Internet search engines have evolved significantly over the last decade or so, to the point that it’s getting kinda spooky, like they can read your mind or something. Ever more sophisticated algorithms analyze your likes and dislikes, shopping habits, underwear preference, and favorite websites making web searches easier and more accurate than ever, if a bit slanted toward separating you from your money.
But to be a real search pro you have to make use of Boolean operators, named for a famous dead mathematician you’ve never heard of. These can be used with any search engine to greatly improve results, save time, and make you feel like a high-tech search ninja.
Making It Happen
Boolean operators are used to define the relationship between different terms used in a search. Here are a few of the most used operands to get you started. Examples are in single quotes, which should not be used in a search.
Quotes (“”). If you put a search term in quotes, like “pink paisley panthers”, you’ll get only results with that exact term. This is especially helpful when looking for something obscure or very specific.
Asterisk (*). An asterisk stands in for an unknown term or a wildcard, like ‘It was Colonel Mustard in the * with the candlestick’. Useful when you’re not sure of a word in a phrase, but the rest of it is on the * of your tongue.
Colon (site:). You can use the operator ‘site:’ to look for results within a specific domain, as in ‘weird stuff site: reddit.com’.
Hashtag (#). Useful for finding hashtag posts from Twitter and other social media on hot topics, such as #inflategate.
The basic operators are enough for most people to greatly improve their search results, but it won’t hurt to learn the advanced ones. And pretty soon you’ll be assimilated as a human Googlebot.