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Google Like a Librarian

Tips on advanced Google searching

Limit Your Results


Most Google users don't look beyond the 1st page of results. How can you ensure that you're seeing the best and most relevant sites? Google allows you to limit your results by a variety of options:

  • Limit by file type: "global warming" filetype:pdf will retrieve only PDF documents. Other examples: filetype:ppt (powerpoint); filetype:jpg (images), etc.
  • Limit by website: "global warming" insite:nytimes.com will retrieve results from only the New York Times website
  • Limit by domain: "global warming" site:gov enables you to view results from only government websites

Example:

Screenshot of Google search for global warming gov using site

 

Other examples: site:edu (college/university sites); site:org (non-profits) site:com (commercial sites & the majority of the web)

*Why might this be important? Check out the Evaluating Sources guide for more information on domain types

More Search Tools


Watch this brief video on how to limit your results using the 'More Search Tools' feature: