For writers looking for incredible efficiency! 

If you’ve been writing for some time, you probably know how important it is to justify your claims or statements with reliable sources. Research is one of the most important parts of any article because a writer can’t create excellent content without proper knowledge. That being said, proving to the readers that you have gained the knowledge from a legit source is also an equally important thing.   

Unfortunately, not all results that appear on top of a search engine results page are the results you look for to include in your article. Therefore, writers spend a significant amount of time finding reliable sources. 

But did you know you can actually save an incredible amount of time and make accurate discoveries if you know a few tips to make a smart search?    

I’ve been following a few incredible tips to make my Google search more accurate and efficient for a few years, and it’s been amazing. Today, I’d like to share it with you. Hope it helps you save time and make accurate discoveries. They are as follows   

Search within a single site.

Not all reliable sources make it on the top list of a search engine results page. Trust me! Search engine ranking doesn’t necessarily advocate the reliability of sources as it’s mostly the result of optimization (you’re probably aware of it). Therefore, most writers prefer gathering knowledge from sources they trust. Such sources are mostly the trusted organizations that have been in business for quite a while. 

Wouldn’t it be great if you could search for particular information from only the source of your choice? If you think so, then I’ve good news for you. You can actually search for information from only the website of your choice? Just enter your keywords followed by “site: site URL” For example, if you’re looking for articles or studies about “the impact of third-party cookies on privacy” published on forbes.com, your search should look like this:

Impact of third-party cookies on privacy site:forbes.com 

Search a similar site 

Citing all your claims to a single site may not seem professional. Therefore, you may want to provide your readers with links to diverse sources. And to do that, you need sources that are similar and equally reliable to your preferred one. The good news is that you can easily find a similar site to a website. Just “type related:site url” on google search box 

For instance, typing related:forbes.com will provide you with a list of related sites to forbes.com.

Find an exact source of a phrase or quote

The most impactful phrases and quotes come from some great works from the past. Including such quotes in your article without knowing their exact sources may not always make you sound smart. Use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase or quote if you want to identify its source. 

Let’s take a look at this example: If you enter “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” without quotation marks, the search results page may show you numerous results totally unrelated to Anna Karenina or Leo Tolstoy. But adding quotation marks will make the results show the exact source. 

Exclude certain keywords and sources from search results

Many words in English have different meanings. Therefore, your search may not always provide you with the information you actually want to see. Let’s take the word “bass” as an example. There are many things that come with bass—(bass) guitar, fish (sea bass), or (bass) speaker. If you’re looking for bass competition, you may not want to see results that include sea bass or instruments.     

Use – (dash or minus sign) to exclude certain words. You can also exclude specific sources from search results with this method. For instance, if you’re looking for “Freedom Convoy” news from all sources except CNN, input keywords on the search bar this way: 

Latest freedom convoy news – cnn  

You will not find a single piece of CNN content on the results page. 

Type ** for phrases or quotes with missing words

Sometimes you come across interesting phrases and plan to include them in your article. But sadly, in a few days, you forget words that complete the phrase. What would you do? Well, Google can help you identify missing words from certain phrases. Just use ** for the missing word. Forgot the word after “the great”? Type keywords this way: 

The great ** 

Find information in the format of your choice

Gaining knowledge from academic essays, reports, and books is crucial for creating impactful articles. Such materials are mostly released in certain formats, such as pdf, ppt, doc, or xls. These files can be super important for writers. But they are extremely hard to find with regular searches. Luckily, there’s a way to find results in a specific file format. Just type: keyword filetype: (file extension) pdf, ppt, doc, or xls. 

For instance, if you’re looking for studies on “future of ads after cookies end” on pdf, search this way: 

future of ads after cookies end filetype:pdf