The most common mistakes when searching on Google when you can’t find what you’re looking for

The Google search engine has become a tool for everyday use to search for all kinds of information, but despite its algorithms, users results are not always found what to expect when doing searches.

Therefore, the senior scientific researcher at Google Daniel russell has highlighted in a company statement some of the most common mistakes that can prevent users from finding the desired results.

One of the possible causes of not finding the information may be to only perform a search. It is suggested to carry out at least two or three searches, especially if it is a complex issue, since in many occasions it is assumed that the first answers that appear are the most appropriate.

Precisely, Google presented at its Google I / O 2021 developer event the MUM function (Unified Multitasking Models), which allows to reduce to a single search some complex tasks that currently they need to do more than one query.

Another factor that can make it difficult to find results can be forgetting to check the credibility of sources. Google has indicated that you have to make sure that the web that is reached is the best source of information for what you are looking for.

To facilitate this process, Google also announced the beginning of the implementation of ‘About this result’, which provides details about the page such as the description, when it was first indexed, and if the connection is secure. In addition, Google will later add data from the description of the website itself, comments from other sources and related articles.

A potential mistake when doing a search in Google is not defining the search terms beforehand, the keywords that are going to be used. A useful technique is ‘navigate in parallel’, that is, try different variations of the search in different browser tabs and compare the results obtained.

Beyond keywords, Google too allows searches through images, so the company advises not to limit yourself to text when searching.

Another novelty presented at the last Google I / O is that, from now on, users will have an easier time finding products that they might like in Google Shopping through Lens to locate the products that appear in the screenshots from Google Photos.

Russell also stresses that it is appropriate don’t avoid results with unfamiliar words. This is because by doing so the user may be missing valuable information that could include the answers they are looking for. Instead of dismissing it, try another Google search for the unrecognized words.

Search tricks

In addition to avoiding these errors, Google Search users can use a series of tips and tricks, which have to do with the inserting certain symbols in searches, which can limit millions of potential results so that only the really relevant ones appear.

For example, add quotes in the word or phrase (for example, “technology”) shortens the search, searching only for specific expressions, such as multi-word movie titles.

Another trick is to use hyphens, as if they are added before a word (for example, —house—), that term will be excluded from the displayed results, while adding a vertical bar (|) will show websites that have some or all of the terms, as it basically means ‘O’ for Google (eg mobile | computer).

Google also advises adding a colon (..) between two numbers (for example, 1970..2020), since adding two points between numbers will display results within those ranges.