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| Image of definition link provided for many search terms. |
Search syntax
Google's search engine normally accepts queries as a simple text, and breaks up the user's text into a sequence of search terms, which will usually be words that are to occur in the results, but one can also use Boolean operators, such as: quotations marks (") for a phrase, a prefix such as "+", "-" for qualified terms, or one of several advanced operators, such as "site:". The webpages of "Google Search Basics" describe each of these additional queries and options (see below: Search options). Google's Advanced Search web form gives several additional fields which may be used to qualify searches by such criteria as date of first retrieval. All advanced queries transform to regular queries, usually with additional qualified term.Query expansion
Google applies query expansion to the submitted search query, transforming it into the query that will actually be used to retrieve results. As with page ranking, the exact details of the algorithm Google uses are deliberately obscure, but certainly the following transformations are among those that occur:- Term reordering: in information retrieval this is a standard technique to reduce the work involved in retrieving results. This transformation is invisible to the user, since the results ordering uses the original query order to determine relevance.
- Stemming is used to increase search quality by keeping small syntactic variants of search terms.
- There is a limited facility to fix possible misspellings in queries.
"I'm Feeling Lucky"
Google's homepage includes a button labelled "I'm Feeling Lucky". When a user types in a search and clicks on the button the user will be taken directly to the first search result, bypassing the search engine results page. The thought is that if a user is "feeling lucky", the search engine will return the perfect match the first time without having to page through the search results. However, with the introduction of Google Instant, it is not possible to use the button properly unless the Google Instant function is switched off. According to a study by Tom Chavez of "Rapt", this feature costs Google $110 million a year as 1% of all searches use this feature and bypass all advertising.On October 30, 2009, for some users, the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button was removed from Google's main page, along with the regular search button. Both buttons were replaced with a field that reads, "This space intentionally left blank." This text faded out when the mouse was moved on the page, and normal search functionality is achieved by filling in the search field with the desired terms and pressing enter. A Google spokesperson explains, "This is just a test, and a way for us to gauge whether our users will like an even simpler search interface." Personalized Google homepages retained both buttons and their normal functions.
On May 21, 2010, the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man, the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button was replaced with a button reading the words "Insert Coin". After pressing the button, the user would begin a Google-themed game of Pac-Man in the area where the Google logo would normally be. Pressing the button a second time would begin a two-player version of the same game that includes Ms. Pacman for player 2. This version can be accessed at
www.google.com/pacman/ as a permanent link to the page.Rich Snippets
On 12 May 2009, Google announced that they would be parsing the hCard, hReview, and hProduct microformats and using them to populate search result pages with what they called "Rich Snippets".Special features
Besides the main search-engine feature of searching for text, Google Search has more than 22 "special features" (activated by entering any of dozens of trigger words) when searching:- weather – The weather conditions, temperature, wind, humidity, and forecast,for many cities, can be viewed by typing "weather" along with a city for larger cities or city and state, U.S. zip code, or city and country for smaller cities (such as: weather Lawrence, Kansas; weather Paris; weather Bremen, Germany).
- stock quotes – The market data for a specific company or fund can be viewed, by typing the ticker symbol (or include "stock"), such as: CSCO; MSFT; IBM stock; F stock (lists Ford Motor Co.); or AIVSX (fund). Results show inter-day changes, or 5-year graph, etc. This does not work for stock names which are one letter long, such as Citigroup (C) or Macy's (M) (Ford being an exception), or are common words, such as Diamond Offshore (DO) or Majesco (COOL).
- time – The current time in many cities (worldwide),can be viewed by typing "time" and the name of the city (such as: time Cairo; time Pratt, KS).
- sports scores – The scores and schedules, for sports teams,can be displayed by typing the team name or league name into the search box.
- unit conversion – Measurements can be converted,by entering each phrase, such as: 10.5 cm in inches; or 90 km in miles
- currency conversion – A money or currency converter can be selected,by typing the names or currency codes (listed by ISO 4217): 6789 Euro in USD; 150 GBP in USD; 5000 Yen in USD; 5000 Yuan in lira (the U.S. dollar can be USD or "US$" or "$", while Canadian is CAD, etc.).
- calculator – Calculation results can be determined,as calculated live, by entering a formula in numbers or words, such as: 6*77 +pi +sqrt(e^3)/888 plus 0.45. The user is given the option to search for the formula, after calculation. The calculator also uses the unit and currency conversion functions to allow unit-aware calculations. For example, "(3 EUR/liter) / (40 miles/gallon) in USD / mile" calculates the dollar cost per mile for a 40 mpg car with gas costing 3 euros a liter. The caret "^" raises a number to an exponent power, and percentages are allowed ("40% of 300").There is also some debate as to Google's calculation of 0^0. Many mathematicians believe that 0^0 is undefined but Google's calculator shows the result as 1.
