Using Google

Thanks to a unique algorithm that produces most relevant results to any given query, Google has become, indisputably, the best search engine on the Internet. On the last count, Google has indexed over 4 billion pages and tackles around 200 million searches a day! A cluster of 100 thousand servers are used to store, crunch and spew out the query results with lightning speed that you are so accustomed to see.

This phenomenal growth has made Google from a garage startup to an Internet behemoth faster than any company has done before. The prodigies behind this unique search engine, Larry Page and Sergey Brin in the process already got enlisted themselves in billionaire club.

Google is no longer a mere search engine! It is increasingly broadening its offerings to include great new services and excellent tools. Among these services, most notables are News - a news aggregation and searching service, Blogger - an online journal-keeping solution, Froogle - a marketplace for comparison shopping, Groups - online discussion groups, Answers - a place to get hard-to-find information for a price, etc.

Google also recently unveiled two more programs. Orkut - a social networking service and Gmail - a free web mail service. Orkut is an online community, where a person can participate in it by invitation from a member only.

If you constantly frown over limited space of your hotmail or Yahoo accounts because they get filled up with junk mails and force you to delete old messages frequently, you will love Gmail with its 1 GB of storage capacity. There are several great features available in Gmail system too. One of them, dubbed as Conversations, allow you to view all exchange mails with somebody, once you select one of the mails. Sorting and searching emails also become much easier with Gmail. The only catch is Gmail displays relevant ads - based on the keywords found in your email - on the right side of the screen when you view an email, much like Google displays ads when you view search results.

Although, Google is constantly adding new and extremely useful features, most of us unfortunately do not use all the capacities of the search engine itself. The following tips will make your Internet browsing more effective if even you are an avid net user.

Choose most specific search words

Google returns web pages that contain all the words in your query. If you would like to see the most relevant pages on the first page of your search result, be very specific with your choice of words. For example: if you would like to research on former NHL hockey player Makarov, you should start your search with Makarov not hockey player. Even better if you search for the words: hockey player Makarov. Because just the word Makarov will show web pages on "Makarov" a Russian-made handgun and numerous other people and products with the name Makarov. Refining your query in Google means adding more specific words to your initial search. In this example you will hit the right web pages if your search contains: NHL hockey player Makarov.

Sets - a new feature

What if you are looking for a pair of Valentino designer jeans but can't recall the name of the designer? Query on Italian designer jeans may bring you the right result; however, there is a better tool that Google is planning to implement soon, called "Sets".

Fill up the names of some designers that you remember in the given form such as Levis, Wrangler, Versace and click either of the two buttons and voila! You will get a list of designers name and probably, Valentino will be there. But bear in mind that this feature is still at Beta stage.

Calculator

The other day, I was sitting in a colleague's office. She needed to calculate some basic stuffs and looking for her calculator on her desk. Much to her dismay, she could not find the calculator and started to fumble through her computer programs in her attempt to find Microsoft calculator. I noticed that she was online and the browser was open. I, politely, asked her whether she knew that Google could actually calculate most common mathematical expressions. It came out to be, she did not! She was just amazed after trying it herself. Google is even capable of unit conversion! Give it a try!

Definition

If you are looking for a definition of a particular word or a phrase, Google is the best place to get it. In Google search box, write "define: the word or phrase" without the quotation marks and click search button. If there is a definition available for your search term you will, most certainly, get it. It's a very useful feature for students and people, those who write research papers.

Synonyms

You may think that search engines are too dumb to show query results of the synonyms of your search term. It's not so! At least, in the case of Google! If you use tilde "~" in front of a keyword in your search term, Google will bring results on the synonyms of that word as well.

Searching within a website

Another great feature of Google search engine allows you to make your query within a specific website. First you write your search term in the Google search box and then write "site: the website or domain name". For example: if you are looking for word "Microsoft" within the website www.micromedia.com you will write: Microsoft site: micromedia.com.

Check backward links to your website

If you have a website, Google search engine also has a nice feature to show you which web pages are linking to yours. In the search box, write: Link: you website address.

Other important tips to remember are:

There is no need to use "AND". Google always relate all the words in a search term with Boolean "and".

However, if you would like to make your query for two words - one or another - you can use "OR". You have to write "or" in capital letters to give it Boolean value.

Google is not case sensitive. You can write your search terms either in capital or in small letters. You can even mix them up.

Google omits most of the very common words, such as the, in, etc. If you, indeed, need to add a specific word forcefully, use plus (+) sign in front of that particular word. Same way, you can exclude a word from your search expression by putting minus (-) sign in front it.

If you would like to make a search on an exact phrase or expression, put the words within quotation marks. That way, your search result will show only those pages where the exact expression was found. In order to search the phrase: For whom the bell tolls, write "For whom the bell tolls" in the search box. I'll also suggest you to download the Google Toolbar. Apart from the search box and its ability to block pop-ups, Google Toolbar also shows the pagerank of the website you are visiting now. Pagerank is a system of evaluating web pages - developed by Google founders and used as the core of Google's search engine algorithm. The Toolbar also includes feature with the ability to fill up online forms from stored information automatically. You can also keep your daily journal or blog right from the toolbar.

Much to net users delight, Google, in accordance with its ambitious mission statement to organize world's information and make it universally useful and accessible, so far doing a great job by providing us the best search engine and extremely handy features and services. We can only hope that the flow of innovative ideas from Google will not slow down in future, when it becomes a public company.

Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present CEO of Rusbiz.com. A Ph. D. in Information Technology, he has wide experience in Business Consulting, International Trade and Web Marketing. Rusbiz is a Global B2B Emarketplace with solutions to start and run online business. You can contact him at mailto:nowshade[at]rusbiz.com, http://ezine.rusbiz.com, http://www.rusbiz.com

guardian.co.uk

SEO Services India – BSolutions - Website Marketing India PR-inside.com (press release) 2009-11-21 16:06:58 - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Marketing Company India provides economical and quality SEO promotion, Website Marketing, ... BBC invests in SEOLast Click News BBC bows to SEOguardian.co.uk Understanding Orienting Search Behaviors For SEO & ConversionsSearch Engine Land (blog) Kingpin Webmaster News -Search Newz -PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) all 26 news articles »

BigNews.biz (press release)

Best SEO Book - Votes Are In PR-inside.com (press release) 2009-11-19 21:56:57 - The Best SEO Book on the market is SEO Made Simple according to Amazon.com book rankings. Finding the best SEO resource for improving ... Businesses in smaller cities could see bigger benefits from SEOBrafton Google's new algorithm consider On Page Optimization more | SEO IndiaBigNews.biz (press release) TRAVEL MARKETING AGENCY NOW OFFERS SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION SERVICEPressReleaseNetwork.com (press release) PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) -PR.com (press release) -Search Engine Land (blog) all 69 news articles »

Fliqz adds video SEO service CNET News According to the company, SearchSuccess "addresses many of the common flaws in existing video SEO strategies." Rather than submit a video to YouTube to ... Fliqz service optimizes videos for search resultsFierceOnlineVideo Fliqz's New Video SEO Solution Enables Video Publishers of All Sizes to ...IT Business Net Fliqz Launches Service to Drive Video Content to Top of Google SearchBNET Mediapost.com -FierceOnlineVideo all 10 news articles »

Combining SEO with Social Media Marketing: What NOT to Do Drop Ship (press release) (blog) Combining SEO with social media marketing for your ecommerce business must be done correctly in order to be effective. There are social media “purists” who ... Social Media 101: Combining Blogging, Social Media and SEO for ResultsPractical Ecommerce all 2 news articles »

Top 10 Adwords Profit Strategies -- Free Webinar by Dan Kennedy's SEO & PPC Expert Online PR News (press release) So I've invited a real Search Marketing and SEO expert – Gareth Owen – to show us just how effective some of his simple Adwords campaign strategies can be ... and more »

MSN's SEO And Content Teams Standardize Efforts MediaPost Publications The senior program manager of SEO for MSN at Microsoft in the Americas says management wants to get more involved in the process, since having companies ...

Small Business SEO and Online Marketing BigNews.biz (press release) SEO is an important online marketing strategy as it offers long-term success for your small business on the Internet. Some of the most recognizable and ... Travel PR has changed #2: search engine optimisation (SEO)Tips from the T-List Social Networking from Rub The Web SEO IndiaBigNews.biz (press release) all 6 news articles »

The Tech Herald

SEO scam unveiled Last Click News Cyveillance says that it has uncovered a search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning campaign that has affected more than 260000 websites. ... Giant black-hat SEO campaign funnels victims to scareware sitesMX Logic Attackers Abuse Google to Push RoguewareeWeek all 27 news articles »

Mar dh'ionnsaicheas tu seo a leughadh an trì mìosan Scotsman Ach faodar a bhith cinnteach gu bheil fios aig an dà ùghdar seo dìreach dé tha iad a' dèanamh. Cha ghabh cànan ionnsachadh ceart ann an trì mìosan, ...

LinkAssistant SEO Tool 3.4.7 (Windows) ZDNet This SEO software lets you find thousands of high-quality link partners, automatically fill in more than 25000 link submission forms, design a professional ...