Three Tricks You Can Use to Level Up Your Next Google Search
You’ve probably made hundreds, if not thousands, of Google searches throughout your lifetime. Despite this, the world’s most popular search engine hides a lot of tips and tricks that the average person doesn’t use. We’ve gathered three of the best ones here. In the right hands, these Google hacks can help you get better results when you’re internet sleuthing.

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1. Use Quotation Marks to Get Specific
Google’s special functions are managed by operators, which are non-standard characters that tell the algorithm to apply different rules to your search. Our first operator is quite straightforward – quotation marks. Google can understand them and search the internet for a specific quote.
With so many ways to put across an idea, search results pages quickly become crowded with similar keywords. This is especially true for online industries that rely on search traffic. For example, there are thousands of online casinos out there, and all of them rely on the same search bar and shared keywords related to everything iGaming. With quotes, it’s much easier to find pages that might use unique phrasing. If a slots tutorial told you it would help slots win, then you could search for that combination of words, in that order, by putting them in quotation marks in your search bar.
As you might expect, quotation marks are ideal for finding pages you’ve already visited. You need to know the quote you’re searching for, after all. Otherwise, it’s also useful for tracking coverage of a public statement or online usage of other quotes that have echoed through our culture. To that end, it’s also a great way to source analysis and discussion surrounding things commonly said in your field, like marketing quotes.
2. Search on Site & Exclude Keywords
You can narrow down basic keyword searches by using the ‘site:’ operator. When placed at the start of a search query, it tells Google to focus on results from that domain. For example, if you were looking for investor news from this site, you’d type something like “site:numberlina.com investor.” That should show pages mentioning the word, prioritizing Numberlina pages over other websites.
It’s just as easy to exclude keywords too. Simply put a minus symbol in front of the word or phrase you want to ignore. This also works with site names so, if Reddit or Amazon listings are polluting your search results page, you can ban them from showing up in your next search. Operators can be used together, so you can search a site but exclude keywords that might be over-used and get in the way of legitimate results.
3. Circle Things to Search for Them
Ever since reverse image search first launched in 2011, a small subsection of users have tried finding items, people, and places by searching online. The quality of this search fluctuated over the years, depending on what you were searching for and when. That’s because the underlying technology is always changing as Google revises its machine-learning capabilities.
Then generative AI hit, making it easier for computers to visually identify things and bring context into the equation. This led to Circle to Search, a feature first dropped for Android mobile devices in early 2024. It’s more complex than a reverse image search because the user can circle an object in a larger scene, like a handbag, and search for just that bag. Often, Circle to Search will bring up commercial listings to buy the product that was circled.
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With these three features in your arsenal, your next visit to the Google search bar should be much easier. As Google refines their experience, you can expect new operators and search formats to be added in the future.