Q. What are a few essential Google tricks?

Although many people use Google everyday, there are a lot of features built into Google Search that can make your searching more efficient and return more relevant results. The following Google Search techniques will help you craft powerful, targeted searches:

• Search an exact word or phrase by enclosing it in quotation marks:

Example search: "cognitive psychology"

• Limit a search to .edu or .gov sites by including site:.gov or site:.edu in your search

Example search: cognitive psychology site:.edu

This is a variation of the the Google trick that allows you to limit a search to a specific site.

Example search:  psychology site:libguides.mchenry.edu

• Find related sites with the following format: related:www.examplesite.com

Example search: related:www.chicagotribune.com

• Limit your search results to a specific file type (pdf, doc, xls, jpg, etc.) by including filetype:[fileextension] in your search.

Example search: filetype:pdf common Illinois birds

Example search in Google Images: common Illinois birds filetype:jpg

• Search only webpage titles by including intitle:[search terms] in your search

Example search: intitle:bird identification

• Search only within URLs by including inurl:[search terms] in your search

Example search: inurl:mchenry

Many of the Google tricks listed above can also be done with Google Advanced Search or by using Google's search result 'Tools':

If you have additional questions, please contact the MCC Library.