It’s really a common approach to search in Google by just typing in the keywords and hit Search. Most are not realizing that more accurate results can be generated by tweaking a little bit on our search strings. Here are 4 search strings to help you concentrate on what you are actually looking for.

Google Search Techniques

Search within particular website with [site:]

Command

• site:domain.com “keyword”
• keyword site:domain.com

By doing this, Google restrict the search on particular website; giving you a more concentrated result. This comes in handy when you are searching on a mainstream news site. Example (1)- You are looking for some free icons and quite sure Digg.com have plenty of this; you do a site:digg.com “free icons” Example (2) - You want to learn designing web 2.0 style, there is no point searching the entire Google where results were so mixed (you just want Photoshop tutorials). Concentrate on one good Photoshop tutorial site. good-tutorial.com for instance; you do a site:good-tutorials.com “web 2.0″. Results were simply more accurate.

Understand a definition with [define:]

Command

• define:keyword

Here’s a quick search string to understand particular keyword or even a phrase you do not understand. What is Web 2.0? We know what it is but sometimes it quite hard to put it in words Let Google describe it for you with define:Web 2.0

Find similar websites with [related:]

Command

• related:keyword

This is simple. If you are looking for free fonts and have no idea where to get them, try using related:free fonts. Google will result you all sites that have similar content to “free font”. This function is exactly the same like “Similar pages” found under the right corner of a search result.

Customized search within title and content with [intitle:]

Command

• intitle:title-keyword content-keyword

[intitle:] let you control the title and content you want to search. Example - If you are looking for a free font with the name Magneto, restrict your search down to intitle:”free font” magneto. This will give you all results with pages that mentions “free font” in title and “magneto” in content.

These few should give you a good jump start to more accurate content. Here’s an article on What Google sees your website, with 5 commands to check your domain based on Google’s indexing.

This post is contributed by HongKiat from HongKiat.com He is a 27 year old guy rom Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His full-time job is the head of creative for online gaming company. He writes about tech news, web tips, tutorial, gadgets, and how to make money. Apart from computer, HongKiat likes playing mahjong, snooker, travel and sleep.

Tags: mainstream news, search strings, search techniques, similar pages