Apart from being the largest search engine Google is fast and simple to use. In less than a second you are able to find most results & they also link to the cached (crawled) version of the web page.
There are some great tips and tool that most people just don't know about or use, that this fantastic resource has to offer (free). Lets look at some of them here.
1/. Google can be your phonebook
Type a person's name, city, state and postcode directly into the search box, and Google will deliver phone and address listings at the top of the results (as long as they are listed). This feature works well for businesses too.
Bonus tip: Google can also work as a reverse directory; simply enter a phone number and any matches will appear in the results. Try it now HERE
If you did try this and your business website didn't show up as the first listed result, call Bizweb today. You are missing valuable business opportunities!
2/. Google can be your calculator.
Type a mathematics equation or problem into the search box and Google will compute it for you. You can spell out the equation in words, numbers and symbols (two plus two, 2+2, 12/3) or type in a combination of both (ten million*pi, 15% of six) Try it now HERE
3/. Longer is better, but shorter is okay.
Google is designed to return high-quality results even for one or two-word queries, so you can keep your searches short. But adding a few more words often yields better results
Example: when looking for a business listing, include the local area you live in or need the business services, to get more relevant results.
4/. Use quotation marks when precision matters.
Typing "the search is over" into Google will return web pages about the rock song by Survivor- but leaving off the quotes will produce an assortment of unrelated pages. The reason is that by adding quote marks around a query tells Google to look for occurrences of the exact phrase that was typed. That makes quote marks especially helpful when searching for song lyrics, peoples names, or expressions and quotes such as "to be or not to be" that may include many very common words.
5/. Google can be your dictionary.
Type define followed by any english word into the search box, and Google will give you a quick definition at the top of the search results.
6/. Capitalisation doesn't matter.
Save yourself time and typos: don't bother with the SHIFT key. Googling Queen Elizabeth II and queen elizabeth ii yields the same results. (a smack in the ear :-]) So whether you enter the words in uppercase or lowercase, Google treats them equally - though the Queen would prefer otherwise.
Bonus tip: Google ignores common words like the, and, is, of, and to when they are used in search queries without quotation marks. Adding them will not change or improve your results, so you can leave them off.
7/. Forget pluralism.
Google automatically searches for all the stems of a word, so you don't need to do separate searches for dance, dances, and dancing. Just type one of the words and Google will take care of the rest, giving you results all on one list.
8/. Get the picture.
Looking for a photo of Paris Hilton, or the Paris Hilton Hotel? Click on the "Images" link above the search box, type your query, and Google will provide any photos or graphics in it's database of over one billion images that match your terms, with a link to the page where they appear.
Bonus tip: Image searches may lead you to helpful web sites that you might otherwise not find in the regular search results.
Be mindful of what you name the images that you use on your site, as the name image1 will be less effective than Bobs Motors street view, if your business name was Bob's Motors, again you could be missing valuable business opportunities!
