Boost eLearning

Discovering Leads (Part 3 of 3)

2010-07-14T10:42:00.002-07:00

Here is a simple search to find recent and fast growing technology companies. Of course, this search could be repeated with different search terms to find opportunities that are relevant to your market.

In this search, I combined keyword location and date range to find reports and press releases of companies that were identified as fast growing.

Try using these search skills to improve your ability to find business critical information.

Discovering Leads (Part 2 of 3)

2010-07-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

Discovering leads is a challenging task, and using Google can be a powerful tool when used effectively.

Here is a sample search I did for someone who asked how to find the email address of the director of marketing or communications at DFine Inc.

I combined several searches, as you can see below.

In this search, I used Phrase Search to keep the email information together. Wildcard Search had Google fill in the blank of the person's name. OR Search was helpful since the person who asked me to do this search did not know what the correct naming convention would be, and OR Search allowed me to search for both terms at the same time.

Try using this same type of combination in your field to see how you can use Google to easily find business critical information.

Discovering Leads (Part 1 of 3)

2010-07-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

Discovering leads is a challenging task, and using Google can be a powerful tool when used effectively. Here is a sample search I did for someone who asked how to find names of Associations or Societies.

By combining several searches, as you can see below.

This search generated many leads that this director of sales was then able to pass on to her sales team.

In this search, I combined: Phrase, OR, Wildcard, and Region search to discover information that can easily be acted on to turn into real leads.

Try using this same type of combination in your field to see how you can use Google to easily find business critical information.

Find Region Specific Information (Part 4 of 4)

2010-07-14T10:38:00.001-07:00

You can use the Advanced Search page to limit your results to a specific country. This is a great feature, as it allows you to also use other filters and operators as well.

First, click on the link to the Advanced Search page.

Then, expand the Advanced Search page to find more search options.

Next, select the region option.

Finally, select the country you want to limit your results to.

For example, you can compare Microsoft Office to Google Apps and get results limited to Australia. This is a great way to learn more about what the locals are thinking. Click here to see the results.

Find Region Specific Information (Part 3 of 4)

2010-07-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

In this scenario, assume you are trying to contact people with the title VP of Sales in your area. In this case, we will look for people in Greater Seattle.

Search by Zip Code
1. Enter in you keywords. In this case, “VP of Sales” (Use quotes and keep the terms together)
2. Enter in the zip codes you want to search within. In this case, 98000..98200

See the results
In these results, I notice that there are many offers from job websites. I can further refine my search by typing [-jobs], which will remove the unwanted results.

See the results

Next lesson, we will explore how to use the advanced search page to find region specific results.

Find Region Specific Information (Part 2 of 4)

2010-07-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Last week, we covered how to use the advanced search page to limit your results to a specific region country. This week we will discuss how to find results from multiple countries.

Each country has its own domain extension. For example, in the United States the domain extension is .com, in the United Kingdom it is .uk. A directory of domain extension can be found at the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/.

To find limit your results to website’s with a specific countries web extension, use Site Search.

Site Search
1. Type in your keywords, followed by site: and the country code representing the country you want to limit your results to.
2. For example, “green technologies” site:.uk, click here to see results of this search

To search within websites from multiple countries, use OR Search. This will allow you to conduct multiple site searches simultaneously.

OR Search
1. Enter your keywords, place an OR in between each site:.
2.For example, “green technologies” site:.uk OR site:.fr. Click here to see results for this search.

Next time, we will cover how to search within specific zip codes.

Find Region Specific Information (Part 1 of 4)

2010-07-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

Finding local information is one of the hardest challenges that face the knowledge worker.
The MicroLearning email series is going to dedicate the next 4 emails to different techniques on how to find region specific information. This lesson will demonstrate the Nearby function that was recently added to Google's show options tab.
Nearby Search
1. To start, enter the keyword, such as a company name or product, into the Google search bar.
2. Next, click on the show options tab on the left hand side above the search results.
3. Click Nearby. To see results for a different city or region, select the Custom Location tab.
Click here to see results for Starbucks Pike Place coffee nearby Chicago.

Use Google to Discover Information on Twitter (part 5 of 5)

2010-07-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of using Google to find business information on Twitter is the ability to research by specific date. Twitter's search capability is limited in that it only provides-up-to-the-moment results.

Date Range
1. Enter your terms followed by [site:twitter.com]
2. Click the Show options button.
3. Select your desired time range.

Last week we taught how to discover what other people are saying about your product. Combine that skill with date range to find what people are saying at a specific time.
See the below picture.

I hope you have enjoyed this mini-series. Contact us to learn how we can provide this training for your organization through virtual-classes or eLearning.

Use Google to Discover Information on Twitter (part 4 of 5)

2010-07-14T10:30:00.001-07:00

Twitter is a great place to catch snap-shots of what people are saying about your company or you company's products. However, when do a Google search on the Twitter Site, you often get your own company's Tweets-- cluttering your results since you want to discover what other people are saying about you, not what your company has said about itself.

For example, if you wanted to know what people were saying about Starbucks Coffee Company and typed [starbucks site:twitter.com] you would get the following results; notice how they are almost all coming from the business itself:

Click here to see a current result for this search.

Use Not Search and Site
1. Type your company or product name into the Google Search bar, followed by [site:twitter.com]
2. Exclude the company name by typing a minus sign in front of the company name -"/starbucks"
3. For example, [Starbucks -"/starbucks" site:twitter.com]. If the link does not work, copy and paste - Starbucks -"/starbucks" site:twitter.com - into the Google search bar.

Twitter does have a good ability to see what people are saying about a product. However, it is limited to a small number of results at one time, and there is no way to sort the results by date, which is the topic of next week's MicroLearning email.

Use Google to Discover Information on Twitter (part 3 of 5)

2010-07-14T10:29:00.001-07:00

Last week we covered how to use Phrase Search multiple times in combination with Site Search to find product reviews from Twitter, such as ["starbucks via" "is good" site:twitter.com].

If you are not sure what keyword you want to use, you can add a tilde in front of that term and Google will look for all synonyms of that word.

Synonym and Site Search
1. Enter your keywords, place a tilde in front of the term that you want to find a synonym for
2. Follow with [site:twitter.com]
3. For example, ["starbucks via" ~fantastic site:twitter.com]

View Synonym Finder Lesson.

As you can see from the image below, Twitter does not support the Synonym Finder Operator.

Click here to see results from Google.

Use Google to Discover Information on Twitter (part 2 of 5)

2010-07-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

This MicroLearning email will demonstrate a strategy for finding reviews on a product, while ensuring your results are relevant to the search terms you entered.

In our research, we were surprised to learn that only 75% of people are familiar with the most common and basic filter, Phrase Search. By placing quotes around specific terms, you can hold those terms together. This is incredibly helpful when looking for terms that may not have a high correlation together, such as "Starbucks Via". If one did not use quotes, the terms would be separated by Google as the term Starbucks by itself is more closely correlated with other terms, not with the brand name of their instant coffee.

Yet few people use Phrase Search multiple times in one search. Combine multiple phrase searches with [site:twitter.com] to discover what people are saying about a product on Twitter.

Multiple Phrase Search and Site
1. Type a name of a product and "is good" or "is bad" to see positive and negative reviews.
2. Type [site:twitter.com] to limit your results to Twitter.
3. For example, ["Starbucks Via" "is good" site:twitter.com]

When using Twitters search capabilities, you get the results as in the image below:

The "Older tweets are temporarily unavailable" is a common problem when using Twitter as their search capability is not as robust as Google's.

Click here to see the results on this search from Google.

Use Google to Discover Info on Twitter (Part 1 of 5)

2010-03-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

Twitter has become a popular place for people to share what is going on during their day, report on the news, or share links to interesting websites.

All this information can be mined to discover insights into a product, business, or industry, be it your own business, your competition's, or a prospective client.

To help find information on Twitter, the next five MicroLearning Email's will focus on strategies on finding information within Twitter, using Google's unparalleled search technology.

Use Site Search

1. Type in any keywords in the Google Search bar.

2. After your keywords, enter [site:twitter.com]

3. For example, cloud computing site:twitter.com

Twitter does have its own search box, but using Google's search technology has many advantages:

1. Google will correct your spelling. For example, if a person misspelled "Starbucks Via" and typed "Starbucks Vai" they would get a suggested spelling correction from Google, but Twitter offers results in Spanish.

2. Within Google's settings you can expand results to 100. Often when searching on Twitter, a limited number of results are shown. Google allows you to see many results at once.

Use Google to Find Reports From a Specific Site

2010-02-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

The ability to find prepared documents from a quality source will save time and allow you to access information few others know how to find. The Filetype Filter will allow you to select whether you want a report, a spreadsheet, or presentation. The Site Search Filter will limit your results to a specific site.

Filetype and Site Search

1. Enter the terms you are looking for, followed by [filetype:] and the letters representing the filetype you need-- PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT

2. Next, enter [site:] followed by the website that you want your results to come from

3. For example, [green technologies filetype:pdf site:usda.gov]

The above example would provide you with reports on Green Technologies as they relate to Agriculture, since they are coming from the USDA's website. To find information coming from the technology sector, enter [green technologies filetype:pdf site:cisco.com]. This search will limit your results to coming from Cisco Systems website.

Use Google to Compare How Different Companies Cover the Same Topic

2010-02-08T13:59:00.000-08:00

One of the main challenges a person faces when searching on the internet is ensuring that the results come from a source that contains relevant information. Very often, sites that aggregate a wide variety of information appear higher in the results since they have a higher Page Ranking. For example, Wikipedia has a tremendous number of pages and therefore appears towards the top of most searches on a generic topic. While the Wikipedia article may be very well written, it may not contain the type of information you are looking for.

Before conducting a search, ask yourself what types of results you would like to find. Do you want them to be a technical in nature? Should the results be from a government agency? If so, use Site Search to limit your results.

