page.
Advanced Search for websites
Advanced Search for images
2. In the "Find pages with" section, enter your search terms.
3. In the "Then narrow your results by" section, choose the filters you want to use. You can use one or more
filters.
4. Click Advanced Search.
Tip: You can also use many of these filters in the search box with search operators.
Advanced Search filters you can use

Websites

Language
Region
Last updated date
Site or domain
Where the search terms appear on the page
SafeSearch
Reading level
File type
Usage rights (find pages that you have permission to use)

Images

Size
Aspect ratio
Color
Type (face, animated, etc.)
Site or domain
Filetype
SafeSearch
Usage rights (find images that you have permission to use)