Searching on Google is easy and fun, even addictive. But sometimes you may type in a simple query only to find yourself faced with thousands of results, none of which seem to provide the information you need. This may not be a big deal when you're looking up your 7th-grade crush on a whim, but when you're researching issues for your nonprofit, the stakes are higher.

While Google is constantly tinkering with its search engine to yield better results, you can help ensure you find what you're looking for by taking advantage of the search engine's powerful advanced features and special sections.

Advanced Search Features

1. Use quotes when you're searching for an exact phrase.
When you type a phrase into Google, it looks for pages that contain every word in your phrase, but not necessarily in that exact order. Add quotes around the phrase, and Google will only search for your precise phrase, narrowing your results.

2. Use OR to include either term.
To find pages that include either of two search terms, include an uppercase OR between the words: for example, Bill OR William Clinton.

3. Include or exclude words.
Some common words, such as "when," "where," and "how," along with some single digits and letters, are ignored when entered. If they're essential to your search, put a "+" in front of your search term. Conversely, if you want to make sure a word does not appear in your search results, put a "-" in front of it. For example, if you enter fundraising -online, you'll ensure your results don't include anything about online fundraising.

4. Search within a specific site.
Google offers a number of "advanced operators," special words that tell Google to search in a particular way. A particularly handy one is site:, which tells Google to look for your search terms only on a specific site. So type volunteer site:www.redcross.org, and Google will search for "volunteer" on the Red Cross site. Similarly, you can search within a specific domain type by entering volunteer site:.org. This will search for the term "volunteer" in domains ending with .org. (Keep in mind that most advanced operators require that you not leave a space after the colon.)

5. Find a definition.
Another advanced operator, define: tells Google to display definitions of a word or phrase. For example, enter define:relational database to get a list of definitions with their sources.

6. Learn who's linking to whom.
Use the operator link: to see which Web pages link to a specified site. For example, to see who links to TechSoup, type link:www.techsoup.org.

7. Find a similar site.
If you've found a useful site and you'd like to find another one like it, try related:. Related:www.techsoup.org finds sites that are similar to TechSoup in subject.

8. Search for a specific file type.
Use filetype: to look for a specific type of file. For example, tax return filetype:pdf will lead you to PDF files related to tax returns.

9. Specify where your search term appears.
Use intitle: and intext: directly before a word to tell Google exactly where to search for your term. Intitle: looks only at the titles of Web pages, while intext: searches only the text of pages. For example, intitle:nonprofit will search for "nonprofit" when it appears in the title of a Web page. Along the same lines, use allintitle: or allintext: to specify that all the words in your query should appear in the title or text.

10. Use a placeholder word.
The "*" essentially represents a placeholder word, and there a number of ways to use it. For example, if you're trying to look up a conference, but you only remember the first and last word of the conference, you can enter "nonprofit * conference" to look up conferences that include an additional word. Or think of "*" as a fill-in-the-blank test for Google. Enter * founded the Red Cross to learn who started the organization. In addition, if you want to search for terms that don't appear next to each other, add a "*" between them to indicate that one or more words should separate them.

11. Search a range of numbers.
The "numrange" operator searches for results within a range of numbers. To use it, enter two numbers separated by two periods with no spaces. For example hurricanes 1920..1950 will search for information about hurricanes from 1920 to 1950. You can also specific a unit of measurement with your number, such as fundraising software $50..$500, which will search for software in that price range.

12. Search for a word and its synonyms.
If you'd like to search for a specific word and its synonyms, add a "~" immediately before your search term. ~accessible technology will search for accessible and related technology.

13. Use the currency converter.
Google includes some useful, if hidden, tools built right in, such as a currency converter. Enter 3000 JPY in USD to find out how many U.S. dollars are in 3000 Japanese Yen. You can also make other conversions, such as English to metric: 8 miles in kilometers, for example.

14. Just ask.
Try typing a question directly into Google: What is the capital of Cameroon? Google will often display the answer at the top of the results page, with a link to the source.

15. Take advantage of Google's Advanced Search Page.
Google's advanced search tool (www.google.com/advanced_search) allows you to specify a number of search parameters, all in one place, without the need for you to memorize any special search code. This page includes a number of the options listed above, as well as options to pick the language you want to see in your results, filter out sexually explicit content, and more.

Special Search Pages

16. Search U.S. government pages.
Especially useful when conducting research, a U.S. government search (www.google.com/ig/usgov) lets you look for your terms across the .gov and .mil domains as well as on other government sites.

17. Conduct a technology-specific search.
Looking up troubleshooting information can be a time-consuming task. Refine your search by using sections specifically for various operating systems. Choose between the following:

• Apple Macintosh (www.google.com/mac)
• BSD Unix (www.google.com/bsd)
• Linux (www.google.com/linux)
• Microsoft (www.google.com/microsoft)

18. Search the news.
If you're researching current events, consider searching news articles on Google News (news.google.com). Or take a historical perspective, and search Google's News Archive (news.google.com/archivesearch). While many articles require payment to view, it may be worth it to view an article from 1933 without trolling the microfiche section at your local library.

19. Take a look in Usenet and Google Groups.
There's a good chance that most obscure topics have been discussed in Usenet groups. Use Google Groups (groups.google.com) to search through archives going back to 1981.

20. Search the blogs.
Find out what bloggers have to say about your subject by using Google's blog search (blogsearch.google.com/).

21. Hit the books.
With Google's book search (books.google.com/), you can search the full text of books in Google's database. Depending on copyright status or partnerships Google has made with some publishers, you may or may not be able to see specific references in context. But in some cases, you'll be able to download the entire book.

22. Search scholarly works.
Use Google Scholar (scholar.google.com/) to search for scholarly articles, peer-reviewed papers, theses, and more.

23. When a picture's worth a thousand words.
Try Google Image Search (images.google.com/) to find images on the Web. You can even use the advanced image search (images.google.com/advanced_image_search?hl=en) to narrow your search down by coloration, file type, and size.

More information

• Complete list of advanced operators
  View a list of all the special query terms Google understands.
• About Google's calculator
  Google also includes a built-in calculator. Here's how to use it.
• Google's print-and-save cheat sheet
  View and print a quick-reference guide to common search operators.