Google Guide – a Research Cheat Sheet

Have you ever experienced the feeling of frustration when your Google search turns up far too many irrelevant results? Fortunately, a great cheat sheet exists that will help you narrow your results and increase the precision of your Google queries.

“Google Guide” features an easily navigable, two-page summary of the many ways you can restrict your search terms.  Also available in a printable PDF form, the cheat sheet was created by non-Google employees Nancy Blachman and Jerry Peek, who keep it updated regularly (last update: February 27, 2012).

For example, look at the helpful list of restrictions available for query words below:

In one instance, by using the “allintext:” restriction, I was able to limit my original search results from 2,620 to 75 (example search terms: allintext: “lawson v. fidelity” whistleblower sarbanes-oxley “section 806”)!

The “Google Guide” cheat sheet also provides quick and easy tips for specialized information queries, alternative query types and other forms of search restriction. Start using it today and open a whole new world of possibility for Google searches!