Site Search
1. Enter your keywords followed by site: and the domain that want to limit your results to.
2. For example, enter [term 1 site:mit.edu] to limit your results to MIT's website

You can also limit your results to Government Websites by entering [term 1 site:.gov]. In addition, you use the same search terms, and search two different sites at the same time to compare how the different companies report on the same topic. Type the OR filter in-between the two sites that you want to research. Here is an example taken from the news, ["toyota recall" site:www.foxnews.com OR site:www.cnn.com]. Of course, you can use any terms and any websites that would help give you a competitive advantage in your industry.

Search by Title of a Document

2010-02-08T13:58:00.000-08:00

Searching by document type is a great way to ensure that you are finding information you need in the format you want. The filetype: filter is great for finding PDFs, DOCs, or XLSs.

Yet sometimes, using the filetype filter shows results where the keywords are in the body of the document and not closely correlated to what you are really looking for. To ensure your document is related to your keywords, use the Keyword Location filter.

Keyword Location

1. Type allintitle: followed by your keywords, followed by filetype: and your selected file type.

2. For example, [allintitle:social media trends filetype:pdf]

Use the allintitle: when you only want results with every keyword in the title. Type intitle: followed by the keywords and Google will look for results that have most of the words in the title. If you searched using the allintitle: filter and Google responded with "did not match any documents," search again with intitle:.

Select the Right File Type for your Search

2010-01-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

In last weeks email I reviewed how to use the Filetype filter. This week we will take a closer look at the different file types that are available, and learn when you might want to search for each one.

Types of Filetypes:

PDF- Is usually a completed report. Great for taking a deep dive into a topic. ["New trends" "Social Media" filetype:pdf]

XLS- A spread sheet is great for figures, for example [US "auto sales" filetype:xls]

PPT- A presentation is helpful when you are looking for charts that you can use ["restaurant industry" filetype:ppt]

DOC- A document, of course, can be edited ["green technologies" filetype:doc]

Think about the results that you want to find, and then be go and find what you are looking for.

Next week, we will cover how Keyword Location can be combined with Filetype Search to find high value information.

Finding Documents Online and Off

2010-01-22T13:18:00.000-08:00

Finding documents for research can take up a large amount of one's day. The IDC Reports that 22% of a knowledge workers day is spent looking for information.

To cut down on time spent looking for documents, useGoogle's filetype filter followed by the document extension that you are looking for.

Filetype Search:

Type [keywords filetype:pdf] to find keywords that are on aPDF.

[findability without complexityfiletype:pdf]

If you want to search through multiple filetypes at one time, combine them with Or Search.

[hybrid car sales filetype:xls ORfiletype:ppt]

This search skill can be used on Google.com, and on your intranet if it is powered by the Google Search Appliance.

Next week I'll review many of the different document types you can search by, and suggest which document type is most likely to have the information you are looking for.

Use Google to Searching within Twitter

2010-01-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

For any person in a marketing or sales department, knowing what people are saying about your product, or about a potential client's product, is an essential piece of business information.

Using Site Search on Twitter's web site is an easy way to discover what people are saying about any product, and using Google's filters and operators gives you more search options than Twitter's search feature. We will take a look at Google's new cell phone, the Nexus One.

To Search with Twitter:

1. In the Google Search Bar, type [product name site:twitter.com]

2. For example: ["Nexus One" site:twitter.com]

See results of the site search search.

Limit Results to a Specific Time:

To see the most recent results of , select the "Show options" features on the top left of the page, then select "Latest."

See results of the Site Search with Latest.

Or, you can select the "Specific Date Range" option, then enter in dates of your choosing. In this example, I selected the day the Nexus One was released and the day after.

See results of Site Search with Specific Date Range

The content for this MicroLearning post is taken from the Boost eLearning Google Search Training Course. To learn more about Boost eLearning's interactive training on Google Search, please contact us.

Wildcard Search

2009-12-22T14:57:00.000-08:00

The Wildcard Operator allows you to have Google fill in the blank. This is not only an easy skill, but can really start to change the way you think about looking for information on the Internet.

Wildcard Search
1. Place an asterisk in place of a term you do not know.
2. Use Phrase Search in combination to narrow your search.
3. For example: [“Starbucks has * employees”]

How it Works
Google identifies the term that appears between the term “has” and the term “employees,” placing it in bold. In the example demonstrated, you can see that different numbers are listed, depending if it is listing the number of employees globally, or just in the Seattle headquarters. This is quick way to determine the size of an opportunity.

You can also use more than one asterisk to have Google fill in multiple terms.

Quickly Find Images

2009-12-15T23:44:00.000-08:00

Images can be used in a number of ways: learn what a person looks like

before the meeting, see a product of a prospect or a competitor, or

find images that can be reused in presentation and other documents.

Image Search

1. From the Google home page, click images in the top left of the

screen.

2. To the right of the Image Search box, click Advanced Image Search.

3. Use the different filters to find the image you are looking for.

How it works

Google tracks many different elements when "indexing" an image.

Google is able to scan the image for its size, content, usage rights,

and many more elements just like Google scans a page of text for words

to determine its content. See the Advanced Image Search page for the

full listing.

A word of caution on printing images downloaded from the intranet:

don't. Images that are on the internet are usually low resolution and

do not print well. If you have a photo editing application you can

adjust the resolution of the image, often with acceptable results.

Google's Real Time Search

2009-12-15T23:34:00.001-08:00

Realt time search offers some real benefits that should not be overlooked, in the in face of spam concerns.

Real time search can be great for finding out what people are saying about your product or a customer's product. This sort of market feedback can be really beneficial. I can imagine a marketing team watching real time results for their product as a commercial air during the Super Bowl, as just one example.

For example, I have been using ["starbucks via" site:twitter.com] as a demo for months, well before Google introduced real time search. I saw that the results were really positive. When Howard Schultz announced Starbucks' earnings and mentioned how well received Starbucks Via was in the market place, the price of the stock shot up. In retrospect, I was crazy to not have purchased the stock earlier.

The other benefit it has, while prone to spam, is the ability to see what other people are saying about a specific topic. One of the problems of our web age, is that people can spend all day only getting news from organizations that take their political view. Real time search is one of the few places where you can sit back and view a cross sections. No need to flip from one station to another.

Spam will always be a problem. As will stores that sell shoddy merchandise. As Internet users become more sophisticated, they will better be able to distinguish between the real thing and spam. Think how far use of the Internet to access information has come, not just from a programming point of view but how your regular user finds information and shops. I think people will be able to adapt and get better at identifying spam, lessening the downsides and accentuating the benefits of real time search.

Easily discover definitions

2009-12-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

Having a simple and easy way to find definitions can assist the knowledge worker who comes across a new word. The define operator allows you to easily find definitions from across the web. This feature allows you to see definitions from different sources allowing you to gain a broad understanding of a term, rather than from just one dictionary.

Define:

1. Type [define:term 1] Do not leave a space between the colon and the terms.

2. For example, [define:scorm]

How it Works:

Google scans every page on the internet to determine the page’s content. Google is able to find the term you entered, followed by words that introduce a defintiion, such as “is a.” Using define:, Google pulls all of the definitions on to one easy to read results page.

Google, Bing, and the new Caffeine

2009-12-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

In Google's ever continuing quest for simplicity, I think the following home pages can tell volumes.

Here is Google's current home page, before doing a mouse over.

And Google's new update, called Caffeine based on the hack I found at Taranfx. Keep in mind, the fade in effect will probably start after the update takes effect for all data centers. Notice no shadow, and no gray buttons. The search bar looks a little bigger too. It reminds me of a comment someone made at the Xconomy forum in Seattle this past Monday, December 2: Google looks like Russia in the 1940s.

Here is Bing's showing for today:

Harry Shum, Corporate Vice President of Search Product Development at Microsoft spoke at the Xconomy forum. He said that while Google tries to get users off the search page as fast as possible and on to the information they are looking for, Bing tries to help users explore so they can "Bing and Decide." While I like that argument, because there is so much that can be done in search that users miss out on, and I think the new Caffeine interface will help give users more options, I don't think the Baboon was what Shum was talking about.

4 Searches the "Experts" Don't Know

2009-12-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

I attended the Xconomy Forum: The Future of Search and Information Discovery. The panelists included Brian Bershad, Seattle Site Director for Google, and Harry Shum, Corporate Vice President of Search Product Development for Bing.

I had a question last night that I didn't get a chance to ask. Sort of like the kid in the back of the class that that got left when the bell rang... here it is.

Why are the advanced search features, particularly those available in Google, not more prominent? Specifically, nearly every "problem" that "can not be solved in search today" could be solved by using Google's advanced search features.

So, here are 4 "hard to solve" problems, which were mentioned by our panelists (I am not exactly sure who, as I was sitting too far back--please help me out if you remember) that I was able to have great results for in less than 60 seconds for all 4 searches.

1. "You can't find NFL Quarterbacks in Twitter."
Really? Type ["NFL Quarterbacks" site:twitter.com] in the Google Search Bar.

2. Steve Hall with Vulcan Capital, "What if you don't know what looking for? Show me news in general about computer science professors. Can't do that on Bing or Google." In Google you can. Enter [computer science professors inurl:news].

3. Oren Etzioni Professor of Computer Science at University of Washington, "I can imagine a day in the not too distant future, something that takes hours can happen in minutes. Have an engine that understands semantics, including what's being said in reviews -- positive review, negative?" How about today? For positive reviews, [sun valley ~good inurl:reviews]. For negative reviews, switch out the word good for bad. If you'd like to compare Sun Valley and Blackcomb lodging with prices in the $200 to $600 dollar range, type ["sun valley" OR Blackcomb ~lodge $200..$600 inurl:reviews].

4. I think it was Ken Myer, CEO of Washington Technology Industry Association, who mentioned that when he gets home he is going to look up the score of the Monday night Football game, and is going to get that morning's news. He clearly was not planning on clicking on the "Show options" features, then recent results, in Google.

Sure, there is a lot of room for venture capitalists, engineers, and entrepreneurs, to get together and come up with more elegant solutions. But for the time being, knowing how to use Google's advanced search features can let you solve nearly every search problem that was discussed last night.

Finally, as if the above where not enough of a case to wonder why there has never been any demonstration on using advanced search features, I will finish this rather long winded question with the following observation: Jan Pedersen, with Microsoft Core Search is quoted in The Huntington Post as saying, "A small fraction of the queries you do -- around 5 percent -- actually take up almost half the time you spend on searching." On Google's help page, there is a bit of a disclaimer when introducing the advanced search features, "Have in mind though that even very advanced searchers, such as the members of the search group at Google, use these (advanced search) features less than 5% of the time." If that 5% of the time saves them half the time the rest of humanity spends searching, isn't it worthwhile to do some training? Just because people use Google, or Bing, doesn't mean that they know how to.

I extend a complimentary single user license of the Boost eLearning Google Search Training course to Greg and the rest of the panelists. Just email me at jeff@boostelearning.com. Or Tweet me, @BoosteLearning . I look forward to hearing your responses.

Number Range

2009-12-01T14:49:00.000-08:00

Use number range to keep your search terms tied to a specific range of numbers. This is a valuable aid when researching products, prospects, or any time when an amount is important to your search.

Number Range
1. Enter in your terms followed by the numbers with two dots in between each number.
2. Do not place commas in the numbers
3. For example: [term 1 term 2 30000..70000]

How it Works
Number Range is a feature that is built into Google's software. Google will place a higher value on these terms, ensuring that the results include the number range.

Try search for [technology companies 30000..70000 employees]. This can be applied to any department.

Uncover “Hidden” Information

2009-11-23T15:13:00.000-08:00

Google currently indexes over 1 Trillion unique URLs. With so much information, the question is not if your information is available, it is how to sift through this information to find what you are looking for. Many of these pages which may have the information you are seeking remain buried under results that Google deems to be more relevant.
The Keyword Location technique allows you to request that your keywords appear in the title, body, or URL of a web page. This allows you narrow your search by filtering away irrelevant results, allowing your desired information to come to the top.

Keyword Location
1. Think about where you want your keywords to appear, the title, body, or URL of the webpage
2. Type [allintitle:] [allinurl:] [allintext:] followed by the keywords and all of the key words will appear in the selected location
3. Type [intitle:] [inurl:] [intext:] followed by the keywords and the first term will appear in that specific location.
4. For example [allintext:google search training]

How it Works
Google looks to see if your terms appear in these three areas. The keyword Location technique limits your results to one of those specific areas. For example, you can find reviews on any product by typing [product inrul:reviews]. This will return results only from web pages that are reviews of that specific product. For example [salesforce.com inurl:reviews]. You can also apply this same strategy to discovering leads, such as [vp sales inurl:"contact info”]

Next week we will cover Number Range—a fantastic skill for applying a numerical range to anything.

Have Google provide current results

2009-11-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

Getting current information is often one of the most important elements in obtaining high value information. By using the Date Range Filter, you can limit your results to the past day, week, month, year, or search within a specific time range.

The Date Range can be accessed from the Google Search Bar, or from the Advanced Search Page.

Date Range-In Google Search Bar
1. Enter your keywords into the Google Search Bar, click search.
2. Click the Show Options button on the top right of the results page.
3. Open click on the date filter you want to limit your results to, or open the timeline view.

Date Range-In Advanced Search Page
1. Go to the Advanced Search Page.
2. Enter your keywords.
3. Expand the Advanced Search Page.
4. Next to the date box, select the time you want to limit your results to.

How it works
Date is one of the features that have changed the most within Google. For a time, Google would date a webpage based on when it was last crawled by Google’s index, not when it was actually published. Fortunately, Google is now able to distinguish from when a document was published to the web. This is simply a feature that Google’s algorithm is now able to take into account.

Knowing how to use the Date Range feature is essential, since Google tries to provide the most relevant results. One of Google’s major measures for quality is the number of links (or connections) that lead to a certain website or webpage. Websites that have been around for longer often have more links leading to them than new websites, simply because they have had the time to get more links. Old and out of date websites can be shown more frequently since they have more links. Using the Date Range filter overrides Google regular algorithm, allowing you to find the information you are looking for.

Next week, learn how to find exceedingly relevant information with Keyword Location!

Learn. Think. Find.

Jeff Alhadeff
Boost eLearning
Research Desk

Find information packed documents-Tip of the Week

2009-11-11T10:26:00.000-08:00

One of the most effective techniques in Google is the ability to combine your keywords with specific document formats. This means you can get highly relevant reports (PDFs), charts (PPTs), and spreadsheets (XLSs) all by properly using the Google Search Bar.

Filetype Search
1. Enter your keywords into the Google Search Bar

2. Follow your keywords with [Filetype:] and the file type you are looking for: pdf, ppt, xls, doc, and more.

3. For example: [findability without complexity filetype:pdf]

How it Works
When Google indexes any document that is on the web, it identifies the type of document that it is. By using Filetype Search, Google restricts your results to documents that contain that specific description.

