Google is arguably the most powerful and widely-used search engine across the globe. It has a market share of a whopping 68.65% when compared to other search engines like Baidu with 16.99%, and Bing with 6.41%. The clean and the uncluttered UI, in addition to the quick and pertinent search results make Google stand out. Here is a list of tips that would help Google users in fully utilizing the potential of Google.

Simple and Effective Search Mechanism

As a rule of thumb, Google search engine ignores punctuation, capitalization and spelling mistakes (auto-corrects/auto-suggests). Google also recommends that the search query be kept simple.

1. In order to find a particular page, author/writer, or a word (in the title of the specific page) within a web site, do the following:

- site:[web site URL] followed by the search string/phrase

- author:[name]

- intitle:[word]

2. In order to find a specific file type, do the following:

- filetype:[docs, jpg or other extension types]

3. In order to extend the search or to fill the remaining sentence, use wildcard characters like asterisk (*):

- To quote an example, try searching for "A friend in need is *". Google auto-fills the quotation and lists the results.

4. In order to find a wide range of search results pertaining to a specific topic use 'related' search option.

- related:[web site URL]

Let Google Do the Math

Users, can type down any 'math problem' into the Google search box to get an answer. In addition to giving the answer, Google also brings up an online calculator for easy access and for further modification.

Time-bound Search

In order to find information pertaining to a particular time frame or duration, type down the query or string in the search box and hit search. In the results page, click the "Search tools" button, the "Any Time" menu becomes visible. Change the timing as required from the list and the search results would change according to the chosen time frame.

Disable Auto-Correction/Auto-fill

In order to stop Google from interpreting and suggesting words while typing down a query, do the following: Do a search on any topic and in the results page click on the "Search tools" button, now click on the "All results" menu and choose "Verbatim". This option will prevent Google from making automatic spelling corrections.

Voice Search

Users, who are busy with work, can open a Google search page and instead of typing down the search query, they can speak to Google by clicking the 'microphone' icon in Chrome's search box.