Power Search with Google - the world's most commonly used search engine can help you find information! And yes, a library is going to teach you some tips and tricks for using Google! Inspired directly by Google's Power Searching classes, Pickerington Public Library taught this class several times at their location before moving it to a strictly online format.

1. Power Searching with
From the Reference staff at the Pickerington Public Library

2. The ultimate search engine
• Google is a search engine
o But when you use Google's search feature, you
aren't searching the Web
o You are searching Google's index of the Web
(which, for the most part, is the entire Web and its
contents)
o *Note: if you took Google’s Power Searching classes when they were
offered it a few years ago, some of these examples will look familiar.
All credit for those examples goes to Google and their instructors –
we’re borrowing them because they were too good to let go of!*

3. Google can be a powerful tool
• Simple search tricks can help you make Google
even more powerful in your daily life
Basic Tips
Search Shortcuts
Operators
Filtering Results

4. Basic Tips
• Less is more
• Don't worry about these:
o Punctuation
o Spelling
o Capitalization
o Special characters (except for #, +, ++)
• Control + F
o On a Mac, Command + F

5. Basic Tips
• Effective keywords matter
o Use words that will appear on the websites
 My head hurts vs. headache or migraine
• Think in synonyms
• Use failed searches to make your searches better
• Remember: there are usually multiple ways to get
to info, but some ways are faster than others
• Google Scholar: use it

6. Search Shortcuts
• Use these in Google to help find accurate
information quickly
o movies (your city)
o capital of (country, state, or province)
o weather (city) or (zip code)
o flight and airport codes (HA 24, AA98)
o time (place)
o illness/condition
o medication
o calculator/conversions

7. Search shortcut - Conversions and
Calculations
• Google can provide
you with automatic
calculations and
conversions
o # of units in units
 212 F in C
 200 yards in miles
 32 C in F
o Currency conversions
 280 euros in USD
 20 USD in pounds

8. Search shortcuts - Conversions
and Calculations
• Unique Conversions
o population of Turkey
o 15 tablespoons in cups
o 20,000 leagues in
miles
• Calculations
o 28.54+56.75
o (23/45)*121
o 12% of 124

9. Operators
• Operators are considered advanced Google
searching techniques
o They work on all aspects of Google (images,
books, news, etc.)
• site:
o site:harvard.edu
o NASA site:gov
o site:gov business workplace accident rates

10. Operators
• filetype:
o filetype:PDF
o filetype:KML lewis and clark expedition
o filetype:school district tax site:tax.ohio.gov

11. Operators
• Minus (-) operator
o Put this in front of a term you want excluded
 tesla coil -circuits
 salsa -dancing
 salsa -dancing -tomatoes

12. Operators
• OR operator
o always capitalized
o adds results to a search
o it's an operator, not a filter
 above OR inground pool
• Exact phrase (" ") search
o Using " " keeps words together in a search
 "tesla coil"

13. Operators
• intext:
o use this operator to find text in the middle of a
web page
 site:harvard.edu “astrophysics" intext:Jupiter

14. Filtering Results - Images
• Filtering by color
o Google images search
o filter by color; use Search Tools option
• "Similar" function when hovering over an image
• Sort images by date

15. Filtering Results - Date Range
• Search Tools is a powerful way to help sort
information
o Can filter by date range
 Need a news article from 2008?
 Want to find information on the NHL playoffs?
What about the 2004 Presidential election?

16. Final Tips
• Combine operators for better searches
o Google Earth (KML) files for shipwrecks around
Florida, already searched sites floridamarine.org and
the_jacobs.org
 filetype:KML shipwrecks OR "ship wrecks" -
site:floridamarine.org -site:the_jacobs.org

17. Final Tips
• You don't have to get a search right the first time
(or the second or third)
• Go outside the normal search methods
o Add additional terms to a search to help narrow
down results

18. References
Images:
• Image: 'old calculator' http://www.flickr.com/
photos/54289096@N00/531566394
• Image: 'Financial gain (38/365)' http://www.flickr.com/
photos/8047705@N02/5427063703
Need more help? Contact us!
• 614.837.4104 ext. 233 or email us at
pplrefstaff@pickeringtonlibrary.org