With the Web at 6 billion pages and growing, information online is not stored or organized in any logical fashion. The Internet itself is not run or managed by any central organization. There are more than 200 separate search engines and directories on the Internet. If you go by usage trends, however, you end up with only one real standout. Google is the most popular search engine available today representing 75% of all searches. Google offers a huge search index, highly relevant search results, extremely fast searches, and a variety of specialty searches. Some of the specialty searches allow you to search via images (search for pictures and graphics) groups (search the Internet's newsgroup archives) directory (provides hand-picked results from the Open Directory) and news (gathers the top news, sports, business entertainment and heath stories).
Table of Contents
Introduction. 1. Learning Search Basics. Performing a Search. Understanding the Search Results. Searching Within Results. Starting a New Search. Displaying Similar Pages. Using the Im Feeling Lucky Button. Looking Up a Business. Looking Up an Address or Phone Number. Looking Up a Map. Looking Up a Definition. Looking Up a Stock Quote. Performing a Math Calculation. Converting Units of Measurement. Getting Help. Finding Sites That Link to an Address. 2. Using Googles Advanced Search Options. Searching for an Exact Phrase. Searching for a Site That Contains Any of the Search Words. Searching for a Site That Does Not Contain a Listed Word. Searching for a Page in a Particular Language. Translating a Page in Another Language. Translating Text On-the-Fly. Specifying a File Type. Selecting a Date Rage. Specifying Where the Search Word Occurs on the Page. Searching a Particular Web Site. Searching a Particular Type of Web Site. Searching for Sites Similar to a Certain Site. Setting Safety Options. Selecting How Many Results Are Listed. 3. Browsing Googles Directory. Browsing Googles Directory. Navigating Through Categories. Viewing Related Directory Results. Browsing Categories by Letter. Sorting Directory Site Lists. Using the Directory from a Regular Search. Searching the Directory. Browsing the Arts Category. Browsing the Business Category. Browsing the Computers Category. Browsing the Games Category. Browsing the Health Category. Browsing the Home Category. Browsing the Kids and Teens Category. Browsing the News Category. Browsing the Recreation Category. Browsing the Reference Category. Browsing the Shopping Category. Browsing the Sports Category. 4. Searching for Images. Searching for an Image. Working with Found Images. Searching for an Image That Matches an Exact Phrase. Limiting Search Words. Searching for an Image That Matches Any Words. Setting Safety Options for an Image Search. Searching by Image Size. Searching by File Type. Searching by Color. Searching for an Image at a Particular Web Site. 5. Searching for News Stories and Information. Viewing Top News Stories. Viewing Top Sports, Entertainment, and Other Stories. Searching for News Stories. Printing a News Article. Sorting News Story Results. Searching for a News Item That Matches an Exact Phrase. Searching for a News Item That Matches Any Words. Limiting Search Words for a News Item. Specifying a Certain News Source. Selecting a Sort Order Before a Search. Selecting a Certain News Location. Specifying Location of a Search Word in the Article. Setting a Date Range for the Search. 6. Working with Googles Discussion Groups. Browsing Groups. Browsing Alphabetically. Searching for a Group. Reading Messages. Searching for a Message. Posting a Response to a Message. Posting a New Message. Using Advanced Message Search Queries. Searching for a Message by Sender. Searching for a Message Within a Particular Group. Setting a Date Range for the Message Search. 7. Using Googles Other Services. Browsing Products with Froogle. Searching for Products with Froogle. Viewing Products for Sale with Froogle. Browsing Online Catalogs. Searching for Catalog Products. Browsing Question and Answers with Google Answers. Asking Google Answers a Question. Searching Google Answers. Checking Out New Projects in Google Labs. Performing Special Searches. Searching Government or Military Sites. Searching a Specific School with University Search. 8. Customizing Google. Making Google Your Home Page. Searching the Google Site. Signing Up for News Alerts. Adding Google Browser Buttons to Internet Explorer. Using Googles Toolbar. Setting Google Preferences. Submitting Feedback to Google. Index.
Author Biography
Shelley O'Hara is the author of more than 100 books, including the best-selling Easy Windows and other top-selling titles. She has also authored a novel (The Marriage Trifecta), Web content, training materials, magazine columns, software manuals, and business and marketing materials. In addition to writing, O'Hara teaches training and personal development classes in Indianapolis. She graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. and the University of Maryland with an M.A., both in English.
