A short presentation on how to improve your searches on Google, and how to filter your results more effectively.

1. Better searching with
Google
dthompson@gmail.com / @MAT_Librarian 27/11/2014

2. The basics:
“Throw a load of words into Google – wade
through pages of results for what you really
wanted…”
or…
Think more carefully: use specific terms and
avoid ‘everyday’ language
Put your terms in order of importance: KEY
words first, secondary terms after.
dthompson@gmail.com / @MAT_Librarian 27/11/2014

3. Using punctuation
Use special punctuation to improve your results:
- between words shows they are strongly connected:
photography-career,
photography-professional-practice
“” identifies you are looking for a phrase:
“You don't take a photograph, you make it.”
* searches for multiple word endings:
Photograph*-jobs
or alternate words in a phrase:
“a * paints a * words”
dthompson@gmail.com / @MAT_Librarian 27/11/2014

4. Using Symbols
Search for specific results using symbols:
+ Searches Google+ pages (or blood types!):
+Chrome and AB+
@ searches social tags on twitter, facebook and
Google+:
@MAT_Librarian, @Magnumphotos
$ or £ finds prices:
nikon $400
# searches hashtags for trending topics:
#photobookday, #trendingnow
dthompson@gmail.com / @MAT_Librarian 27/11/2014

5. Using operators
site: - Get results from only certain sites or domains.
Ansel-adams site:thephotographersgallery.org.uk/
Helmut-Newton site:.co.uk
related: - Find sites that are similar to a URL you already
know. (e.g. search for sites related to time.com)
related:time.com
OR - search for pages that may have just one of several
words. (Without the OR, your results would show only pages
that match both terms)
magnum-photo* prize 2014 OR 2018
info: - Get information about a URL, including the cached
version of the page, similar pages, and pages that link to the
site (useful if you want to check the authenticity of a site!)
Info:http://www.glos.ac.uk
dthompson@gmail.com / @MAT_Librarian 27/11/2014

6. Searching images
www.google.com/imghp
Search by word, phrase, description or
subject
(note: google searches for images by using any related
text around an image on a page – or by looking for subject
metadata in any img: tags. If you want your images to be
found, then make sure to use metadata!)
Or
dthompUsopn@logmaadil. caomn / i@mMaATg_eLi burasriianng the camera ico2n7/:1 1/2014

7. Filtering results
Every results list has a filter bar – click each for a
filtered list based on that category:
Under each category, you can refine further by using
the drop down options under the ‘search tools’ link:
dthompson@gmail.com / @MAT_Librarian 27/11/2014

8. Altering your search settings
Use the cog icon to access ‘help’ and
settings (including languages, safe-search,
number of results per page etc)
dthompson@gmail.com / @MAT_Librarian 27/11/2014

9. Advanced searching
http://www.google.com/advanced_search
For all general web searches
http://www.google.com/advanced_image_search
For searching images only
http://scholar.google.co.uk/
For searching open access academic
sources
dthompson@gmail.com / @MAT_Librarian 27/11/2014