- numeric ranges – A set of numbers can be matched by using a double-dot between range numbers (70..73 or 90..100) to match any positive number in the range, inclusive.Negative numbers are treated as using exclusion-dash to not match the number.
- dictionary lookup – A definition for a word or phrase can be found,by entering "define" followed by a colon and the word(s) to lookup (such as, "define:philosophy")
- maps – Some related maps can be displayed,by typing in the name or U.S. ZIP code of a location and the word "map" (such as: New York map; Kansas map; or Paris map).
- movie showtimes – Reviews or film showtimes can be listed for any movies playing nearby,by typing "movies" or the name of any current film into the search box. If a specific location was saved on a previous search, the top search result will display showtimes for nearby theaters for that movie.
- public data – Trends for population (or unemployment rates) can be found for U.S. states & counties, by typing "population" or "unemployment rate" followed by a state or county name.
- real estate and housing – Home listings in a given area can be displayed,using the trigger words "housing", "home", or "real estate" followed by the name of a city or U.S. zip code.
- travel data/airports – The flight status for arriving or departing U.S. flights can be displayed,by typing in the name of the airline and the flight number into the search box (such as: American airlines 18). Delays at a specific airport can also be viewed (by typing the name of the city or three-letter airport code plus word "airport").
- package tracking – Package mail can be tracked by typing the tracking number of a Royal Mail, UPS, FedEx or USPS package directly into the search box. Results will include quick links to track the status of each shipment.
- patent numbers – U.S. patents can be searched by entering the word "patent" followed by the patent number into the search box (such as: Patent 5123123).
- area code – The geographical location (for any U.S. telephone area code) can be displayed by typing a 3-digit area code (such as: 650).
- synonym search – A search can match words similar to those specified,by placing the tilde sign (~) immediately in front of a search term, such as: ~fast food.
Search options
The webpages maintained by the Google Help Center have text describing more than 15 various search options.The Google operators:- OR – Search for either one, such as "price high OR low" searches for "price" with "high" or "low".
- "-" – Search while excluding a word, such as "apple -tree" searches where word "tree" is not used.
- "+" – Force inclusion of a word, such as "Name +of +the Game" to require the words "of" & "the" to appear on a matching page.
- "*" – Wildcard operator to match any words between other specific words.
- define: – The query prefix "define:" will provide a definition of the words listed after it.
- stocks: – After "stocks:" the query terms are treated as stock ticker symbols for lookup.
- site: – Restrict the results to those websites in the given domain,such as, site:www.acmeacme.com. The option "site:com" will search all domain URLs named with ".com" (no space after "site:").
- allintitle: – Only the page titles are searched (not the remaining text on each webpage).
- intitle: – Prefix to search in a webpage title,such as "intitle:google search" will list pages with word "google" in title, and word "search" anywhere (no space after "intitle:").
- allinurl: – Only the page URL address lines are searched (not the text inside each webpage).
- inurl: – Prefix for each word to be found in the URL;others words are matched anywhere, such as "inurl:acme search" matches "acme" in a URL, but matches "search" anywhere (no space after "inurl:").
- cache: – Highlights the search-words within the cached document, such as "cache:www.google.com xxx" shows cached content with word "xxx" highlighted.
- link: – The prefix "link:" will list webpages that have links to the specified webpage, such as "link:www.google.com" lists webpages linking to the Google homepage.
- related: – The prefix "related:" will list webpages that are "similar" to a specified web page.
- info: – The prefix "info:" will display some background information about one specified webpage, such as, info:www.google.com. Typically, the info is the first text (160 bytes, about 23 words) contained in the page, displayed in the style of a results entry (for just the 1 page as matching the search).
- filetype: – results will only show files of the desired type (ex filetype:pdf will return pdf files)
Error messages
Some searches will give a 403 Forbidden error with the text"We're sorry... ... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now. We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google."sometimes followed by a CAPTCHA prompt.
In June 2009, after the death of pop superstar Michael Jackson, this message appeared to many internet users who were searching Google for news stories related to the singer, and was assumed by Google to be a DDoS attack, although many queries were submitted by legitimate searchers.
January 2009 malware bug
Doodle for Google
On certain occasions, the logo on Google's webpage will change to a special version, known as a "Google Doodle". Clicking on the Doodle links to a string of Google search results about the topic. The first was a reference to the Burning Man Festival in 1998,and others have been produced for the birthdays of notable people like Albert Einstein, historical events like the interlocking Lego block's 50th anniversary and holidays like Valentine's Day.Google Caffeine
In August 2009, Google announced the rollout of a new search architecture, codenamed "Caffeine".The new architecture was designed to return results faster and to better deal with rapidly updated information from services including Facebook and Twitter.Google developers noted that most users would notice little immediate change, but invited developers to test the new search in its sandbox.Differences noted for their impact upon search engine optimization included heavier keyword weighting and the importance of the domain's age.The move was interpreted in some quarters as a response to Microsoft's recent release of an upgraded version of its own search service, renamed Bing.Google announced completion of Caffeine on 8 June 2010, claiming 50% fresher results due to continuous updating of its index.With Caffeine, Google moved its back-end indexing system away from MapReduce and onto BigTable, the company's distributed database platform.Caffeine is also based on Colossus, or GFS2,an overhaul of the GFS distributed file system.Encrypted Search
In May 2010 Google rolled out SSL-encrypted web search.The encrypted search can be accessed atencrypted.google.comInstant Search
Google Instant, an enhancement that displays suggested results while the user types, was introduced on September 8, 2010. One concern is that people will select one of the suggested results instead of finishing their request, and that such a practice could cause bias toward familiar businesses or other search terms. Pornographic or otherwise offensive search terms are excluded from the suggested results. The instant feature appears only on the basic Google site and not specialized iGoogle pages. Google expects Google Instant to save users 2 to 5 seconds in every search, which they say will be collectively 11 million seconds per hour.Search engine marketing pundits speculate that Google Instant will have a great impact on local and paid search.In concert with the Google Instant launch, Google disabled the ability of users to choose to see more than 10 search results per page. Instant Search can be disabled via Google's "preferences" menu, but autocomplete-style search suggestions now cannot be disabled. A Google representative stated, "It's in keeping with our vision of a unified Google search experience to make popular, useful features part of the default experience, rather than maintain different versions of Google. As Autocomplete quality has improved, we felt it was appropriate to have it always on for all of our users."
Negative reception
Many users have reported being unable to save the Instant Search "off" setting in their Google preferences.Censorship
The publication 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has compiled a list of words that are restricted by Google Instant.These are terms the web giant's new instant search feature will not search.Most terms are often vulgar and derogatory in nature, but some apparently irrelevant searches including "Myleak" are removed.Features
June 2011 redesign
In late June 2011, Google introduced a new look to the Google home page in order to boost the use of the Google+ social tools.Google +1
Interface features
- Simple white background with time-to-time changes in the title, “Google” with a special historic day or to celebrate a certain day.
- Top bar has Web, Images, Videos, Maps, News, Shopping, Gmail, and more.
- Voice search, allowing faster input than typing, or if the correct spelling is not known.
- When signed into your Google account, your search history will be automatically recorded.
- Google Instant, which rapidly generates possible searches that contain the typed characters. For example if you typed Goo, it would display Google, Google maps, Google translate...
Media features
- Share your own picture to the world. You can upload your own picture.
- Image search with optional settings such as size, color, type, and sorting.
- Video search that is connected to YouTube. Also with optional setting such as duration, time, quality, also other sources that is related to the topic that you are searching.
One of the major changes was replacing the classic navigation bar with a black one. Google's digital creative director Chris Wiggins explains: "We're working on a project to bring you a new and improved Google experience, and over the next few months, you'll continue to see more updates to our look and feel."The new navigation bar has been negatively received by a vocal majority.
Google logo size reduction
The new design reduced the size of the Google logo.Move of links
Links for advertising, business partners and company information pushed to the bottom edges of the browser.International
Google is available in many languages and has been localized completely or partly for many countries.Languages
Domain names
In addition to the main URL Google.com, Google Inc. owns 160 domain names for each of the countries/regions in which it has been localized.Search products
In addition to its tool for searching webpages, Google also provides services for searching images, Usenet newsgroups, news websites, videos, searching by locality, maps, and items for sale online. In 2006, Google has indexed over 25 billion web pages,400 million queries per day,1.3 billion images, and over one billion Usenet messages. It also caches much of the content that it indexes. Google operates other tools and services including Google News, Google Suggest, Google Product Search, Google Maps, Google Co-op, Google Earth, Google Docs, Picasa, Panoramio, YouTube, Google Translate, Google Blog Search and Google Desktop Search.There are also products available from Google that are not directly search-related. Gmail, for example, is a webmail application, but still includes search features; Google Browser Sync does not offer any search facilities, although it aims to organize your browsing time.
Also Google starts many new beta products, like Google Social Search or Google Image Swirl.
Energy consumption
Google claims that a search query requires altogether about 1 kJ or 0.0003 kW·h
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