Do you want to be successful with technology, are you a programmer? Or developer or any job that involves technology?
If yes, then this post is definitely for you.Google is one of the most visited sites in the world with around a million clicks a minute,
it was a project developed in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page while they were studying in the university.Google is the number one tool you need to be successful in the technology field, most people fail to use Google before asking a question.
Worse still, some people don’t know how to use Google.It’s cool to ask questions about something, but it will be better if you follow the rule of “Google it first”.
Most beginners fail to Google their questions before asking or posting in tech communities and therefore get unfavorable replies.
Professionals often get irritated with these questions and see them as annoying. This might lead to a bad reputation for the person asking the questions, and they don’t get desired answers when they ask questions. Some people might even report them as spammers.
A professional rule that avoids this embarrassment is: “Google it first“.Google helps to gather information and answers your questions diligently.
However, how can it gather information when you don’t know how to use it?
How to use Google search
There are various ways you can use Google to answer your question, as Google is a highly customizable search engine that can be modified to suit your needs.
This article covers diverse options which will answer your question of “how to use Google”.I will be covering some of the methods below.
Putting your question directly to Google search box
This method involves putting your search query or question on the search box directly. This will give you a list of matching results related to your question or query.
Although this is a relatively simple way to use Google search, it often displays a wide variety of results that you might not find exactly what you seek.
If the normal Google search isn’t bringing the desired results, then you might want to try the alternatives below.
Using inurl: method
This involves putting your search query with the inurl, in this format “inurl: search query or question”.
The above query will give us results with the URL we specified. For instance,
“inurl: programming” will return the results of pages with the word “programming” in the URL address of the page.
This will help in searching for a specific site. For example, if I want to search for The Tech Ninjas, I might as well just type “inurl:thetechninjas”, and I get my results.This is a very useful search method, but it’s not the only one available.
Using the “intext:” method
This will give us result of pages with the text we specified in the main content in its page
For example, using”intext:technology forums“will return pages with tech forums in its main body content.
This search method is also important, but not so different from the general search.
Using the “site:” method
And this is an extremely important one.This search method restricts you to results only from a specific website, or web domain.
For example, typing “site:thetechninjas.com” into the Google search box notifies the algorithm to return results, only from thetechninjas.com and nowhere else.
Also, you can use it in this format, “site:.ng your keywords”.
This modifies the search to return results, only from websites with the .ng domain. It makes it easy to target a specific country for results, and also a specific website.
Pro Tip: You can use the keyword after using the “site:” modifier.For example, if I want to search for the article on “how to use Google” on The Tech Ninjas website, you can find it by typing: “site:thetechninjas.com how to use Google.”
When to use Google
Research
You can use Google when researching a specific topic. Writers often use Google to make research on any topic they’re writing about. If you’re writing a research paper about a company, person, or organization, Google can help.
To seek knowledge
The reason most beginners often ask annoying questions about a particular topic is that they have little or no knowledge about the topic.
The first step to take if you don’t know about a particular topic is to search it on Google!
For example, you don’t know anything about the word”Reddit” the first thing to do is to search
“what is Reddit“,
“what is Reddit used for”,
“how to use Reddit”, etc.
Google will return a relevant result about Reddit, its definition, meaning, and what it is used for.What if I don’t find an answer on Google?
Though some questions or queries you might search on Google might not return any result or it might return an irrelevant result.
So what should you do in this case?
If I were you, I’d head to forums or sites like Quora, Facebook groups to ask the question. Better still, you can get a helpful professional in the field you are having an issue with.
The reason for this is that Google’s result might not directly threaten your question, but instead show results about related questions.
Conclusion
Google search is the best tool you need to be successful, it prevents you from running to people every time you are confused about a particular topic or word.
Mind you both beginners and professionals still require Google to answer some of their questions, people require Google at all levels.
Do you use Google often? Or do you have a question or consideration?
If yes then feel free to leave us a comment below.
