Google Search tricks

10 must-know Google Search tricks

By now you know how to use Google to search for a flight, look up a definition, or solve a simple math problem. But what if you want to do a search comparison or want information from a certain time period? Here we bring you 10 tips and tricks for searching Google like a pro.

Google Squared Searching for a comparison chart on a certain topic? Try using Google Squared for a collection of information. For instance, try searching Google Squared for "roller coasters" to see a chart of the top 20 tallest roller coasters, or check out chart of hurricanes for images, descriptions, and damage estimates of recent hurricanes.

Wonder Wheel Not quite sure what you're looking for? Google's Wonder Wheel gives another way of looking at the related searches near what you're looking for. 
Located in the left-hand sidebar, Wonder Wheel produces a circular chart with searches that other people have done recently that are related to yours.

Search history Need to find something you have found on Google before? Try searching your own Google search history. Sign into your Google account and enable web history. 
Run your searches and then visit www.google.com/history to see your search history and revisit previous searches. Search history also syncs to your mobile device.

Google Voice Search Google Voice Search lets you speak your search queries into your mobile device while on the go. Google Voice Search app is available on iPhone, BlackBerry, and Nokia S60 V3 phones. If you have an Android phone, search for the "Voice Search" app in Android Market.

Timeline For those who want info from a certain time period, Timeline option is a sure shot help. Located in the left-hand toolbar, the feature lets you zoom in on any time range and see news pulled from assorted sources, including books, news, and web pages. Searching for the Anglo-French Wars, for instance, brings up a timeline that runs from 1600-2010, stepping down into individual years, then months.

Google Images Want to filter your results in Google Images. Try searching for a word that could be found in a range of images, such as names like heather or raven or cliff. Towards the bottom of the left-hand sidebar in Google Images, you will find a dedicated option to only clip art, photos, or line drawings.
Searching filesTrying to find a particular type of file? Google doesn't only look for HTML. Type what you're looking for and then add 'filetype:tag' on the end. For instance, 'filetype:doc' will only results with those types of file. This search supports PDF, Microsoft Office formats, Shockwave Flash and so.

Google Suggest To compare different Google Suggest results side-by-side, go to http://hint.fm/seer/ to get a visual comparison of two search prefixes. Though not a Google product, Web Seer was built by two Googlers and gives interesting insight into Google results.

Search in the URL If you know there's a specific string of letters or words in the URLs of pages you are looking for, you can use "inurl" to find them. 
For example, many websites with public webcams have URLs that contain "view/view.shtml". So search for inurl:view/view.shtml and your search results will display the URLs for webcams around the world.

Searching websites You can search a wide variety of sites by inserting > before the type of site you want to search. For example, [penguins site:>.edu] searches for penguins across all .edu sites. [crater image site:>nasa.gov] searches for crater images across nasa.gov.