With the advancement of the search engine google, anyone can find information on virtually anything within a matter of minutes.

But more often than not, we have to browse through a huge quantity of data to get the material we need, and this sometimes takes hours rather than minutes. This is why Epic Universe has put together a list of the most effective methods for searching Google to help you find the precious material you’re looking for in just a couple of clicks.

1. This or that

There are times that we’re not quite sure that we’ve correctly remembered the information or the thing we need to start our search. But this doesn’t have to be a problem! Simply put in a few potential variations of what you’re looking for, and separate them by typing the “|” symbol.

Instead of this symbol, you can also use “or.” Then it’s easy enough to choose the result that makes the most sense.

2. Search using synonyms

Our language comprises a rich set of synonyms. This can be very convenient when doing research online. If you need to find websites on a given subject rather than those that include a specific phrase, add the “~” symbol to your search.

i.e. if you search for the term “healthy ~food” you’ll get results about the principles of healthy eating, cooking recipes, as well as healthy dining options.

3. Search within websites

Let’s say you came across a fascinating article on a website and find yourself wanting to share it with your friends or simply revisit it, this is the best way;

Type the address of the site, then a keyword or entire phrase from the article, and it should come up immediately.

4. The rule of the asterisk

When our memory decides to prevent us from evoking that one crucial keyword, phrase, or number we need in order to find what we’re looking for, you can turn to the almighty “*” symbol. Just use this in the place of the word/phrase you can’t remember, and you should be able to find the results you’re after.

5. If most of the words are missing

When an extensive part of the phrase cannot be recalled rather than a single keyword, try writing out the first and last words and typing “AROUND + (the approximate number of missing words)” between them. i.e., “It AROUND(5) ground.”

6. Using a time frame

If you’re in a need to inform ourselves about events that occurred during a certain period of time. To do so, you can add a time frame to your search query with the help of three dots between the dates. For example, if we want to find out about scientific discoveries during the 20th century, we can write:

7. Looking for a title or URL

To help find the name of an article, type “intitle:” before the search term, without any spaces between them. In order to find the words from a URL, use “inurl:”.

8. Finding similar websites

If you’ve found something you really like online and want to find similar websites, type in “related:” and then the address of the site, again without a space between them.

9. Whole phrases

Framing the search term within quotation marks is the simplest and most effective way to find something specific and in the exact order you typed it in.

For example, if you type in the words I’m picking up good vibrations without quotation marks, the search engine will show the results where these words appear in any order on a website, as opposed to the specific order in which you typed them.

If, on the other hand, you type “I’m picking up good vibrations” within quotation marks, you’ll get only those results where these words appear only in the order you typed them in. This is a great way to find the lyrics to a song when you only know one line from it.

10. Insignificant search words

To eliminate insignificant search words from your inquiry, simply write a minus symbol before each one. For example, if you want to find a site about interesting books, but you aren’t looking to buy them, you can write the following: