Refining Google With Search Gizmos To Get What You Want - Forbes

Just Google it. You know when something is quite big, culturally and practically, when it becomes a verb. No doubt, you have said "just Google it." Search is one of the areas that affects our lives in dramatic ways we barely think about anymore; such as, how easy we can search and find nearly anything.

As much as I love Google, they're really not a great search engine. Sorry Google. They get the job done, but often it just does not get you exactly what you want. Now, if you want to get all technical, you can add what is known as a Boolean search — using terms, words, symbols to limit or further define your search. Many people simply do not want to take the time to figure that stuff out. I cannot say I blame them.

Your next best move? Find the specialized tools or search engines that can help you find what you are looking for without having to scroll through page after page wondering if the result will get you what you want. I have three resources to share that will help you level up your searches.

Search Gizmos

First, let me introduce you to Tara Calishain, aka ResearchBuzz on Twitter. She has been creating what she calls "search gizmos" for quite a few years, well, since 1996 or so. She wrote one of the first, if not THE first guide to search: Official Netscape Guide to Internet Research, and over the years more books related to search engines, so she knows a thing or two about the topic. I have been following her on Twitter for probably seven or eight years gleaning tips and techniques whenever possible.

Here are two of my favorite tools from her site, Search Gizmos (of which many are making Boolean searches possible for you with just a click). Many of her tools are built on top of, so to speak, Google's search functions:

Smushy Search allows you to take your normal topical search term and, using another application (which she has connected to), it will find related words and help refine your search automatically. Again, boolean type advanced search by simply filling in a few fields. Nifty.

Gossip Machine is a tool to find news days for people, places, and things. "It uses a years' worth of page views to surface potential "news days" in that year for any topic with a Wikipedia page."

Wolfram Alpha - Search Engine on Steroids

I have written about Wolfram Alpha before, but if you need a super-detailed, high-powered search engine, this is your tool. It takes a little bit of poking around in various categories they have links for, but you will quickly see they are known for mathematics and helping you complete calculations, plus as you can see in the screenshot above, far more.

Privacy-focused Search Engines

Swisscows - you have to love that name, in my opinion. Switzerland prides itself on looking after the privacy of its citizens and its reputation in banking is known worldwide. One can expect that they would build a privacy focused search engine and have a little fun with the name, too.

And, of course, you have probably heard of Duck Duck Go (what's with all the critter names?) as a privacy-focused search engine, and I use them often.

If you need even more options to get you beyond the big G, you can also check out this post by a search engine-focused website called Search Engine Journal. They published a list: 20 Great Search Engines You Can Use Instead of Google.

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