Google Basics

Google only returns pages that include all of your search terms.  There is no need to include "and" between terms.  Google also ignores common words and characters such as "where" and "how".  If a common word is essential in getting the results you want, you can include it by putting a + sign in front of it.  Another method for doing this is conducting a phrase search by putting quotes around two or more terms. Google also uses stemming technology.  It will not only search for your terms, but also for words that are similar to some or all of your terms.  If your search term has more than one meaning, you can focus your search by putting a minus sign (-) in front of the words that you want to avoid.

Google has a link at the bottom of each search results page, "Search within results", which allows you to further refine you results.

Advanced Search

-search a specific website

-limit results to certain file types or exclude a file type

-limit results to web pages indexed within a date range or on a certain date

-limit search to web pages in a desired language

-limit search to certain sections of a webpage, e.g. title, URL

-exclude adult sites (SafeSearch feature)

-limit search to documents with specific usage rights

Advanced Operators

Image Search

Google also has an Advanced Image Search which allows you to

-search for images of a specific size

-search for a specific image file type such as .JPG, .GIF, .PNG

-search for black & white or color images, only

-exclude adult sites (SafeSearch feature)

Google can also search a range of numbers.  To search 0 to 10 for example:  hemoglobin of 0..10

Google Calculator

Google has a bult-in calculator which is available by typing the equation into the simple search box.  It does addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, powers, percent and square roots.  If Google is interpreting an equation as a phone number, such as 777 minus 4000 or 777-4000, you can force it to solve the equation, by typing an equal sign(=) at the end:  777-4000=.  Google calculator also has an "in" operator.  For example, to convert 88 kg to pounds, enter pounds in 88 kg into the simple search box.

Google Directory

Sites included in the directory are selected and rated by people 

Google Book Search

Can search the full text of all the books indexed by Google

Language Tools

Google can translate web pages into another language

Google Calendar

Enables the user to maintain a calendar online and permit other to view it, if desired