Doing a single search, not checking the credibility of the sources or not defining keywords are some of the errors
Experts recommend not avoiding results with words that the user does not know: “It could include what you are looking for”
Adding quotes, hyphens, a vertical bar, or a colon between numbers can also help.
The Seeker of Google It has become a tool for everyday use to search for all kinds of information, but despite its algorithms, users do not always find the results they expect. For this reason, senior research scientist at Google Daniel Russell has highlighted some of the 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 do just one search. The expert suggests carrying out at least two or three searches, especially if it is a complex topic, since in many cases 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 you to reduce to a single search some complex tasks that currently require more than one query.
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Another factor that can make it difficult to find results may be forgetting about check the credibility of the sources. Google has pointed out that you have to make sure that the web you reach 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 whether 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.
Keywords, avoid unknown words, add quotes …
A potential mistake when doing a Google search is not defining your search terms in advance, the keywords to be used. A useful technique is to ‘browse parallel’, that is, try different variations of the search in different browser tabs and compare the results obtained. Beyond keywords, Google also allows searches through images, so the company advises not to limit yourself to text when searching.
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.
By avoiding results with unknown words, the user may be missing valuable information that could include the answers they are looking for
In addition to avoiding these errors, users of the Google search engine can use a series of tips and tricks, which have to do with the insertion of certain symbols in searches, which can limit millions of potential results so that only the really relevant ones appear. 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 consists of use hyphens, since if they are added before a word (for example, -house-), that term will be excluded in the displayed results, while adding a vertical bar (|) will display websites that have some or all of the terms, as it basically means an ‘o’ to Google (eg mobile | computer).
Google also advises adding two points (..) between two numbers (for example, 1970..2020), since adding two points between numbers will display results within those ranges.
