11 Best Killer Research Strings To Find Stuff On Google

Over the course of years I have been working online I’ve learned and increasing amount of search tactics to find information on Google. As a freelance writer who has many niche marketing clients it is imperative I find information super fast.

The more time I waste, the less money I earn because my rates are tailored to the time I need to get the job done. Tailoring my searches to my respective needs means that the results are more accurate right away, allowing me to concentrate on the writing, rather than spend time researching Google for hours.

Also, I wanted you to know that while I mention Google here, some of these search terms will also work on other search engines. I simply love Google and couldn’t imagine life without it. It is the tool I used most in my business besides my brain and my fingers.

1.) The hyphen search string

A hyphen search string will omit any word that is being placed after the actual hyphen in your search.

For example, if you were to search for Internet -marketing, the results would omit anything to do with marketing but return information related to the word Internet.

2.) The wildcard search *

To use a wildcard search insert the * symbol instead of a word. This is great for long tail searches as well as comparison searches. Examples, the search pay * will return varied results while you can do comparison search to find more detailed information like this search: [pay * per word]vs[pay * per hour]

3.) The date range search

To search for information within a specific date range, do this:

Internet marketing daterange:2008 january-2008 july

This type of research is especially important if you need relevant and updated information.

4.) The exact search

The phrase or exact search allows us to find relevant information by putting quotes “” around our search term. This will cut out all irrelevant and time wasting results. Example: “marketing blogs”

5.) Blog keyword search

If you are a niche marketer, or an assistant to a niche marketer you will find this particular tip very handy while searching for blogs to comment on.

writing inurl:blog

You can also use the search term inurl: to restrict the search to page URLs e.g. inurl:writing

6.) The filetype search

I love this search as I can find PDF’s, PPTs, spreadsheets (xls) and more with this particular search:

business filetype:pdf

7.) The safe search

The safe search excludes all adult content from the results: safesearch:online

8.) The link search

This search finds linked pages on any website. While Google does return results, you will find more up to date stuff on Yahoo for this particular search.

inlink:www.courtneytuttle.com

9.) The site search

If you want to find information on only the one website you are best off to use the following search term to find the most accurate results: site:courtneytuttle.com

While you could also do a search with the www in front of the URL, the results are often limited.

10.) The find stuff using either or results

if you need information on two words that might not even be related, you can use the OR in between. Example: marketing OR writing

11.) The definition search

The definition search is great for writers or bloggers. Whenever you don’t quite understand the meaning of a particular word or phrase you can use this search to find its definition.

define:writing

Bonus tip

Did you know that you can also use Google like a simple calculator. this is so handy when you add up all your income at the end of the month. Simple us the same symbols like you do on a simple calculator:

• + = add
• - = subtract
• / = divide
• * = multiply etc.

You too can become a search warrior

Knowing your way around the search strings will make your online life a lot easier. If you struggled up to this stage, these “shortcuts” will give you a huge advantage over your competition since you will be faster and able to find more accurate information from now on.

I know that there are many more of these search strings and if you feel like sharing, feel free to let us know which ones need to be on this list. Maybe it will become the 50 best killer research strings instead.