Filetype is even more powerful when you search within a specific site. By combining Filetype with Site Search, you can look for PDF reports only from an education institution, or a business that is a thought leader. This combined search allows you to view incredibly relevant search results.

The Filetype lesson demonstrates how to find information packed presentations on Korean auto sales.

Next week: Keep your results current, or search within a specific date range with Date Range Search.

Google's Timeline Search is Back!

2009-11-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

Google's timeline search was added back on today. It can now be seen under the show options feature, just as it was up until last week.

I have no clue why it went off or why it came back on. Maybe the kind emails protesting the good people at Google were listened to?

Declutter your Google search results page

2009-11-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

Avoid Drudgery:
How to easily remove advertisements and leave only high value information in your search results with 1 quick skill!

The first search a person does on an unfamiliar topic is usually the most painful. The results are often filled with unwanted and irrelevant results.

Using the minus sign, Not Search, is the fastest way to cut away the clutter from your search results.

Not Search:
1. Enter your best guess keywords on a topic.
2. Notice the keywords that are pulling in irrelevant results.
3. In the search bar, enter the keywords that are triggering the irrelevant results with a minus sign in front of them.
4. desired term 1 desired term 2 -undesired term 1 -undesired term 2

How it Works:
Google offers results based on the keywords that you entered into the search bar. Often, one term is highly correlated with other terms. If the other, unwanted, terms are more popular, Google will assume that you are looking for information on those terms as well.

If you are just starting out on a search, this might not be such a problem.

But if you already know what you are looking for… then this element of Google is downright aggravating.

Google realizes that users might want to override this feature, and therefore offers the minus sign, which allows sites with that specific keyword to stop showing.

Google's Timeline search: Just add timeline

2009-10-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

Google's Timeline feature, a favorite for those of us who like to do real research, can now be accessed by typing the [Timeline] after the terms you are searching for. This works for both historical figures, and with topics that have a significant web history behind them.

So, for example, if a person enters [Apple Computer Timeline] they would get.

One would need to search to the bottom of the page to find:

Then by clicking on the "More timeline results"

For a topic that does not have a significant web history, no Timeline feature is offered.
For example, it no longer works if a person types ["Starbucks Via"] as this new product does not enough history behind it. Take a look at the bottom of the page.

It seems that Google is trying to make the search more intuitive. In that sense, I guess it is reasonable to only show the timeline search when a person requests it directly with a key word.

Google's Social Search- Did it replace Timeline?

2009-10-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

Google has recently released its new social search with much fanfare and has justly received much conversation on the web. But (almost?) no one has mentioned anything about the basic disappearance of Timeline.

Timeline was a feature that was in Google labs for at least a year. This past summer Timeline was included in the Show options as seen below:

By clicking on the Timeline link, you were then able to get to the following view:

But now, the Timeline feature is missing:

Now, Timeline is only shown for historical figures, such as Abraham Lincoln, shown at the bottom of the standard search results:

Once you have selected the Timeline option, you can then go ahead and search for something else that is not a historical figure, sort of regaining this great tool.

On Friday October 23 Timeline disappeared from the Show options sections.

On Monday October 26, Social Search was introduced.

So did the new Social Search take the place of Timeline?

Does Google only want to show a certain number of options? Are they concerned that people will not click if they see too much text, much in the same way Google restricts the number of characters in an advertisement?

I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts.

Back when Timeline was part of Google experimental, it could be accessed from the Google Search Bar by typing View:Timeline. I would love it if there was some easy way to recall this powerful tool.

What the LA Times and Tech Crunch Missed-Google site:twiiter.com

2009-10-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

A little flurry of debate is flying between an article ran in the LA Times titled: A Twitter Hole Lets You Google Protected Tweets and a response article in Tech Crunch: The New Twitter Hole that Probably Isn't.

The title of the two articles say it all: one side says that there is a way to find protected tweets, and the response claiming that no such hole exists.

Interesting debate.

What fascinates me, is that no one mentions the advanced search technique of using Site Search [site:twitter.com]! We train on this technique, and actually one of our news Skills Application demonstrations is on finding information using Site Search.

There is so much more to searching than just using key words.

Listen in on your customers

2009-10-19T17:40:00.001-07:00

Listen in on your customers

Knowing what your customers are saying about your products is valuable to your research and development, marketing, and especially your sales team.
Google has two great ways to listen in on your customers, and only requires three clicks of your mouse to use it.

1. Show Options-> Forums
a. Type in a product you want to research into the Google Search Bar, click search.
b. Then, on top of your search results in the blue bar, towards the left, are the words show options. Click on those words.
c. The options menu opens up. Click on the word “Forums.” This allows you read what your customers are saying about your products.

2. Show Options->Reviews
Same as above, just this time click on the word “Reviews.” This is a great way to see reviews about your products, all in one place.
How does it work?
These features use the Keyword Location filter (full course taught in the Boost eLearning Google Search Training courses) to get great results. Google looks for the word “forum” or “review” in the URL of the web address to limit your results to only those specific types of sites. The same search could basically be accomplished by typing: allinurl:product_name forum/review. With this in mind, you can see how people are using your product by typing: allinurl:product_name uses, or for that matter any other term that would provide high value information.

