Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing offer simplicity with their big search boxes, but what if your searches don't give you many or any helpful results? You can do a more advanced search, which Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines offer, although you often have to look closely to figure out how to do one.
Another option is to learn some shortcuts to make your searches more focused. Here are some examples:
• Site Searches
You can type in the words you want to search then add site: and search a specific Website. For example, the search technology site:nytimes.com will give you results for the word technology on The New York Times Website. You can do the same sort of search if you only want results from a certain domain. For example, the search exercise site:.gov will give you results for the word exercise on Websites that end in .gov.
• Built-in Features
Many search engines allow you to type in a math problem (9568+4568) and the first result is your answer. They also do conversions (2 cups in ounces), time (time Hong Kong), definitions (define audacious) and offer other helpful features.
For a more complete list of shortcuts, check out this great cheat sheet from people who don't work for Google, but maintain Google Guide, a Website dedicated to making searching easier (thank you, Nancy Blachman!).
