Transcript Google - Utah Internet Services | Digis Broadband Internet

Google
This presentation is meant to be a handy tool to
help you in your web searches. There is much
more in Google than I present here but I hope
this will save you many hours of searching.
The identification of recognized file types is taken from Patrick Crispen’s
Google 201 presentation at netsquirrel.com.
Google -
Phrase search tips
When you are searching Google you are NOT
searching the Internet. You are searching
Google’s copy of the Internet.
Google is constantly spidering – or searching –
servers around the world and then archiving the
contents of the those servers to its own server
bank.
Google -
Phrase search tips
Google then ranks those pages.
Google -
Phrase search tips
By using quotation marks around a phrase
Google is forced to look for exactly that phrase.
So, a search for disneyland pirates will yield
results that differ widely from “disneyland
pirates”.
In the first case pages with disneyland and
pirates in the pages would receive an adjacency
score. In the second case Google will look for the
words disneyland and pirates, in that order, next
to each other.
Google -
Phrase search tips
Google’s copying of web sites can be a
tremendous advantages for Google users.
Remember that Google copies everything that is
public from a server. That includes pages, links,
linked files – you name it.
All of those items then become searchable
according to page rank.
Hot tip: ignore capitalization in Google.
Google doesn’t care.
Google –
Query modifiers
In addition to modifying search phrases in order
to narrow search results, Google also allows
queries to be modified according to the types of
files the user may want to find.
Google –
query types
In almost all cases query types are accessed
through a word followed immediately by a
colon.
The following slides will show several common
examples. There is just one warning,
however. These frame shots were taken on a
Mac. Don’t be alarmed, they’re perfectly safe
and will not harm you.
In order to help distinguish them from the
commentary, the queries and commands on
the following pages will be shown in red and
displayed in the font Courier.
Google –
query modifiers
Remember that Google copies all the public
contents of a server. Google copies spreadsheets,
power points, pdf files – you name it.
So, by combining a query modifier with a
recognized type of file, a user can narrow their
search to something much more useful.
They may be sorted by the Google command
filetype:
Google –
query modifiers
Here is an example of a search for power point
files about Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia filetype:ppt
Google –
query modifiers
Here is a quick list of alternative query
types
filetype:
intitle:
inurl:
site:
synonyms:
cache:
link:
related:
info:
Google –
query modifiers
Google also recognizes several types of
files:
Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf)
Adobe PostScript (ps)
Lotus 1-2-3 (wk1, wk2, wk3, wk4, wk5, wki, wks,
wku)
Lotus WordPro (lwp)
MacWrite (mw)
Google –
query modifiers
Microsoft Excel (xls)
Microsoft PowerPoint (ppt)
Microsoft Word (doc)
Microsoft Works (wks, wps, wdb)
Microsoft Write (wri)
Rich Text Format (rtf)
Shockwave Flash (swf)
Text (ans, txt)
Google –
query modifiers
This will yield all the power point files with the
word Mesopotamia associated with them
according to the page ranking system I described
previously.
Google –
query types
Google also searches a collection of online
dictionaries. These are accessed through the
query type define:
Google –
query types
The process for other types of Google queries is much
the same.
For the next example I will show a weather search.
Again, start at the Google search page.
Type weather: at the beginning of the search bar.
After weather: type in the zip code or city name
with the state abbreviation afterward.
Google –
query types
The results come up on the next screen.
Google –
query types
This is an illustration of the weather searched
by city name and state abbreviation.
Google –
query types
Stocks are searched in pretty much the same
way. In the Google search bar type stocks:
followed by the abbreviation for the stock.
Here is a screen shot of a query for Toyota
stocks.
Google –
query types
Google also has a synonyms query type.
By now the process should look somewhat
familiar. Type synonyms: followed by the
word for which you are seeking a synonym.
Remember, no spaces. The following slide
illustrates a synonym search for the word
lope.
Google –
query types
Google –
query types
Google has an embedded calculator that may
be accessed with no query modifier. Simply
type the equation in the search bar.
For equations with squares and cubes in them
type the word squared or cubed after the
number to which it applies.
Google –
query types
Google has a handy unit converter. For unit
conversions, type in the names of the units
and the word “in” between them.
Note: Google is pretty forgiving of
grammar goofs in conversions.
For instance if I wanted to convert 300
degrees to a measurement in Fahrenheit I
would type
300 degrees Kelvin in Fahrenheit
in the Google search bar.
Google –
query types
Comparisons between units of measure are
essentially the same.
If I wanted to learn how many centimeters
are in a mile I would type in centimeters in
a mile in the Google search bar.