Of course, you could use this to look up information on a competitor as well.

Easily target your searches

2009-10-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest challenges the knowledge worker faces is finding information when searching on the web. With over 1 trillion URL’s indexed, it’s no wonder that finding information is a challenge: there is just so much out there!

Site search is a filter which allows the knowledge worker to limit the results to pages that only come from a specific site. This filter dramatically decreases the area that you are searching within, making it easier to find information. Think of it as follows: a person who does a regular search is searching for a needle in the ocean; using site search is like looking for a needle in a tea cup.

Site Search
1. Type your key words, followed by site:www.companyname.com in the Google Search Bar
2. This search returns information only from that one website.

How it Works
Google indexes all pages, and can return results based on the different sections of the URL. So for example, site search can be used to return results only from specific domain extensions, such as .org (usually reserved for charities), .ca (pages from Canada), or .cn (pages from China).
Or you can research only within a certain group of pages, such as www.ecomm.baxter.com/ecatalog/, which would allow you to search only within Baxter’s ecatalog pages.

Google's Show Options Get Real Coverage

2009-10-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Finally, Google's show options features that have been out since the start of the summer got some coverage today by two substantial sources, Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Blog and Tom Krazit with CNET.

The CNET article is just an announcement of the new features. Nice to see a news source pick up what has been quietly floating around on bloggers minds for some time now.

Danny's article is an in depth review of the joys, features, and frustrations of this new offering from Google. It covers all of the areas covered in the show more features, whereas our post focused on Google's new time features and their benefits to the knowledge worker.

In my mind, what will be really interesting is to watch how far Google goes in publicizing the show options features. You would think putting the link right on top of the results would help, but still, most people we talk to did not notice it was there.

All the effort that Google is spending on the show options feature shows that, as Marissa Mayer said, "Search is an unsolved problem."

With Google's advanced search options, and some training, I think there could be time when we can all feel like search is solved, without resorting to some semantic search engine that would require us to enter a paragraph of text to provide relevant results.

Info: Tip of the Week

2009-09-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

Information and insight are the two keys that open doors to winning more business in today's knowledge-based economy.

The "info:" operator is a little known and powerful tool in Google that serves you unbelievable insights into any market, and should be in the back pocket of every knowledge worker at every company.

Here's How To Do It:

1. Type info:www.companyname.com into the Google Search Bar.
2. This opens up several options. Click on the "links to" option.

From this view, you are able to see which companies the organization you are researching link to.

This can give you a great view of the organization’s relationships, giving your knowledge workers the inside information to better understand a prospective client, or the competition, and to win more business.

The info: lesson is fully taught as part of the Boost eLearning Google Search training course. Click here to view the full lesson.

Here's How it Works:

Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, developed a way of measuring the quality of a website known as PageRank. Basically, PageRank determines the quality of a website based on who it is linked to (sort of similar to measuring popularity). The ability to identify and track links is basic to Google's system of determining the quality of a website.

Jeff, this can help knowledge workers at any organization more fully understand an opportunity, develop closer relationships, and increase profitability.

Next week learn how to save time by conducting several searches at once.

Learn. Think. Find.

Be well,

Jeff Alhadeff
Boost eLearning
Research Desk

Region Search Tip of the Week

2009-09-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Knowledge Worker,

Boost eLearning is pleased to introduce our “Tip of the Week” series. Based on the interest you demonstrated in Boost eLearning we are including you this limited mailing.

The tip of the week gives a fast tip that will immediately boost your productivity.

A short, "How does it work?" section is also added, explaining the behind the scenes of how the technique works. This is original content that is hard to find anywhere else.

In addition, a link to the full Boost eLearning Region Search lesson is include below.

Getting to Know What the Locals Know

Knowing the local news and information of a potential client can really separate your sales, marketing, or research and development teams from the competition. By limiting your results to a specific country, you can find information that is inaccessible to someone who is not using enhanced search techniques.

Google Region Search allows you to limit your results to a specific country of origin. Follow these steps to learn what the locals are talking about and discover high value information.

Region Search
1. Go the Advanced Search Page (the link is to the right of the Google Search bar).
2. Type in the terms you want to search, maybe the name of your company’s (or a competitors’) product.
3. Expand the Advanced Search Page (click on the blue link with the text Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more.)
4. Next to region, select the country you want to limit your search to.

How it works
Google uses two factors to determine the location of a website, its URL extension and its internet protocol (IP) address. The URL extension is the part of the web address that comes after the company name. For example, “.com” is the extension for the United States; “.ca.com” is the extension for Canada. The IP address is indicated based on where the computer that is hosting the website is located.

Using Region Search (fully taught in the Boost eLearning Google Search Training Course, click on the link below) can help your company get a better idea of what is happening around the globe to tailor products or marketing campaigns for a specific region.

click here to view region search lesson now

Next week’s tip: leveraging info links to see who a competitor or potential client is doing business with.

