Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Hidden Gems of Google

What do you do when you don't know a word? Google it.  Need more information? Google it.  Googling always seems to be the go-to.  PR Daily published an article that revealed 6 'hidden' tools that Google offers and after reading them I will never Google anything the same way again.

Google Verbatim
As efficient as Google is, sometimes it doesn't really understand what we are asking.  Often times it will take our search query and try to change the spelling or offer other solutions.  Google Verbatim resolves this issue by forcing our words to be taken at face value.  You can access this tool after you've hit "search" and it will be under "search tools" and "all results".

Google Reading Level
This one is pretty self-explanatory.  It allows you to filter your results based on your preferred reading level or, in the case of a PR professional, the audience's reading level.  You can choose from beginner, intermediate, and expert.  This tool is found under "search tools" and "all results".

Google Discussions
Sometimes you're looking for what other people have to say about a question.  Google discussions allows you to filter your search results so that it only shows forums, chats, and Q&As.  This is perfect for when you're searching for other people's opinions.   The tool is found under the "more" tab.

Google Patents
Patents are handy when you're looking for in-depth research about something.  This tool will provide you with details about a product or idea and it can also help unveil legal issues.  Google Patents is found under the "search tools" tab.

Google Images
This isn't talking about when you type in the word puppy and thousands of adorable pictures come up (though that is great).  Google allows users to scan images and use the URL of the scanned image to search.  This helps people find out where and when this image has been used, where it's from, etc.

Google Blogs
Similar to Discussions, Google Blogs allows you to filter your search results so that only blog results show up.  This is useful when searching for other people's opinions and also for making contacts. The tool can be found under the "more" tab.

Did you know about these Google tools? What do you think of them?

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