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Making the Most Out of Google as a
Research Tool
By Chuck
Hudgins
Everyone
knows how to use the basic features offered by Google,
but few make use of its advanced capabilities.
Understanding what you can do with Google can shave
hours off of your research time, especially when it
comes to web site promotion.
In this article I will show you how to use some of
Google’s advanced features to make your SEO research
more precise and effective.
Preferences
First thing’s first. Google has a number of
preferences that you can set, which it remembers via a
cookie. With these settings, you can adjust the
interface and search languages, as well as search
filters, number of results displayed per page, and
whether or not the results are displayed in a new
window.
 | The Interface language that you select
determines how Google presents its tips and messages
to you.
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| The Search language option allows you to search
for pages written in a particular language. So if
you prefer to focus on a particular language, you
can narrow down your result very effectively this
way.
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| Filtering can block web pages that contain
explicit content, based on text and/or images. This
option can be useful if you are researching possible
link partners and want to filter out certain types
of “affiliate link farms.”
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| The “Number of Results” option determines how
many results are displayed per page. This is of
course a matter of preference, but you can save some
time loading 20 – 30 results per page, instead of
the standard (and infamous) 10.
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Advanced Searches
Some of the options available on the advanced search
options page are the same as the preferences
page. However, some of the options offered here provide
some useful functionality.
| Occurrences: With this option you can focus your
search on various parts of a web page, instead of
the search drawing from all of its content. You can
select a search based on the title of a page, its
text, its url, or its links. This last option can be
a great way to determine who has links to the
subject matter that you are researching. |
| Domain: This option, as you might guess, allows
you to restrict a search to a single domain or site.
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| Page-Specific Searches: This section includes
two different search options. The “Similar” option
lets you find pages similar in content to the one
that you enter. This can be a great way to find out
both who your competition is and how Google thinks
of your site in terms of its content. The Links
search option tells you who has linked to the site
that you enter. This is a powerful feature for
determining who is a good link partner candidate.
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Syntax
Syntax represents the ultimate in Google search
functionality. While there are far too many terms to
cover in one article, I will go over a couple to give
you a taste of what you have been missing.
| Cache: Typing in a url
with the form “cache:www.domainname.com” will show
you the page for that url as it was the last time
Google crawled it (i.e., the last time Google
visited the site and cached or recorded it). For
webmasters, this is a handy way to keep track of how
often Google is really visiting your site. Go to
Google and try it with your site now, you might be
surprised at how long it has been. |
| Info: Typing in a url with the form
“info:www.domain.com” will return essentially all of
the information Google has on that site. This
includes all of the links to that site, the last
cached recorded by Google, and more. |
The search options that I have described barely
scratch the surface of what Google can do. It is well
worth your time and effort to spend some “quality time”
with Google and check out everything that it can do for
you.
About the Author:
Chuck Hudgins is the founder of
www.ebusinessbasics.com. eBusinessBasics maintains a collection of the best
Internet Marketing and eBusiness development articles
from a variety of sources, all free to access.
View All Articles from Business Info
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