Searching on Google, or simply Googling is one of the simplest things to do on the internet, but did you know that there are many tricks that you can use to get quick and/or more accurate search results on the app.
Set the time filter
Google search results will have a time filter on the top left, just below the category ribbon (All, News, Shopping, Images, etc). This option is by default set to ‘Any time’ but you can change it as per your requirement to get search results from the last hour, week, month or year.
Use quotation marks (“ ”) for exact results
Google may take your entered search terms in any order to get a wider range of results. This can sometimes be a good thing, but not if you’re looking for exact order of words, like when searching for song lyrics. To search exact search phrases, where the results have your search queries in the order you entered, users can use double quotation marks (“ ”) with your queries.
Colon for site-specific searches
Google allows you to search for pages of a particular website so you’re not seeing other sites that you’re not looking for. To do this, you can simply add ‘site:xyz.com’ (where ‘xyz’ could be any website you want) to your search to get results from the particular website.
For instance, you can search for ‘Galaxy S22 Ultra site:indianexpress.com’ to get to all articles on the Galaxy S22 Ultra by indianexpress.com.
Quick calculator and currency conversion
Google lets you quickly make calculations from its search bar. You can simply search for queries like what is 82 divided by 3, or what is 56 times 7 to get to answers quickly. The search bar also doubles up as a quick currency converter when you need one, and yes it works with real-time conversion rates. You can search for $80 in INR, for instance, to get a quick conversion.
Periodic Table
Google also lets you quickly pull up the periodic table by simply searching for it. The Google periodic table is updated and colour coded according to categories like Alkali metals, Alkaline earth metals, Transition metals, Reactive nonmetals, Lanthanides and Actinides. Check it out below.
Here’s how the Google Periodic Table looks like. (Image Source: Google)
A ‘Practice Problems’ pane on the right of the periodic table also lets you test your periodic table knowledge with some simple questions.
Find where a movie/show is streaming
Simply search for a movie or TV show name followed by ‘watch’ and you find listings for streaming services where the content is being streamed.
Fun searches
Google also lets you search for fun terms to reveal easter eggs. Check them out yourself. Search for the following
Wordle – Wordle easter egg
Askew – Tilted screen of results
Blink HTML – ‘HTML’ and ‘Blink’ will blink on the screen
Do a barrel roll – 360 flip
Google in 1998 – Old version of Google
Sonic the Hedgehog game – Animated Sonic game easter egg
Super Mario Bros. 1985 – Mario easter egg