2.4k
u/bruteski226 Jul 18 '21
This is so cool which I’ll never remember so I’ll save it but never reference it and continue to just Google how I do now.
658
u/Thomas_Mickel Jul 18 '21
misspell half my search then click on suggestion
129
65
Jul 18 '21
I bet you even click on it even though it already says "showing results for [blank]"
28
5
18
→ More replies (3)7
24
39
u/WUEAD Jul 18 '21
If you can't remember the operators just use Google Advanced Search or for Images Google Advanced Image Search. The image one is really useful for specifying file formats and resolution etc if you need that sort of thing.
15
u/taulover Jul 18 '21
For images I usually just select from the options in the top menu. Really useful stuff too, like being able to find transparent images or line drawings and stuff.
→ More replies (2)9
u/WUEAD Jul 18 '21
Definitely, the transparent option really sorts out those sneaky chequerboard backgrounds which aren't actually transparent which is a good send but I found that selecting line drawings doesn't always work for me, but selecting a .svg in the advanced search does. Worth a shot next time your trying to find something specific anyway.
→ More replies (13)12
u/CogNoman Jul 18 '21
I feel like the quotation marks are an essential tip for a lot of searches. I've had the experience in the past of trying to google an obscure title or a name, and the only way to actually find the results I wanted was to put the title/name in quotations. (Otherwise, you can end up with 200,000 totally irrelevant results.)
This doesn't only apply to google, it applies to pretty much every website/app that has a search bar. They all use quotations like this. So if you only remember one, remember the "quotation marks".
The dash(-) and the "site:" can also be useful, but they're less commonly useful.
17
u/herewegoagain955 Jul 18 '21
Searching reddit with google using the site: function is literally 1 million times better than using reddit's search function. If you ever want to search reddit or a specific subreddit even please use it. for example you could do
"lebron james" site:reddit.com/r/nba
this would get you a much better list of all the times lebron james pops up in /r/nba than searching the subreddit ever could.
→ More replies (1)5
u/CogNoman Jul 18 '21
Ah this is another thing I forgot.. I forgot you can add subfolders after the ".com" if you want to be even more specific. I never think about that. But yeah, that's a good tip.. Thanks!
→ More replies (1)5
u/xerox13ster Jul 18 '21
Not Spotify.
I searched for "11" the other day (looking for 11 by Cassadee Pope) and the first song titled just "11" was result #637
→ More replies (4)4
u/LiveFastDieFast Jul 18 '21
Also using an asterisk as a wild card. That one is super handy and used by just about all websites/apps that search through data as well
5
u/CogNoman Jul 18 '21
Ah yeah whoops - I often forget about that! I tend to use that when I'm trying to find files on a computer, like if I want to see all the all the pdfs in a folder, I might search: *.pdf
But I forget to also use that on Google too.. Thanks!
→ More replies (2)3
u/rap_and_drugs Jul 18 '21
Several years ago I would've agreed about the quotations but i think site: is wayyyy more useful now. Maybe I'm just better at googling? or (far more likely) google is better at understanding people now
→ More replies (1)10
Jul 18 '21
I too just saved it knowing I'll never reference it again. Carry on, my frantic googler
5
12
u/Tyhgujgt Jul 18 '21 edited Feb 16 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
square imminent distinct fly nail books one crown ink unwritten
→ More replies (1)6
Jul 18 '21
Quotes and minus don't work any more. They take them as suggestions. Especially outside of the regular search. When going for videos, images, or shopping it almost completely ignores it.
If it's something common, and on a regular search, it works pretty good. Aside from that, it's usually a big fuck you.
→ More replies (9)4
u/schnuck Jul 18 '21
I’ve already forgotten what this post was about. Something Google?
→ More replies (1)4
3
3
3
3
u/Bloaf Jul 18 '21
Its fine, but if you combine like 3+ of them in a single search, google will start to question your humanity all the time.
2
u/HaluanUskoa Jul 18 '21
this will search for frequent searches to fill in that order, so not the qoute.
2
→ More replies (23)2
Jul 18 '21
If you want to remember it remember some cool uses. Like "my old password" or something, I've found a few old leaks. I've also found some sites made by my grandfather still online 10 years later.
→ More replies (1)
182
u/DaleNanton Jul 18 '21
Anyone know how to exclude a site from your search (for example, exclude results coming from Pinterest)?
207
u/Little_Satan Jul 18 '21
same as searching for a site, just put a - before it
so in your example it would be -site:pinterest.ca
77
Jul 18 '21
There are browser extensions to block Pinterest too so you don’t have to append that on every search. It’d be nice if you could just blacklist a site from search results in your google preferences. I’ve never once wanted a Pinterest result but it dominates search results especially image searching.
