Hello!
Itās an every-other-Tuesday and thereās been A LOT of talk about Google AI blowing it of late. (Wait, you donāt want glue in your pizza to make your cheese stickier?!)
So today, we're looking not at tools, but instead at methods to improve your search, on Google and beyond.
Know anyone who might appreciate what weāre doing here? Invite them to join us! As you know, weāre all really nice, and cool, and we all LOVE free digital tools!
If youāre excited AND ready NOT distracted, letās do this! ā”ļø
Boolean Search
Tool type: Method
Boolean is a funny word. But a powerful tool!
Letās say youāre in the market for a new computer and you are trying to compare different models
You head to Google and search Apple MacBook Dell XPS.
The results are okay.
But now, letās rerun the search using Boolean operators.
By adding āAND,ā āOR,ā or āNOT,ā we give Google more information about our actual search goals, thus getting better results.
So in this example, we want to compare these two computers, so weāll search āApple MacBook AND Dell XPSā. Now all results will include BOTH of these phrases.
But letās say we want to read reviews of them, not necessarily in comparison to each other. Search āApple MacBook OR Dell XPSā and weāll get results that mention one or the other.
Letās say you want to shop for both, but know that you donāt want to buy them refurbished.
Search āApple MacBook OR Dell XPS NOT refurbishedā and you will see results for both that do not include the word refurbished.
Itās a deceptively simple concept, but a powerful one as you are looking to get more out of your Google searches.
Now letās take Boolean search a step further.
Letās say you want to find an Apple MacBook or Dell XPS on sale. Instead of just throwing all of those words into Google, letās add some brackets.
(Apple MacBook OR DellXPS) AND sale.
Now we are telling Google that we MUST have one of the first two terms AND the word sale.
And if you have an exact phrase you are looking for, add quotes into the mix.
āApple MacBookā AND (sale OR Refurbished)
Now you are telling Google that it must have the exact phrase āApple Macbookā and either sale OR refurbished.
And Google search can get even more powerful. Using an asterisk tells Google to try and fill in a missing word. Letās say you are searching for interesting things you can do with your new MacBook Pro. Try searching āApple MacBook * tips.ā
This might get you good cleaning tips. Or storage tips. Or tips to keep your battery healthy.
You know you want specific tipsā¦ you just donāt know which kind. That asterisk will tell Google to help you figure it out.
FREE or FREEmium: FREE
This method of search works on Google, as well as in other search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGo. While not as powerful, it also works to some degree on LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, YouTube and Amazon.
So the next time youāre searching on Google for ways to make your cheese more sticky, be sure to add āNOT glueā to your search terms. š
Searching A Single Website On Google
Tool type: Method
Letās say, a while back, you read a blog post from Jon Loomer (if you donāt know him, heās a Facebook Ads guy who blogs A LOT!).
He had this great tip, but you canāt remember all the steps.
You didnāt bookmark it. So you head to his site and start poking around. But dude blogs A LOOOOOT!
Instead of searching around within his site, head to Google and let them do the heavy lifting for you.
If you search āJon Loomer AND retargetingā, you might get close. But you might also wind up finding articles about Jon Loomer, or things heās being quoted in.
If you want to find his actual post, you can tell Google that!
Instead of the above search, try this: site:jonloomer.com retargeting
Now you will ONLY find pages from his site that mention the word retargeting.
And Boolean search still applies. So you can try site:jonloomer.com retargeting AND Instagram.
And so on.
This can actually be a great tool to check your own site on Google as well. Not sure if your site is indexing properly? You can head to Google Search Console and poke around. Or you can just go to Google and run a search. site:yoursite.com. Google will show you a list of every public page on your own website.
FREE or FREEmium: FREE
This one is obviously specific to search engines. But itās a powerful search tool that I use quite often. Hope itās helpful!
Hope these search tools help. Hit reply with any questions or any of your favorite search tools that I didnāt include.
Or anything else!
If you like Free Digital Tools, you probably know others who will too. Invite them to join us. Theyāll appreciate itā¦ as will I!
See you in a fortnight,
Josh
joshklemons.com