Searching for information on the internet can be a tedious task at times if you don’t employ the right trick. There are several ways and means through which you can refine your search results. The web today is largely semantic and it can decipher meaning of search queries along with the context of search. However, keywords are still relevant as you conduct search online. Search engines such as Google have plenty of tricks up their sleeves to better your search. Facebook and Twitter have their own algorithms that define the parameters of their domain-based search.
We have compiled a list of tips and tricks that you can use to optimise your search results across platforms - Facebook, Twitter and Google.
1) Facebook friend finder is an collection of search tools to help you discover people that you might know on Facebook. You can access the Friend Finder page from the ‘Connect with Friends’ widget on the right sidebar on the Facebook homepage.
2) The other option to find someone is using their email. Facebook supports all major webmail services like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail.
3) The online social platform also lets you enter your AOL, ICQ or Windows Live Messenger credentials to find your Instant Messaging (IM) friends.
4) Another not so usual way is a search engine called searchisback, which allows users to search people on Facebook easily. It just requires you to put in some important variables which are required. The dedicated search engine is simple but you need to have some background information about the person in order to find him or her.
1) Segregate your search: By this we mean the users should search on exact tab – Image, Web, News or other from the More option, as it helps you define what kind of search you want to do.
For example, if you’re looking for some recent news article, and happen to remember the glimpse of an image linked to the news, then look for the image in ‘Image’ tab along with the bits of headline you remember. When you get the search results you could just surf through the many pictures which are common and then pick the one you were looking for.
2) Quote it- If you know the quotes or have the quotes stored somewhere, then bingo! Your search result will be more precise than ever.
3) Use a colon to search for specific sites, Google search for articles or content on a certain website. The syntax is simple:
• Sachin Tendulkar site:bcci.tv
This will help you search all the content about famous cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on bcci.tv (Board of Control for Cricket in India). Don’t expect it to provide results from other pages as all other search results will be removed.
4) If you’re looking for a news which is cited or linked on another page then instead of searching for the specific page you could use the following syntax:
• Link: techradar.com
5) And if you’re looking for sites which are common to the sites you love, use the syntax mentioned below:
• Related: flipkart.com
6) Lastly, Google provides a number of commands which can be entered to provide instant results. Some of the shortcuts that we know:
• Weather *zip code* - This provides weather to the particular zip code. You can also use town and city names instead of area codes, but that won’t be accurate if there are multiple area codes in the city.
• What is *celebrity name* Bacon Number – This is fun if, as it reveals the number of many connection that any given celebrity has to famed actor Kevin Bacon. You could try putting Amitabh Bachchan in the *celebrity name* and it’ll provide you the 2 answers– The Great Gatsby and Black Mass. (It’s just for fun, not much relevant to your daily searches)
• Time *place* will display the exact time of any dedicated place you type in.
• You can check any stock by typing its ticker name on Google, if you search for GOOG, it will check the stock prices for Google.
1) Use Advanced search: it gives you six options, in which each one is said to act as a breakdown of what each choice means when learning how to search on Twitter.
Here is what you should make sure while using these six options:
• Using two or more words, will show you tweets with those in no particular order; using quotations will give you phrases e.g. “Social Media”, “Digital marketing”
• Use the exact phrase: write the exact phrase you remember
• Any of these words: can use multiple words, e.g. ‘Social’, ‘Entrepreneur’
• None of these words: Here you should enter the words you would want to omit from your search result
• Hashtag: refines the result from a specific set of hashtags
• Written in: to hone in on a specific language.
2) Save your search: Yes you read that right! If you want to save any of your searches, remember, Twitter allows you to save up to 25 searches. All you need to do is to click on “more options” at the top of your results page and click on “save this search.”
We have compiled a list of tips and tricks that you can use to optimise your search results across platforms - Facebook, Twitter and Google.
Facebook search tips
Facebook friend suggestion is a wonderful way of finding your new friends. However, there are better ways to conduct a Facebook search. There are certain tricks that can come quite handy.1) Facebook friend finder is an collection of search tools to help you discover people that you might know on Facebook. You can access the Friend Finder page from the ‘Connect with Friends’ widget on the right sidebar on the Facebook homepage.
2) The other option to find someone is using their email. Facebook supports all major webmail services like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail.
3) The online social platform also lets you enter your AOL, ICQ or Windows Live Messenger credentials to find your Instant Messaging (IM) friends.
4) Another not so usual way is a search engine called searchisback, which allows users to search people on Facebook easily. It just requires you to put in some important variables which are required. The dedicated search engine is simple but you need to have some background information about the person in order to find him or her.
Google Search tips
Google search engine is the most popular and most used of all. Getting desired search results, however, can get tricky if you don’t know the exact way to do it, especially when you can’t find anything relevant to what you are looking for. Some usual and not-so-usual tricks can surely game up your skills and help in optimizing your search results.1) Segregate your search: By this we mean the users should search on exact tab – Image, Web, News or other from the More option, as it helps you define what kind of search you want to do.
For example, if you’re looking for some recent news article, and happen to remember the glimpse of an image linked to the news, then look for the image in ‘Image’ tab along with the bits of headline you remember. When you get the search results you could just surf through the many pictures which are common and then pick the one you were looking for.
2) Quote it- If you know the quotes or have the quotes stored somewhere, then bingo! Your search result will be more precise than ever.
3) Use a colon to search for specific sites, Google search for articles or content on a certain website. The syntax is simple:
• Sachin Tendulkar site:bcci.tv
This will help you search all the content about famous cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on bcci.tv (Board of Control for Cricket in India). Don’t expect it to provide results from other pages as all other search results will be removed.
4) If you’re looking for a news which is cited or linked on another page then instead of searching for the specific page you could use the following syntax:
• Link: techradar.com
5) And if you’re looking for sites which are common to the sites you love, use the syntax mentioned below:
• Related: flipkart.com
6) Lastly, Google provides a number of commands which can be entered to provide instant results. Some of the shortcuts that we know:
• Weather *zip code* - This provides weather to the particular zip code. You can also use town and city names instead of area codes, but that won’t be accurate if there are multiple area codes in the city.
• What is *celebrity name* Bacon Number – This is fun if, as it reveals the number of many connection that any given celebrity has to famed actor Kevin Bacon. You could try putting Amitabh Bachchan in the *celebrity name* and it’ll provide you the 2 answers– The Great Gatsby and Black Mass. (It’s just for fun, not much relevant to your daily searches)
• Time *place* will display the exact time of any dedicated place you type in.
• You can check any stock by typing its ticker name on Google, if you search for GOOG, it will check the stock prices for Google.
Advanced Twitter search tips
Twitter is one of the most preferred social media platforms by many, as it’s more like an arena for breaking news and confabs. So learning the right way to search on Twitter will not only help you to tune out the noise, but will also engage you to the right audience.1) Use Advanced search: it gives you six options, in which each one is said to act as a breakdown of what each choice means when learning how to search on Twitter.
Here is what you should make sure while using these six options:
• Using two or more words, will show you tweets with those in no particular order; using quotations will give you phrases e.g. “Social Media”, “Digital marketing”
• Use the exact phrase: write the exact phrase you remember
• Any of these words: can use multiple words, e.g. ‘Social’, ‘Entrepreneur’
• None of these words: Here you should enter the words you would want to omit from your search result
• Hashtag: refines the result from a specific set of hashtags
• Written in: to hone in on a specific language.
2) Save your search: Yes you read that right! If you want to save any of your searches, remember, Twitter allows you to save up to 25 searches. All you need to do is to click on “more options” at the top of your results page and click on “save this search.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment