Google tips and tricks

The Find Engine

You know how to use Google, huh?   You type something and it searches for you? Correct?
So you must be familiar with this one:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3)"endless summer"

It's a query, just like when you type something in the search bar, this one is just (a little bit) more..complete.
Let's start with the beginning:
If you are looking for music to download (legally, of course) you may type the title of the song, i.e. Endless Summer.
The result is 12.600.000 answers .... a bit too much for my taste.
The solution is to use qualifiers and terms to refine your search up to the point that you'll find what YOU want in few seconds.
The goal is to ask a question in such a way that you'll transform Google from Search Engine to a Find Engine.
Believe me on that one: You do not want to Search, You want to FIND !
Let's start... 12.600.000 answers.  The brackets [ ] are used for clarity, don't use them in a query

Minus Sign -
The minus sign remove word(s) from a search
[ Endless Summer -film ] will remove all search with the word "film"  12.100.000 answers, 500,000 removed ;-)

Plus Sign +
In that case, you'll add a parameter.
[ Endless Summer +mp3 -film ] will look for "mp3" and remove "film"  526.000 answers, 12.080.000 removed :-))

You can add as many +&- as you want:  +mp3 +free -film -wma etc etc

Quote signs " "
Quote signs will allow to search exactly what is entered in the quotes, and in the order written.
[ "Endless summer" +mp3 -film ] will not return anything else than -verbatim- "Endless summer".  No Donna Summer, or summer endless,  etc..
This is very useful to research a definite sentence, or a person. 

Tilde sign ~
Placed before a word, the tilde sign will allow search for synonyms i.e. [ ~food ]  will search for food but also for related words:  restaurant, cooking, etc .. this is an EXPANDER (more results)

Getting serious: Qualifiers

inurl:  Use this qualifier to restrict the search  to pages or documents containing the search word specified in the page's url:
intitle: Use this search qualifier to specify that the search take place in only those words  that came from a web page's title field. 
cache:  This qualifier returns the most recent copy of the page that Google has stored and used for its indexing.  
site:  Use this qualifier to restrict the results to a given site. For example site: [ www.apple.com "Quicktime" +download ] will take you straight to the right one. no fuss
File Format:
By defaut, Google searches for your specification coming from any number of different file formats, including, of course, html.  However, here are other file formats that you can choose, specifically, to have Google search for: Adobe PDF (pdt), Adobe Postscript (ps), Microsoft Word (doc),  Microsoft Excel (xls), Microsoft Powerpoint (ppt), Rich Text Format (rtf)
If you are looking for a paper, site: + file format: + quotes  allows you to find a school paper in seconds.

So, let's go back to our search, this time with the translation in plain English

-inurl:(htm|html|php)  is not a webpage in HTML, HTM or PHP
 intitle:  has in the title (not the URL, the TITLE!) the following:  "index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size
 +(wma|mp3) and has the format wma and/or mp3
"endless summer" and contains the exact words "Endless Summer"
You can go further and request a full title "endless summer.mp3" [ -inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3)"endless summer.mp3" ]


So, enter the query and you'll find exactly this Google page and this exact song
and much more.  :-)
Not 12.600.000 answers to scroll, just 5. By Googling to the max, you have refined your search by a factor of 2.520.000  Stop searching, start finding! Get the right one in 2 sec.

If you are looking for pictures, replace wma|mp3 by (jpg|png|tiff) , mov, mpg, flv, etc for video.
It works also very well with the qualifier "cache" to find things that were deleted..;-)
Now you can probably divide by a 1000 the number of results and refine your query to the max.
Google can also give you straight answers:
if you are looking for conversion, i.e. how many Milliliters in a ounce or do some math, you can ask.
Try the following in the search bar or click the link:
[ Define: CPU ]
[ 1 gallon in centiliter ]
[ 100 USD in EUR ]

Now that you start grasping the possibilities, how about controlling a remote webcam with Google? 
Try that [ inurl:"/view/index.shtml" ]  and you'll also get the IP to localize the webcam.


Warning Note: 
When using the -inurl, you'll probably may stumble upon websites dedicated to some type of not-so-legal activities. Be very aware that some of them are honey traps and have the sole goal to scam you. This is especially true when you search for "hot" subject such as new movies, softwares, etc. 
I would highly suggest you to use the maximum caution, as well as the use of (free) services such as Web of Trust.  Also, set your browser on "alert" mode (see Firefox >>preferences>>security)

Side Notes:
Punctuation is ignored by Google, as well as case
Google Stop Words
The following words are ignored (too common)
a, at, in, that, when, about, be, is, the, where, an, by, it, this, which, and, for, of, to, who, are, from, on, was, will, as, I, or, what, with,
To Force a Stop Word, include it within quotes.  i.e  [ "Who is about to be" ]  only contains Stop Words but the quotes forces Google to research the exact sentence in the exact order.