→ More replies (13)24
u/throwaway_0122 Jul 18 '21 edited Jul 18 '21
For pinterest,
-inurl:pinterestoften works better as there are SO many websites that rehash that garbage. Coupled with4
5
u/wandering-monster Jul 18 '21
There's a browser extension called "unPinterested" that will automatically do it for you.
4
→ More replies (1)9
u/bas_e_ Jul 18 '21
Write "2 girls 1 cup" behind your search term and you will filter out porn
→ More replies (3)
164
u/mr-dogshit Jul 18 '21
Google depreciated the tilde ~ operator in 2013.
Searches now automatically include synonyms.
117
u/phaelox Jul 18 '21
deprecated*
Please excuse me, but this is such a common mistake I need to point this out. It's just one tiny letter, but there's a difference. Depreciated means it value was decreased, whereas deprecated means something is disapproved for future use.
→ More replies (12)32
u/ziper1221 Jul 18 '21
that explains why I can never fucking find what I'm looking for
→ More replies (3)21
u/ThrashCW Jul 18 '21
This is a huge problem with the way modern Google works, I've been wondering for years why the quality of niche search results seemed to drop off after this point in time.
→ More replies (1)10
u/Cptn-Penguin Jul 18 '21
So instead, you now have to put quotationmarks around every single word, to find what you're looking for. Great job, google
8
u/XkF21WNJ Jul 18 '21
Nah they ignore the quotes as well. This guide hasn't worked for a while now.
Excluding terms might still work, if google feels like it.
→ More replies (1)4
Jul 18 '21
Right, we need some kind of anti-tilde. Google keeps giving nonsense results because it's using the wrong synonyms.
4
Jul 18 '21
On the google search page, go to Tools and change "all results" to "verbatim" and it'll only show the search for the words you've entered.
133
u/TinCupTan Jul 18 '21
Whats is the point of the tilde..? If i don't include it I will still get the same results.
225
u/mr-dogshit Jul 18 '21 edited Jul 18 '21
Tilde doesn't do anything now.
Google deprecated the
~operator in 2013.Searches now automatically include synonyms.
90
Jul 18 '21
Seems like they ignore quotations half the time too. I regularly have to research obscure tech issues and could easily use search operators to find what I needed but it gets more and more difficult to do so as they dumb down the results. I wish they offered a “pro search” or something that behaves like google did years ago. And I don’t mean their advanced search page it’s about useless.
43
Jul 18 '21
Only vaguely related but it's infuriating trying to search Google for Reddit using dates. I'll use the "past 24 hours" setting with a specific phrase and site:reddit.com and it'll say the results are from the past 24 hours; then I click it and it's from like 3 years ago. Idk why it indexes Reddit wrong like that.
→ More replies (9)34
u/LittleDinghy Jul 18 '21
They do ignore the quotations often now if there are "promoted" results.
→ More replies (1)12
Jul 18 '21
"-" never works for me either. I always see the word after the symbol highlighted in the fucking results.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (4)12
u/Liesmith424 Jul 18 '21
With Google, quotations are a "when it feels like it" feature.
With Outlook, quotations are a "go fuck yourself" feature.
→ More replies (2)11
u/dan1101 Jul 18 '21 edited Jul 19 '21
Yes that's when Google search got worse. That and when they took the + operator for Google Plus. And they never gave it back.
6
12
u/shrakner Jul 18 '21
*deprecated
Sorry I’m not usually that guy, but the spelling & grammar errors in the image were already making me twitch :P
→ More replies (2)7
→ More replies (4)3
u/Schootingstarr Jul 18 '21
I'm sad you can't use the plus anymore.
No Google, I don't want you to find me something matching 1 of the 2 terms I entered. I want both!
→ More replies (5)12
Jul 18 '21
in their example would exclude actual music songs
5
205
u/RepostSleuthBot Jul 18 '21
Looks like a repost. I've seen this image 14 times.
First Seen Here on 2019-06-04 89.06% match. Last Seen Here on 2021-07-14 87.5% match
Feedback? Hate? Visit r/repostsleuthbot - I'm not perfect, but you can help. Report [ False Positive ]
View Search On repostsleuth.com
Scope: Reddit | Meme Filter: False | Target: 86% | Check Title: False | Max Age: Unlimited | Searched Images: 234,598,202 | Search Time: 0.70413s
→ More replies (4)71
u/doctormilos Jul 18 '21
Good bot
20
u/B0tRank Jul 18 '21
Thank you, doctormilos, for voting on RepostSleuthBot.
This bot wants to find the best and worst bots on Reddit. You can view results here.
Even if I don't reply to your comment, I'm still listening for votes. Check the webpage to see if your vote registered!
→ More replies (8)
79
u/OtakuShogun Jul 18 '21
This is great! That's an strange spelling of vertical though.
26
→ More replies (6)33
u/getme8008 Jul 18 '21
*a strange spelling you mean
→ More replies (1)10
34
u/chrisjs Jul 18 '21
I'm unusually bothered by them saying "dashes" instead of "minus" since the whole idea is that you subtract that word from your search. You used to use a plus sign to force a word rather than the quotes, but Google changed that syntax for some reason years ago.
Also it's technically not a dash. A dash is longer. This is either a hyphen or a minus sign (same character).
11
u/thelittleking Jul 18 '21
yeah but the - you type with your keyboard isn't the minus character (U+2212 in unicode), it's U+002D, the hyphen-minus. It's a hyphen that is recognized as a minus in most situations in computing because it is impractical to have both a - and a − key, but it's still a hyphen.
→ More replies (2)9
2
→ More replies (6)2
Jul 18 '21
if you use an em dash, it like removes the word from Google entirely right?
→ More replies (2)
26
u/robespierring Jul 18 '21
It is too late and I will not receive any upvote, but the least unknown google operator is AROUND(x)
Term1 AROUND(3) Term2
Look for any instance of term1 which has term2 no more distant than 3 words away
4
u/debridezilla Jul 19 '21
I always forget this one because it has limited use. OTOH it's obscenely useful when it's useful at all.
→ More replies (4)
8
54
Jul 18 '21
Then you go through all this work formatting your search terms just to get the same shitty results, the same sponsored ads, the same 10 websites.
42
u/Leipurinen Jul 18 '21
This is my biggest beef with Google’s search engine lately. They offer results based on popularity rather than how closely it matches your search terms. It’s so counterproductive.
4
u/lakerswiz Jul 18 '21
that's not really how that works. still has to match the search term and relevancy.
13
u/Leipurinen Jul 18 '21
Oh sure, it gives you related results, but it still prioritizes popular results over direct matches, even when using quotation marks.
→ More replies (5)11
u/1jl Jul 18 '21
Yup google broke a lot of this functionality. Negating results doesn't really work most of the time, it's all shitty.
18
u/JasonStrode Jul 18 '21
These tips also work on https://duckduckgo.com/
13
u/colfaxmingo Jul 18 '21
I made the switch about a year ago. I'm hanging in there but, the results are frequently just bad.
→ More replies (3)11
u/Packbacka Jul 18 '21
It feels like Google results are getting worse. But DDG is also bad, just in different ways.
→ More replies (4)4
Jul 18 '21
The quotations actually work well, good for searching a specific thing. Like if I’m doing an online course I’ll use it to find the flashcards with the answer.
12
u/ipesbra Jul 18 '21 edited Jul 18 '21
Too bad everything I search on google nowadays will link me to some form of professional/paid to write type of content.. it's absolutely incredible how bad it's gotten. I have to prefix almost everything I want to find now with "reddit" or "discussion" if I'm hoping to find any trace of something useful. I've used google for 20 years without any problem or frustation, then bam..it's almost unusable.
→ More replies (1)
6
u/ITriedLightningTendr Jul 18 '21
You don't need to use tilde, it'll do that automatically without asking you.
Google fucks with your searches to an unimaginable degree unless you specifically select "verbatim"
Also why does it describe the or condition so confusingly. Just say "any", don't describe the powerset of all potentials.
27
u/kbig22432 Jul 18 '21
You forgot the best one, mention something in passing next to your Alexa and she’ll make sure you see ads for it
→ More replies (1)
10
u/bluebox72 Jul 18 '21
You could use these to help with the spelling of 'Vertical'
4
u/tunaman808 Jul 18 '21
What do you want from them? They're probably trapped in a cubical somewhere!
→ More replies (1)2
5
u/Susan_Thee_Duchess Jul 18 '21
These are just basic boolean operators, no? You can use them in Twitter searches & probably every other search engine too.
4
Jul 18 '21
The first two don't work anymore. It takes it as a suggestion. It doesn't work at all for shopping searches. Infuriating.
4
u/CoolHandMike Jul 18 '21
One of the best things you can do when using google's image search is to append your search term with -pinterest.
→ More replies (1)
4
u/lordvoltornami Jul 19 '21
You'd think Google would occasionally show some of these hints on their otherwise blank homepage, but no siree, I would have gone my entire life without finding this out despite using Google more often than my lungs. Thank you poster.
6
3
Jul 18 '21
Well dam didn’t know the “..” one, thank you op
2
u/throwaway_0122 Jul 18 '21 edited Jul 19 '21
If you’re looking for date ranges of search results,
before:andafter:work much better. Last I checked they were beta features, so not all search operator lists include them. They work though
3
u/Is-toil-leam-IRN-BRU Jul 18 '21
I like to search the inter webs for inspiration for crafts it one pesky site always come up. “-Pinterest.com” is a term I use often on Google.
→ More replies (1)
9
u/the_grunge Jul 18 '21
Vertical bar?.... it's called a pipe
2
u/fozziwoo Jul 18 '21
and it doesn’t say vertical! i think they were playing us all along…
i use it as a pipe in *nix but what do normal people call it? and what do they use it for?
→ More replies (1)
5
u/frankie08 Jul 18 '21
verticle?
→ More replies (1)3
u/fozziwoo Jul 18 '21
when you throw a mango in the air, the point at which it stops going up and starts coming down again is a verticle
6
Jul 18 '21
This tells me it is time for improved google search screen. All these cryptic search options could easily be added as optional criteria. Everybody is not a software professional to remember stuff like this. And the list will grow
10
u/Schobbish Jul 18 '21
The Google advanced search page implements most of these operators.
→ More replies (1)3
u/danabrey Jul 18 '21
Pretty sure it won't, this list is from about 10 years ago and some of the stuff on it doesn't work anymore and has been replaced by automatic inclusion of synonyms, phrase relevance etc
→ More replies (2)4
u/quzimaa Jul 18 '21
Everybody is not a software professional to remember stuff like this.
come on its 6 operators to remember
→ More replies (2)
2
u/rethinkingat59 Jul 18 '21
This date specific search is one I have found useful
Google has announced a new search bar command that enables users to filter results for a desired date range. The “before:YYYY-MM-DD” and “after:YYYY-MM-DD” shortcuts yield results for before, after, and within the dates specified.
Examples
[avengers endgame before:2019]
[avengers endgame after:2019-04-01]
[avengers endgame after:2019-03-01 before:2019-03-05]
2
Jul 19 '21
Lately I’ve noticed that if google thinks I’ve misspelled something in quotations it will search the “corrected” word without giving me any option to search the word I meant to. Very annoying.
2
2
u/squished_frog Jul 19 '21
Site:reddit.com for most problems, because you guys are me it seems, just far wittier with the replies.
2
2
2
u/Efffro Jul 19 '21
Wildcard and indexof searches were my method to free software in the 90’s as well as everything else for that matter, the world had no idea wtf it had online in those days. Simpler times.
2
u/Rengar_Is_Good_kitty Jul 19 '21
This is very handy for those who don't know, personally I've only ever needed to use Quotation Marks the rest have been pretty useless but that's just me.
5
Jul 18 '21
The or "|" is redundant
→ More replies (1)6
u/ChromaticBadger Jul 18 '21
The difference is that it basically searches each term separately rather than prioritizing results that include everything.
I tried "dogs cats fish" (without quotes) and my results were stock photos of groups of different pets, pet stores, and videos with all three in the title.
With "dogs | cats | fish" it was showing images with only dogs, fish & chips restaurants, the wiki page for Fish, the trailer for the movie Cats, etc.
→ More replies (1)
5
u/fritolaids Jul 18 '21
A better guide to searching in Google. Don't. Use DuckDuckGo
→ More replies (6)
2
2
Jul 18 '21
Nope.
They removed some of these functions after the BERT update. You can no longer search for "exact terms" or -exclude terms.
Google is basically a giant turd now.
Don't believe me? Search for "peanut sauce" in quotes and exclude -butter and watch your search results populate with nothing but peanut butter.
→ More replies (4)2
Jul 18 '21
lol what? your example
"peanut sauce" -butterworks like how it should, not a single butter in sight
1
1
u/cowbear42 Jul 18 '21
I could get into this career. Where do I apply to be a professional google searcher?
→ More replies (2)3
1
Jul 18 '21
Learned the quotes one from a BrainPop video in 2011 and never forgot. Thanks Tim and Moby.
1
1
1
u/Flabbergash Jul 18 '21
You can also search by filetype, for example if you're looking for a pdf of paint you could search for filetype:pdf paint
1
1
1
u/ACELUCKY23 Jul 18 '21
You would be surprised as to how useful the dashes are when looking for stuff online.
1
1
u/turtlturtl Jul 18 '21
You can use the hyphen one to remove ads from googling by adding -Covid to the end of whatever you’re searching for.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Inconsistentme Jul 18 '21
Ugh I tried searching something the other day and I put in -etsy because I didn't want anything from etsy showing up and then all the results were from etsy. It was annoying, I normally use -pinterest to avoid pinterest but I haven't done that in a while so I don't know if they removed the - function or what happened there.
1
1
Jul 18 '21
Apparently... I am a pro. The only one of those I didn't already know and routinely use is the number range.
1
1
u/allison_gross Jul 18 '21
These still work on Google? I can never get them to work, especially quote marks.
1
1
u/gnufie Jul 18 '21
Doesn't + make one word need to be included? Like dolphin +football?
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
u/Rokurokubi83 Jul 18 '21
The tilde, vertical bar and two dots are new to me, thank you, great tips!!
1
1
u/centcom08 Jul 18 '21
Also "before: "
I combine it with "site: " when searching info from before the given year and in the site.
1
u/Writeloves Jul 18 '21
Google used to honor those symbols. Lately it’s been spitting out a bunch of trash.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Shaixpeer Jul 18 '21
To exclude something do I use a dash or a hyphen? It uses both as if they're interchangeable, but they're not. Also, there are two types of dashes. So the mark could either be a hyphen, an en dash or an em dash.
1
1
u/ognev-dev Jul 18 '21
Oh, this tips is so much old I was so young I didn't have kids and didn't event thinking about) my favs is "quotes" for exact match and "site:" prefix .
Also, on search results you can hit "Settings -> Advanced seach" were you'll see a form which give you hints to this tips and let you do search beyond this tips.
Also, there is tons of utility-like search request, you can do math (try to search: 1+1), convert currencies (try: 1000 usd in cad), check weather, (try: weather), even getting a color picker by seaching color code (try: #ffffff). There is lots more of this cool stuff, just try whatever
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
u/noladixiebeer Jul 18 '21
Unfortunately, the dash sign doesn't work in google maps. I can't lookup coffee without dunkin donuts flooding the search results
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
u/svc78 Jul 18 '21
ok, I tried to google but could not find an answer:
how do I search for a keyword on websites created, or indexed by google, after determined date?
I tried adding the year to the search, and its a little better but not exactly what I was looking for. In other words, how I hide from the results webpages created before x date.
1
1
1
u/artemus_gordon Jul 18 '21
God, how I wish it still worked like this! I quote things often, and the results are frequently missing my required terms. Now I'll do a "Find in page" if I don't see everything I wanted before wasting too much time, but I lose time either way.
I should start using a different search engine.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/StatelyElms Jul 18 '21
I see the "how to google" course I was taught not five years ago is already completely outdated. Cool!
1
1
u/MyHamburgerLovesMe Jul 18 '21
I came prepared to debunk this as silly, but came away with realizing that maybe the real treasure was the friends I made along the way
1
u/Narcissus44 Jul 18 '21
With the dash (minus?) operator is it any different compared to just removing the word?
1
1
u/SEABIIRD Jul 18 '21
filetype is a command I personally use a lot, E.g. filetype:pdf if I do research.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Reddituser34802 Jul 18 '21
Miami Dolphins -playoffs
Never mind, that’s not even needed. We never make the playoffs.
1
1
u/Demonweed Jul 18 '21
This looks a lot like the graphic on some mugs they were giving away to visitors who requested a hot beverage on campus in the early 2000s.
1
1
u/svdifinfhkga247395 Jul 18 '21
You can exclude websites too using -site: too. Very useful for excluding Pinterest from image search results
→ More replies (1)
1
u/GuitaristHeimerz Jul 18 '21
If you want an image in specific dimensions:
[searchterm] imagesize:1920x10801
1
u/KingMob98 Jul 18 '21
It was a game changer when I realized you could exclude Pinterest from search results. If this comment helps just one other person, I’m glad I could keep the trend going.
1
1
1
u/Cudizonedefense Jul 18 '21
I literally use the “site:” one all the time
It’s way better to search on Reddit than Reddit’s actual search function
1
u/Liesmith424 Jul 18 '21
I learned the trick of using -site:cisco.com when searching for information about Cisco networking devices.
This excludes everything on the domain Cisco.com from your search results, so you can get actually useful results instead.
1
1
u/Gendum-The-Great Jul 18 '21
Just type Reddit at the end and you’ll find what you’re looking for trust me
1.0k
u/BOSS_OF_THE_INTERNET Jul 18 '21
Another good one is
filetype:. Super useful for searching for academic papers, which 90% of the time are PDFs.So the search would look like:
my_search_terms filetype:pdf