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advanced_search

Google Avanced search tips
Interpreting Results in Google

Yes.
Use simple quotes ("search phrase")

In advanced search, choose "find results with the exact phrase".

Yes.
Choose "search for the exact phrase"

In advanced search, terms in the "filter" boxes are always searched as phrases.

Limited Boolean logic is available:

"OR" is supported (contrary to what most tutorials say)

"AND" is automatically assumed between words, thereby restricting your search

Exclude words by prefixing them with the - sign [-term]

In Advanced Search, Boolean logic is available in the form of:
ALL is "AND"
ANY is "OR"
WITHOUT is "AND NOT"

Nesting is not supported.

Available, but only in the "Boolean query" box of the Advanced Search page.

Supported operators include AND (assumed by default), OR, AND NOT, NEAR (within 10 words). 

Nesting is supported.

Available from any search box.

Supported operators include AND (assumed by default), OR, NOT.

Nesting is supported

In the top box, AND is assumed by default.

For OR, enclose terms or phrases in parentheses; e.g. (interpreter translator)

Advanced search "filter" boxes appromixates Boolean logic:
Must include is "AND"
Must not include is "NOT"
Should include ensures higher ranking

Search terms without a specific require or exclude instruction default to "AND".

Note that Google automatically ignores very frequent words, i.e. articles, prepositions from your search terms. To leave them in, prefix them with a + sign, e.g.:

["shakespeare +in love"] retrieves URLs on all three words whereas ["shakespeare in love"] disregards the "in".

However, not all common words can be forced back into a query using the + sign. For instance, Google is totally defeated by the search phrase: "to be or not to be".

Available only in Simple Search (which defaults to OR).

[+term] requires that the term be present.

[-term] excludes all pages where the term is present 

A better option is to use Boolean logic in Advanced Search.

Search terms without a specific require or exclude instruction default to AND. 

[+term] requires that the term be present.

[-term] excludes all pages where the term is present 

Search terms without a specific require or exclude instruction default to AND.

In the top search box:

[+term] requires that the term be present/

[-term] excludes all pages where the term is present 

No.

Refine your search by adding terms to your original search.

Yes.

SORT BY box performs a sub-search.

No.

Add terms to refine your search or use Northern Light's very intuitive "Folders" to drill down on a sub-theme.

No.

Add terms to refine your search

Google is very good at giving a ranking to official sites (to which other sites link a lot)

Unless terms are preceded by a + sign, "fuzzy AND" is invoked.

Note that matching and ranking in Google are based on the "cached" version of pages that may not be the most recent version.

Automatic "Fuzzy AND".

Weights results by search term sequence, left to right.

Also considers the number of links to each page, somewhat like Google.

You can request results to be sorted by reverse date.

Automatic "Fuzzy AND".

In Advanced Search, Should include gives higher priority to those pages containing the word or phrase.

No, and no stemming.

This means you must search plurals separately!

Use * wildcard for any ending.

* wildcard may be used for any characters within a word;at least 4 other characters must precede it.

Use % wildcard to allow only one character variable in a word.

Also stems allowing most plurals and common endings.

No.

Enclose variants in (  ) in top box to create OR.

Yes. Upper case retrieves only matching upper case.

Lower case retrieves either lower or upper case.

Alta Vista is also accent and character sensitive.