Expert tips to search Google better, faster

Searching on Google has become second nature for billions of people. Yet even though you long ago mastered the essentials, there’s still a lot most of us can learn about how to search faster and more effectively.

Senior Google research scientist Daniel M. Russell recently published “The Joy of Search: A Google Insider’s Guide Going Beyond The Basics.”

USA TODAY caught up with Russell in New York, where he was teaching a “Grow With Google” class on search strategies.

Here are some of his key tips:

Think an extra second about what it is you are really asking for

Consider the following search query: “When did Santa Clara (the city) begin?” Seems simple enough, right?

But depending on how you ask the question, the date that comes up in search results will vary considerably: You might see when Santa Clara was “founded. Or when it was instead, “incorporated,” “established” or “first set up as a city government.” Which answer do you want?

Now take another search example from Russell. “What is the distance to the sun?”

Again, seems simple. But where are you measuring from? The center of the Earth to the sun? From another planet to the sun? And so on. Think about the precise thing you are looking for in entering the search, keeping in mind that you can always try again. It doesn’t cost a thing to do a second search on a complex topic.

Don’t include your answer in a search

People sometimes bake the “expected answer” into their search query. So

Search by voice for a spelling

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 truly the correct answer? Maybe other sources got it wrong.

“You’re leading the witness” when you include the answer in a search query, Russell says, thus biasing the results.

Use ‘context’ search terms

You want to help the kids with homework but have forgotten all your high school math. You could search for “quadratic equation” and find lots of results. But if you add the context search term “tutorial,” as in “quadratic equation tutorial,” you may get to more useful results faster.

There are numerous “context” terms that will help you better pinpoint a search, including words such as lesson, background, summary, define and history.

In general, Google’s advice is to add or remove words in your query to see different results, starting out with a broad search and narrowing it down as you go along.

Do you know how to spell “hors d’oeuvres” or “pneumonia”? If you didn’t know that those spellings began with an “h” or a “p,” respectively, you can say them out loud using voice search. The search results Google spits out 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,” say, Google will surface the correct spelling.

Using voice or text, you can also determine how a word is pronounced – you may get the answer in a YouTube search result or when you ask Google to “define” a word.