Four Google Search Tips You May Not Know About

1. Forget the site: operator, just use ‘at’

Some of you would have known the site: search operator. You can use it to restrict search results to pages from a particular site (e.g.: [site:lifehacker.com android apps]). This is cumbersome if the site you want to search has a pretty long name. You also have to type the TLD – .com, .org, .edu, whatever.

Forget the site operator and use the at keyword instead. The next time you want to look up something about android on Lifehacker, try [android apps at lifehacker]. It’s easier on your fingers.

2. Forget the define keyword

The nerds among us would frequently use the define: keyword to look up for definitions. Some of you would use ‘what is’ and Google would instantly show you the meaning for the word you’re searching.

You needn’t necessarily use the define keyword anymore to get definitions in search results. Just type any word whose definition you’d like to know and Google will instantly give you the meaning of the term, with pronunciation and links to reputed online dictionaries. Try this.

3. Use AROUND(n) for proximity search

AROUND(n) is an undocumented search operator and it will be of immense use when you’re looking for pages with two terms separated by n number of words. It’s a bit more complicated than just using the AND operator.

Whereas using [India AND Manmohan] will show you pages containing both these words, [India AROUND(5) Manmohan] will show you only those pages that contain these two words with five words in the middle.

4. Also search for synonymous words with ~ operator

You can use the tilde (~) operator to search for pages that not only contain the word that follows it, but also its synonyms. Here’s a use-case: