Google has become a verb. You know, like “I’m going to Google for chocolate cake recipes”. Google has pushed its way into mainstream conversation that even my grandparents know what Google is now. Everyone knows that you can go to google.com and search for anything your heart desires.

I suppose it was when my 15-year-old cousin was using Google to do some research for a school assignment that it hit me; sure, everyone knows how to Google, but not everyone knows how to Google well. Most people will just type some keywords in the box and hit search, unaware of the fact that there are some great tips and tricks to help you find what you’re looking for more effectively.

So, I figured I’d compile a list of the different search operators and query modifiers that I find useful on an almost daily basis. I realise many of you tech-heads will already know most of these, but if you don’t, well, you’ve learned something new today.

So, without further ado…

Searching by phrase
Typing a phrase of words between quotation marks into the search box like ["add keywords here"] is extremely useful for finding a particular chain of words in a certain order, exactly how you typed it.
Examples:
“xbox 360 cheats”
“tomato soup” recipe

Include and exclude words
To ensure a word is searched for, or completely eliminated from your search, just use the + and – operators next to your keyword, like [+keyword] or [-keyword]. You can use this in combination with many keywords to get more specific results.
Examples:
party food +cake
lcd tv review -sony

Searching by file type
To search for a particular file type on the web, just type the keywords followed by [filetype:x] where ‘x’ is the file’s extension (such as pdf, doc, ppt)
Examples:
australia tax filetype:pdf
css design filetype.ppt

Synonym search
Sometimes you don’t want to be too specific in case your search won’t turn up all the results you want. For example, if you type ‘kids’, you could be missing out on results that include ‘children’. You can use the synonym search to help you with this. Simply type tilde followed by your keyword, like [~keyword].
Examples:
~cheap tickets
homes for ~pets

Search for words in the title
You can search for specific words that exist in the title of a web page by simply typing [intitle:keyword] for one word, or [allintitle: keywords] for multiple words in the search.
Examples:
australian intitle:startup
allintitle: australian technology podcast

Search for words in the URL
If you’re looking for certain words in the URL of a web page, just type [inurl:keyword] for one word, or [allinurl: keywords] for multiple words in the search.
Examples:
dog grooming inurl:australia
allinurl: tech wired australia facebook phone

Search for similar web pages
Sometimes you just want to pull up search results of sites that are similar to another site rather than anything specific. This is often handy for research, or just finding sites and services with similar features to ones that you already know of. You can do this by typing [related:www.websitehere.com] in the search.
Examples:
related:www.imdb.com
related:www.flickr.com

Word definitions
If you want to quickly look up the definition of a word or a reference, you can use [define:keyword]. It will return a definition of the word, or multiple words that you entered. Searching for a definition of multiple words will treat it like a phrase, with words in the exact order you typed them in. It also works for some abbreviations and jargon words.
Examples:
define:serendipity
define: william gibson

This is by no means a complete list of all search operators, modifiers and features. There are quite a few more, including ways to search for global weather and time, performing calculations and unit conversions, and even letting Google fill in the missing word in a phrase. You can find more of these at Google’s search features and advanced operators pages.

How do you search Google, and do you have any tips or tricks of your own that help you search the web?