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All search engines have similar search features for finding information on the Internet. However, Google is one of the largest and most comprehensive search engines available , as it is very rare to find a non-working link. It crawls the web and updates its index (database) on a regular basis. When it finds new web pages, it adds them to its index, at the same time it removes non-working web pages from its index.
Google is a hybrid search engine and uses a directory to supplement its own search engine. It examines and organises the links on websites into topics to determine the most relevance of the information. Google search features also include the unique "I'm feeling lucky" button, which takes you directly to the first website in the list of results. Try the following examples to search Google (www.google.com) more effectively.
Search using keyword(s) and/or phrase(s):
If you want to narrow down your search further, you can make use of the advanced search features which will influence the order in which the results appear. This forces Google to find the information more accurately, according to the extra terms that you've asked for and allows you to sort, refine and group your search criteria more specifically using the following built in advanced search features.
Google also allows you to refine your search further using the logical "OR" operator, "+" (plus sign), "-" (minus sign), "~" (Tilde sign) and quotation marks (" ").
The OR operator finds web pages that contain either or all keywords entered e.g. earthquake OR flood. Please note that the logical OR operator must be entered in uppercase between the keywords.
The plus sign (+) finds web pages that contain all keywords you have entered. You must include a space before the plus sign, but no space after the plus sign, otherwise the search will not be accurate. For example, earthquake +flood +volcano, Google search will find web pages that contain "earthquake", "flood" and "volcano".
The minus sign (-) excludes web pages from your search results that contain a keyword(s) you have entered. You must include a space before the minus sign, but no space after the minus sign, otherwise the search will not be accurate. For example, earthquake +flood -volcano, Google search will find web pages that contain both "earthquake" and "flood" excluding "volcano".
The tilde sign (~) allows you to search for a particular keyword(s) and its synonyms by entering the tilde sign (~) in front of the keyword(s) e.g. ~Word ~processing ~Tutorials.
Google allows you to refine your search further, using keywords or phrases, by enclosing them in quotation marks (" "). The keywords or phrases you enter in quotation marks will appear exactly on your search result as you have typed them.
Google allows you to search definitions for any words or phrases using define followed by colon and a keyword(s) or phrase(s). However, you must not include a space before or after the colon. Just try the following examples by entering in the Google search box:
Source: © www.google.com 
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