Learn. Think. Find.

Have a great week,

Jeff Alhadeff
Boost eLearning
Research Desk

Jan Pedersen: Try Searching on Google

2009-09-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

Jan Pedersen, Chief Scientist for Core Search at Microsoft, wrote an article titled "Search as a Dialog" for The Huffington Post.

While many of the points ring true about the nature of search, such as, "According to our research, only 1 in 4 web queries you do gets you a satisfactory answer," I think his solution to the problem is off base, far off at best, and most likely inconceivable.

He envisions a world where search engines will be able to understand our language so thoroughly that people will be able to enter in a few words and get the results they are looking for.

He says that this functionality is far off. It is. It is hard to imagine a search engine that can understand how people speak, by country, by region... Sentence structure is highly variable with where a person lives, even when speaking the same language, and it is hard to imagine a search engine that can understand how each person speaks.

Maybe there is some sci-fi cap that you need to put on before searching.... Okay, that scares me.

To illustrate his point on the difficulty that search engines have, Pedersen says, "Today, if you ask a search engine for 'recent, positive reviews of the Amazon Kindle,' it will completely ignore the nuances of the request because it understands relatively little of what we say."

Agreed. A search engine, if you just do a basic search, will give you garbage results if you enter in those key words.

Apparently Jan Pedersen doesn't understand all of the filters and operators available on Google.

Do the following:

1. On Google, type in "Amazon Kindle" ~good. Press search
2. Click the show options button.
3. Select Reviews
4. Select past week (or enter your own date range).

See the image below, or see the results in Google

And while there are some irrelevant results in there, I'd just remove them using Not Search.

So, short of waiting for the folks in Redmond or Mountain View to come with a way to be able to read our minds, I'd suggest just paying attention to the search filters and operators that Google already supports.

Google Introduces 3 New Time Features

2009-09-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

Google has added three new filters to search by time. They are Timeline, Date Range, and Recent Results.

Time is one of the most significant factors when conducting business or professional research. When conducting a search on a business, a product, a scientific topic, a person, or virtually any search topic, time plays an essential factor in the quality of the search results you obtain.
When using Google NASDAQ:GOOG (www.google.com) you can use one of seven time filters, including three new time filters. Bing NASDAQ:MSFT (www.bing.com) does not have the functionality to allow users to sort results based on time.

Boost eLearning (www.boostelearning.com) has conducted an extensive review of the search functionality of Google and Bing. As a result of recent changes that Google has implemented in its functionality to Search by time, Boost eLearning has updated the Boost eLearning Google Search Training Timeline Lesson.

Boost eLearning confirmed with Bing Technical Support, and as you can clearly see below, that at this time Bing does not support the ability to filter results based on time.

The following is a report of Boost eLearning’s analysis of Google Search Functionality based on time.

All of the time filters are powerful tools to limit results to highly relevant information based on time. Boost eLearning is uniquely impressed by the power of the new Timeline filter.
Using the Timeline filter you are presented a bar graph of dates that you can select. For example, you can search your topic of choice from 1909 to 2009. The bar graph will have bars for each year with indexed content. When you click on a year, it will then display results by month. When you click on the month it will expand and present all results for that month. This in-depth sorting by month is available for any month where content is indexed by Google.
Google indexes over One Trillion URL’s. The ability to obtain your results by time is exceedingly powerful for any type of business research. The Timeline feature is new as part of standard Google. It was available for some time in the experimental labs as can be seen below.

The version that is now available is highly refined and more powerful tool for the professional seeking to obtain high value information where time is a factor. As can be seen below, the time line feature no longer has a “show results circa” box as the results are now presented nearly exactly with their true date. In addition, the user no longer needs to type view:timeline into the search bar in order to access the time line view.

In addition Google allows one to search by:

1. Recent- This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result. This filter is new and takes advantage of the functionality of Google Caffeine. This filter is also responsive to Twitter, providing results on Google that may be just a few minutes old.

2. Past 24 Hours – Limits results to last 24 hours – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to results for the past 24 hours

3. Past Week – Limits results to past week – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to the most current week.

4. Past Month – Limits results to last month – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to results for the last month.

5. Past Year - Limits results to last month – This sorts the results based on most current results first, then all results are sorted based on date indexed in descending order from most current result but limited to results for the last year.
The above features are demonstrated in the image below:

6. Specific Date Range – This option lets you limit your results to the exact date range that is relevant to your search. This filter is also new. This filter is extremely valuable and easy to use when the desired search results are between two specific dates, as can be seen below:

The web is a direct marketing medium. Results are presented based on relevance and heavily impacted by Search Engine Optimization, an area of heavy investment by many corporations. However, when performing research you most likely are seeking information about a person, product, company, event, or service. To effectively find high value information Google has 9 Filters and 5 Operators that empower the user with the functionality to perform highly targeted search. The ability to search by time is just one powerful example of the power of Google for business research.

Google Search is a Powerful Tool for Business Research. Knowledge workers seeking to effectively find high value information can utilize Google Search filters and operators to dramatically improve search results.