This data brought directly from the google website.
In addition to providing easy access to more than 3 billion web pages, Google has many special features to help you to find exactly what you’re looking for. Click the title of a specific feature to learn more about it.
• Cached Links View a snapshot of each page as it looked when we indexed it.
• Calculator – New! Use Google to evaluate mathematical expressions.
• Definitions – New! Use Google to get glossary definitions gathered from various online sources.
• File Types Search for non-HTML file formats including PDF documents and others.
• I’m Feeling Lucky Bypass our results and go to the first web page returned for your query.
• News Headlines Enhances your search results with the latest related news stories.
• PhoneBook Look up U.S. street address and phone number information.
• Similar Pages Display pages that are related to a particular result.
• Site Search Restrict your search to a specific site.
• Spell Checker Offers alternative spelling for queries.
• Stock Quotes Use Google to get stock and mutual fund information.
• Street Maps Use Google to find U.S. street maps.
• Web Page Translation Provides English speakers access to a variety of non-English web pages.
• Who links to you? Find all the pages that point to a specific URL.
Cached Links
Google takes a snapshot of each page examined as it crawls the web and caches these as a back-up in case the original page is unavailable. If you click on the “Cached” link, you will see the web page as it looked when we indexed it. The cached content is the content Google uses to judge whether this page is a relevant match for your query.
When the cached page is displayed, it will have a header at the top which serves as a reminder that this is not necessarily the most recent version of the page. Terms that match your query are highlighted on the cached version to make it easier for you to see why your page is relevant.
The “Cached” link will be missing for sites that have not been indexed, as well as for sites whose owners have requested we not cache their content.
Calculator
To use Google’s built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you’d like done into the search box and hit the Enter key or click on the Google Search button. The calculator can solve math problems involving basic arithmetic, more complicated math, units of measure and conversions, and physical constants. Try one of the sample expressions below, or refer to our complete instructions for help in building your own.
These sample queries demonstrate the utility and power of this new feature:
example:
5+2*2 = 9
Definitions
To see a definition for a word or phrase, simply type the word “define,” then a space, and then the word(s) you want defined. If Google has seen a definition for the word or phrase on the Web, it will retrieve that information and display it at the top of your search results.
You can also get a list of definitions by including the special operator “define:” with no space between it and the term you want defined. For example, the search [define:World Wide Web] will show you a list of definitions for “World Wide Web” gathered from various online sources.
File Types
Google has expanded the number of non-HTML file types searched to 12 file formats. In addition to PDF documents, Google now searches Microsoft Office, PostScript, Corel WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and others. The new file types will simply appear in Google search results whenever they are relevant to the user query.
Google also offers the user the ability to “View as HTML”, allowing users to examine the contents of these file formats even if the corresponding application is not installed. The “View as HTML” option also allows users to avoid viruses which are sometimes carried in certain file formats.
Overall, the additional file types provide Google users a wider view of the content available on the World Wide Web. And Google has plans to keep expanding the range of file types available over time.
For more information about this feature, please read the file type FAQ.
file type results
If you prefer to see a particular set of results without file types (for example, PDF links), simply type filetype:[extension] (for example, filetype:pdf) within the search box along with your search term(s).
example:
form 1040 filetype:pdf
I’m Feeling Lucky
The “I’m Feeling Lucky™” button takes you directly to the first web page Google returned for your query. You will not see the other search results at all. An “I’m Feeling Lucky” search means you spend less time searching for web pages and more time looking at them.
For example, to find the homepage for Stanford University, simply enter Stanford into the search field and click on the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. Google takes you directly to “www.stanford.edu”, the official homepage of Stanford University.
example:
Stanford
Are you feeling lucky?
News Headlines
When searching on Google you may see links at the top of your results marked “News”. These links connect you to reports culled from numerous news services Google continuously monitors. The links appear if the terms you enter are words currently in the news and clicking on them will take you directly to the service supplying them.
news headlines
PhoneBook
Business Listings Google has added the convenience of US street address and phone number lookup to the information we provide through our search box. You’ll see publicly listed phone numbers and addresses at the top of results pages for searches that contain specific kinds of keywords.
To find listings for a US business, type the business name into the Google search box, along with the city and state. Or type the business name and zip code. Entering the phone number with area code will also return a complete business listing.
To find listings for a US residence, type any of the following combinations into the Google search box:
bullet first name (or first initial), last name, city (state is optional)
bullet first name (or first initial), last name, state
bullet first name (or first initial), last name, area code
bullet first name (or first initial), last name, zip code
bullet phone number, including area code
bullet last name, city, state
bullet last name, zip code
If your query results in business and residential listings, both categories will be listed for your convenience.
To have your residential or business phone and address information removed from the Google PhoneBook, click here.
Similar Pages
similar pages image
When you click on the “Similar Pages” link for a search result, Google automatically scouts the web for pages that are related to this result.
The Similar Pages feature can be used for many purposes. If you like a particular site’s content, but wish it had more to say, Similar Pages can find sites with similar content with which you may be unfamiliar. If you are looking for product information, Similar Pages can find competitive information so you can make direct comparisons. If you are interested in researching a particular field, Similar Pages can help you find a large number of resources very quickly, without having to worry about selecting the right keywords.
The more specialized a page is, the fewer results Google will be able to find for you. For example, Similar Pages may not be able to find related pages for your personal home page if it does not have enough information to authoritatively associate other pages with yours. Also, if companies use multiple URLs for their pages (such as company.com and www.company.com), Similar Pages may have little information on one URL, but lots on the other. In general, however, Similar Pages works well for the majority of web pages.
Site Search
The word “site” followed by a colon enables you to restrict your search to a specific site. To do this, use the site:sampledomain.com syntax in the Google search box. For example, to find admission information on Stanford’s site, enter:
example:
admission site:www.stanford.edu
Spell Checker
Google’s spell checking software automatically looks at your query and checks to see if you are using the most common version of a word’s spelling. If it calculates that you’re likely to generate more relevant search results with an alternative spelling, it will ask “Did you mean: (more common spelling)?”. Clicking on the suggested spelling will launch a Google search for that term. Because Google’s spell check is based on occurrences of all words on the Internet, it is able to suggest common spellings for proper nouns (names and places) that might not appear in a standard spell check program or dictionary.
Stock Quotes
To use Google to get stock and mutual fund information, just enter one or more NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, or mutual fund ticker symbols, or the name of a corporation traded on one of the stock indices. If Google recognizes your query as a stock or mutual fund, it will return a link that leads directly to stock and mutual fund information from high quality financial information providers.
Stocks Look for the link for your ticker symbol query (e.g. “SUNW”) at the top of your search results. If you search on a company name (e.g. “Sun Microsystems”), look for the “Stock Quote:” link on the final line of Google’s result for that company’s homepage (e.g. www.sun.com).
www.sun.com/ – 31k – Cached – Similar pages – Stock Quote: SUNW <<<
example:
intc sunw nuan
Google’s financial information providers have been selected and ordered solely on the basis of their quality, based on factors including download speed, user interface, and functionality. Please note that Google is not affiliated with the financial information providers that are used. If you have a provider that you’d like to suggest we include, please email us at [email protected].
Street Maps
To use Google to find street maps, enter a U.S. street address, including zip code or city/ state (e.g. 165 University Ave Palo Alto CA), in the Google search box. Often, the street address and city name will be enough.
example:
165 University Ave Palo Alto CA
When Google recognizes your query as a map request, it will return links from high quality map providers that will lead you directly to the relevant map. These map providers have been selected solely on the basis of their quality. Please note that Google is not affiliated with the map information providers that are used. If you have a favorite map provider you’d like to suggest we include, please email us at [email protected].
Web Page Translation
Google breaks the language barrier with this translation feature. Using machine translation technology, Google now gives English speakers access to a variety of non-English web pages. This feature is currently available for pages published in Italian, French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.
If your search has non-English results, there will be a link to a version of that page translated into English.
Web PageTranslation
For more information about this feature, please read the translation FAQ.
Who links to you?
Some words, when followed by a colon, have special meanings to Google. One such word for Google is the link: operator. The query link:siteURL shows you all the pages that point to that URL. For example, link:www.google.com will show you all the pages that point to Google’s home page. You cannot combine a link: search with a regular keyword search.
“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of opportunities;
an optimist makes opportunities of difficulties.”