Google Search “Tricks & Tips”

Internet searching can be a wonderful adjunct to your genealogy efforts. Unfortunately most folks seem not to understand how to use search engines to their best advantage. Consequently they struggle and are often frustrated by their lack of accomplishments/ results. If you have not tried using some of the fancy features available in all search engines, I recommend that you consider doing so…

In that spirit, I offer this posting. I can assure you that this brief article will not do much more than whet your appetite; but you might just come away with a few tips and an interest in seeing what else can be accomplished with just a little effort on your part.

As I have noted numerous times, my preferred search engine is Google. As a result, the information here focuses on that tool. However, it is worth noting that I have tried using several of these same tricks on other search engines such as Mocavo and they seem to work in about the same manner.

Because I end up searching for a lot of information, printed in stored in languages other than those with which I am comfortable. I have found that you can enter a search phrase in your language. And cleverly, Google will find results in other languages and translate them for you to read. Try it out- HERE!

Also you may not be aware but there are tweaks that you can enter into your search string(s) which will modify and/or adjust the results you receive.  Here are a couple of very simple examples (I recommend that you enter these examples into Google in order to see how they work):

Search for an umbrella item/ term/ phrase:

Elbing Elbląg

Search for an umbrella item/ term/ phrase  and exclude a selected related term:

Elbing -Elbląg

Search for an item/ term/ phrase on a specific site:

“richard senger” site: many-roads.com

Search for an item/ term/ phrase and  exclude a specific site:

“richard senger” site: -many-roads.com

Hopefully this will get you on the path to more effective searches. If you’d like to watch a slick multi-media presentation on this topic, I have include one below: