Google. It’s arguably the best search engine on Earth. Whether you need to find a new job, or a lawyer to sue your old company for letting you go, Google’s got the answer.

Because we bet you use it daily (probably multiple times a day even), we’ve handpicked a selection of search tips to make your searches faster, more efficient, and even more informative. Read on to discover some of the advanced Google search tricks the professionals use.

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1. Search within a site.



If you already know a specific site to search, you can use the “site: sitename” parameter in your search field to restict the results to that page.

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2. Search for a certain file type.



Need to find that .pdf or .doc file you saw a few days ago? Specify a certain file type by adding “filetype: .xxx” in the search field.

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3. Use operators to narrow your results.



Google was nice enough to provide us all with a set of handy operators to throw in with our searches to narrow down the results. Here’s the complete list:

Operators	Meaning
textA OR textB	find either the word textA or the word textB
“your phrase“	the exact text your phrase
textA -textB	the word textA but NOT the word textB
+text	Only finds the word text, not the plural or tenses
~text	finds both the word text and its synonyms
textA* textB	the words textA and textB separated by one or more words.

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4. Make conversions.



Not sure how many dollars in a euro? Curious to know how many inches are in a yard? Let Google do your middle school arithmetic for you but simply searching “X units in units“.

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5. Track your flight.



Flight delays have ruined more than its fair share of business meetings. Don’t let it happen to you – use Google to check up on that flight by typing the airline and flight number. It works for both coach AND business class.

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6. Track your package.



Having trouble locating your shipment? Drop the Fedex or UPS tracking code in the search field, and Google will let you know where it’s hiding.

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7. Access private, blocked, or removed sites.



Sometimes Google will display pages that appear to be exactly what you are looking for, but after clicking the link you discover that the page has been removed. Bummer.

Have no fear – Google’s cached pages are here. If you ever see a page that is no longer available, or is even locked for registered users only (like a private forum), many times using the cached link next to the listing will provide you access to the information you seek.

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8. Monitor the latest earthquakes.



Don’t be the last to hear about the latest disaster. Use Google to display the most recent earthquakes around the globe by simply typing “earthquakes“.

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9. Search a specific range.



If you aren’t quite sure about the date of an event, or the price of a product, Google most likely does. Ballpark your search by giving Google a range of numbers using the “…” symbol.

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10. Do math.



Google can even be used as a calculator. It’s familiar with + ,  – , * , / , % , and ^ symbols. You never have to use the awful built in calculator from Windows XP again!

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This list just scratches the surface of what’s possible, but it should be enough to take your searches to the next level. Tell your mom. Show your friends. Impress your boss. Thank us later.

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