Searching for a phrase in quotations will yield only pages with the same words in the same order as what’s in the quotes. It’s one of the most vital search tips, especially useful if you’re trying to find results containing a specific phrase. 

​

Ex. if you want to look up someone named John Ferguson, and you type it in quotations (“John Ferguson”) you’ll only get results that have John Ferguson in that same order (i.e. it will omit all results that have the word John and/or the word Ferguson just anywhere on the website).

People sometimes bake the expected answer right into their search query. So it’s better to ask, “What is the average length of an octopus?” rather than “Is the average length of an octopus 21 inches?"

​

Why? You may, indeed, see search results "confirming" 21 inches. But is that really the correct answer? Maybe other sources got it wrong. “You’re leading the witness” when you include the answer in a search query, thus biasing the results.

Do you know how to spell “hors d'oeuvres” or “pneumonia”? If you didn’t know that those spellings began with a silent “h” or “p,” respectively, you can say them out loud using voice search – across devices, including your desktop or laptop computer, by clicking or tapping the microphone icon in the search field.

​

The search results Google gives you will almost certainly reveal the correct spelling. You can also type in something close to how you think a word is spelled. If you type – “nimonia," for instance – Google will often surface the correct spelling.

Something to be careful about is the order of words in your search. Depending on the order you choose, you may see significantly different results. 

​

Leave common terms in the correct order. Typing “blue sky” will yield very different results from “sky blue”.

Google search knows how to search for a lot of things. So you don’t need to be too specific. If you need a pizza place nearby, simply search for "pizza places nearby". Google search will grab your location and deliver a variety of results about pizza places that are near you. 

​

You should also pay attention as you type as Google will have a handful of similar searches for you to select from. Say you want to learn more about the Vancouver Aquarium Centre. Start typing in those words and you’ll notice after you type "Vancouver Aq" one of you top similar searches you can click on is "Vancouver Aquarium Centre".