Google Tips & Tricks

Google has a very large portfolio of services. While it's easy to get started, it's often hard to figure out those hidden tricks. Did you know you can create a to-do list in Gmail or make your own map with Google Maps? Did you know you could create drawings in Google Docs and edit them simultaneously with someone else? Here's some help with those hidden features and more in depth tricks.

There are a million different searches hidden in Google if you know the right syntax. Here's a few of my favorite hidden Google search tricks that you can whip out to impress your friends.

1. Get Movie Show Times

I love this trick. I can find movie show times, trailers, reviews, and driving directions for all the theaters near me, all from Google.




2. Use Google as a Dictionary
I used to go to a dictionary Web site to look up terms. Now I just use Google's define: syntax to find definitions from several dictionaries all at once.

3. Use Google as a Phonebook

Personally, I don't think Google's phonebook is nearly as efficient as some other phonebook Web sites out there, but it is easier to remember where to find it.

4. Get Quick Weather Forecasts

This is a quick way to check the forecast in the morning, before you drive to work. There's nothing worse than forgetting an umbrella or being stuck in a blizzard without a heavy coat.

5. Get Quick Stock Quotes From Google

Here's an easy trick to get a quick stock quote from Google. You do have to know the exact stock exchange symbol for the stock you'd like quoted.


6. Use Google as a Calculator

Google's calculator will calculate all sorts of things that an ordinary calculator just won't do. It's my favorite calculator to tell me how many kilometers are in a mile or how much two pints plus an ounce make.

7. Restrict Your Search to Specific Domains or Specific Countries

This is a bit esoteric, but if you work in an education institution, it's very useful to restrict your searches to just .edu sites. It's also nice to restrict your searches to only Web sites based out of certain countries.

8. Restrict Your Search to Specific File Types

Want to find .mp3 files? How about that PowerPoint presentation someone posted last month? Restrict your searches by file type and wow everyone with how quickly you can find things.

How to Improve Your Website's Google Ranking

Google's search engine, www.google.com, uses a variety of methods to determine which pages are displayed first in the results. Their exact formula is a secret, but there are a few things you can do to improve your positioning. The term for this is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). These tips may not make your website the first one to appear in the list, but they just may help you move up a little. No matter what you do, make sure you make a site that you want to visit. If you're gaming the system, sooner or later Google will figure it out and change their formula. You'll end up plummeting in the search results and wonder why.

 
Ignore spam and websites that offer to submit your website to hundreds of search engines. At best these are wastes of time or money and at worst they can actually hurt your ranking.

Link Early, Link Often

One of the biggest factors Google looks at is the hyperlink. Google looks at both links to and from your website. Google looks at the words you use in links to help determine the content of your page. Use links within web pages as a way to emphasize keywords. Rather than saying, "click here to learn more about SEO" you should say: Read more about SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Social Networking

Social networking sites can be a good way to promote a site, but most will not affect your rank directly. Google+ promotion may be an exception


Good Design Is Popular Design

In the end, strong, well organized pages are pages that Google tends to rank higher. They're also pages that tend to become more popular, which means Google will rank them even higher. Keep good design in mind as you go, and much of the SEO will design itself.

Five Ways to Improve your Site’s Ranking (SEO)

Follow these suggestions, and watch your website rise the ranks to the top of search-engine results.

1. Publish relevant content

   Quality content is the number one driver of your search engine rankings and there is no substitute for great content. Quality content created specifically for your intended user increases site traffic, which improves your site’s authority and relevance.
   Identify a keyword phrase for each page. Think about how your reader might search for that specific page (with phrases like “mechanical engineering in Michigan,” “best applied physics program,” or “Michigan Tech degrees”). Then, repeat this phrase several times throughout the page—once or twice in the opening and closing paragraphs, and two to four more times throughout the remaining content.
   Don’t forget to use bold, italics, heading tags, and other emphasis tags to highlight keyword phrases, but don’t overdo it.
   Never sacrifice good writing for SEO. The best pages are written for the user, not for the search engine.

2. Update your content regularly

   You’ve probably noticed that we feel pretty strongly about content. Search engines do, too. Regularly updated content is viewed as one of the best indicators of a site’s relevancy, so be sure to keep it fresh.

3. Metadata

   When designing your website, each page contains a space between the <head> tags to insert metadata, or information about the contents of your page. If you have a CMS site, the UMC web team will have pre-populated this data for you:
   

   • Title Metadata

     Title metadata is responsible for the page titles displayed at the top of a browser window. It is the most important metadata on your page. For those with a CMS website, the web team has developed an automated system for creating the meta title for each webpage.

   • Description Metadata

     Description metadata is the textual description that a browser will use in your page search return. Think of it as your site’s window display—a concise and appealing description of what is contained within, with the goal of encouraging people to enter.

   • Keyword Metadata

     Keyword metadata are the search phrases that people type when they want to find your page. You’ll want to include a variety of phrases. However, don’t get greedy: if your list becomes excessive, the browser may completely ignore the data. As a general rule, try to keep it to about 6-8 phrases with each phrase consisting of 1-4 words. A great example would be "computer science degree."

4. Have a link-worthy site

   Focus on creating relevant links within the text. Instead of having “click here” links, try writing out the name of the destination. “Click here” has no search engine value beyond the attached URL, whereas “Michigan Tech Enterprise Program” is rich with keywords and will improve your search engine rankings as well as the ranking of the page you are linking to.

5. Use alt tags

   Always describe your visual and video media using alt tags, or alternative text descriptions. They allow search engines to locate your page, which is crucial—especially for those who use text-only browsers.

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