Google Mini Howto. How to use the Google searchengine  :-)      Back to Main Page

This is a very short version, and if you want to know more, go to the Internet etc.

This howto is without any guarantee, and you may use it on your own responsibility only.

There may be errors, but I do not want to use too much time to  write this howto.



I shall first give a short description of what Google is and how it works, according to my knowledge (I am not a Google expert).

Google is the most important searchengine of our time (2007).

Google has a huge database of information, including contents of almost all websites in the world, mailing lists contents, music, video, pictures, library

documents, scientific documents, commercial information of almost any kind etc..

Google copies anything they can get hold on into their databases, and their goal is to get EVERYTHING, so everybody can find all the information that exists in

the  world (for free).

They are using thousands of computers working together in a huge network (that is the reason it can work so fast and contain so much).

Their databases are rapidly increasing both in size and in "value".

I have used Google from its start, and have been able to find almost anything I have been looking for, and answers to a lot of questions about how to install and

use linux, and how to get both software and hardware to work.

I have found time schedules for trains, ferries and airplanes, street maps, telephone numbers, bought items and paid with credit card - you name it.

I will explain how to use Google by using some examples only - some might work, others not.

Google finds results by comparing groups of letters (words).

In order to find anything, you insert search terms (queries) in a Google search bar - you can also click on the "Advanced Search" link (see below) and use a

special search formular.

We will stick with the search bar:



As you can see above I have inserted the two search terms "google minihowto" (without double quotes).

Two search terms like "google" and "minihowto" (without double quotes" means the results shall contain both google AND minihowto.

Now you can press enter or click on the "Google Search" button to get a list of all results which google finds (if you instead pressed the "I'm Feeling Lucky"

button, google would find the result it thinks is the right one, which might -or might not be what you wanted).

You can as a maximum insert 32 search terms, and google sees all the terms as written in lower case (APE, APe or ape are all the same).

Below you will see the result,  after having pressed the "Enter" button:



Please note (see above):

On top you see the number of result, 1 - 100 of about 75,500 English pages and you also see the two search terms "google minihowto" (light blue line).

If you click on the link "linuca.org Mini-Howto Descafeinado Conectar � Internet con el ..." which is the title name of the page, you will come to that web site.

If you see the link "Cached" and click on that you will get an older version of the same webpage.

If you click on the link "Similar pages" you will se pages from other websites which are similar in contents.

Google sees a word with a hyphen, like Mini-Howto, both as: mini howto, minihowto and mini-howto (if in doubt of such a search term, always use the hyphen).

In order to narrow the search further we will add the term -"Mini-Howto" and press "Enter" (see below):



As you can see above, the number of results has now been reduced to 622 pages.

"google minihowto" (without double quotes) means that the searched pages shall contain both of the terms "google" AND "minihowto).

When you put a search term between double quotes like "Mini-Howto" it means exact the word Mini-Howto.

When you put a "-" (minus) in front of a term and without any space between like -"Mini-Howto" it means the searched pages must not contain the exact word

Mini-Howto.

You can use double quotes for both words or phrases like "A free text search program a la google", (means the exact phrase: A free text search program a la

google).

If you knew the above phrase, but were not sure of the words between "A free text" and "a la google" you can use the "*" sign like this: "A free text * a la google",

and then google would find phrases both like "A free text in english a la google" and "A free text for newbies a la google" as well as "A free text search program a

la google" (if they exist).

When you have gotten a query result, and see that that a particular term "search" are repeated in a lot of the search results, you can narrow the search further

by excluding that term like - see below - (meaning that all pages containint that word will be excluded from the result list):



I had noted, that the term "search" was in a lot of the search results so I added "-search" (without the double quotes), and now there only was 28 English pages

in the search result (see above).

The most important search results (the ones google thinks are the most important) will always bee highest on the list of results.

A lot of words (called stop words) are not counted as search terms by google such as: "are", "will", "a", "how" etc., so they are not needed in any search, but you

can use them, if you find it easier to express your search term by using them.

In order to include the  word "are" in a search, add "+are" (without the double quotes) - no space between + and are - to the search string - which will force the

word to be included in all the search results.

For example "how to change the whois information for an org domain" might as well bee "change whois information org domain" .

Google will only include a maximum of 1000 results in each search.

By default google's search page is set up to show 10 results per page, but you can change the number of results to a maximum of 100 results per page by

clicking on the "Preferences" button, see above to the right of the grey "Search" button - then a set-up dialog opens (see below):



You can change the Number of Resluts by clicking on the black downturned trinangle button and then choose the number - then click on the "Save

preferences" button (see above) - the preference setup is saved in a google cookie.

You need to make a specific preference setup in each web browser you use, to get your own personsl setup.

You can also search in a specific website like e.g. http://lists.ubuntu.com which is the ubuntu mailing lists website (see below):



You have to write the special word "site:" (without space between the word "site" and the "colon" and the "domain name") - see above.

Here we search for the search terms: "how to make an alsa sound work" in the "http://lists.ubuntu.com" domain (web site)

You might also get a search result in a foreign language - in this case french (see below):



Then click on the link "Translate this page" (see above) in order to get it translated.

As you can see, you get the page automatic translated into english - it is not perfect, but it works (I think) - see below:



There is much much more you can do in Google, I have only touched the surface, but the above has covered what I use most.

You have to select your search terms carefully, but then you will be able to find almost everything.

I have included a few important links below, which will cover almost everything you might need in your google search:


http://www.googleguide.com

http://www.google.com/sitemap.html

http://www.google.com/support/




11/2007