Improve Google searches

Below this are options relating to Google’s Safesearch feature, which can be used to prevent the appearance of explicit content in search results. The default setting is that moderate filtering is in place. This will block the vast majority of explicit images but if you want to boost defences against inappropriate material, the ‘Use strict filtering’ option will also block sites that contain explicit text. Note that the more filters you use, the fewer sites and pages Google will deliver.

To speed up the display of search results, Google limits the number of results to 10 per page. If a large number of sites have been found, a lot of mouse clicking is required to navigate through to some of the later results. Use the dropdown menu to opt to increase this figure to anything up to 100 sites. The final option is to open search result links in a new browser window – this is a handy way to keep search results available whilst visiting the sites which have been found.

Google includes an Advanced Search facility which can be used to improve the search results filter. Back at the Google home page, click the Advanced Search link to the right of the standard search box and a page containing a number of additional search boxes and options will be displayed.

Advanced Search can be used in a variety of ways and this is covered in the step-by-step guide Use Google's filtering options to find websites. It is worth noting that as the various fields of the Advanced Search page are filled in, Google will automatically generate an appropriate search term for your choices at the top of the page.

Shortcuts to advanced tools
While it can be useful to make use of Google’s Advanced Search, many of the options it offers can also be accessed from the standard search box – all that is needed are the correct symbols in the right order when composing a search.

We mentioned that enclosing words in double quotes will force Google to s earch for that exact phrase. To ensure that a particular word is included in a search, even if it is not part of a phrase, type a space then a plus sign followed by the word.

To continue with our earlier example, we could further narrow our holiday hunt by specifying a region or city, like so: australia “camping holiday” +perth. To perform a search and exclude a particular word, use a minus sign: australia “camping holiday” +perth -caravan.

There will be occasions when you want to search for sites that include information about either one word or another. This could be achieved with two individual searches, but also by including the word OR in capitals in the search. So to search for camping holidays in either Australia or France, use the search term: “camping holiday” Australia OR France. It is often possible to construct a search term using different words that mean the same thing.

Rather than performing individual searches to cater for how individual websites may have been worded, a synonym search can be used. For example, a motorhome can also be referred to as a camper van or an RV. Rather than searching for these phrases individually, using the tilde symbol on your keyboard (hold down the Shift key followed by ‘#’) will search for variations of the word, like this: ~motorhome.

Often you know which site has the information you’re looking for but are unable to find it using the site’s own search tool. Again, Google can help. In the standard search box, enter your search term, type a space, the word ‘site’ followed by a colon and then the address of the site, for example: hotel site:www.visitscotland.com. By using a combination of these techniques, you can perform very precise searches.