7 top Google hacks you need to know as a student

If you are ever in doubt, Google away. Whether you are looking for the cheapest place to eat around your university or simply finding the best-hidden gems around the city you’re living in, there are many top Google hacks to help.

Yet, how many of us know what these are or where to find out more about them? According to Investment Banking Analyst Chris Hladczuk, only a few people know how to use Google to its full potential.

Lucky for you, we have broken down some of Hladczuk’s top Google hacks into these easy tips and tricks:

With these top Google hacks, you’re set to become a master searcher. Source: Denis Charlet/AFP

Seven Google hacks you should start using today

“Quotation marks”

Quote marks are a great way to get accurate search results. All you need to do is place quote marks around your search terms. A great example would be “business studies.” This allows Google to show results with the full exact term inside said quote. Here, all of your search will have the term “business studies” — it excludes searches with individual terms like “business” or “studies”.

Dashes –

Want to exclude a term before you search? Use dashes. By including a hyphen (-) before the term in your search results, Google will not show you results that are related to that term. For instance, the search “dolphins-football” will only include the animal — dolphins — and not professional football teams that are related to dolphins or named dolphins.

Tilde ~

Tilde is a way to show you a string of results that are similar to each other. It tells the Google algorithm you want synonyms to appear in the results. A Google hack is to place the tilde operator in front of the keyword. For example, typing music ~classes on Google will show a list of results displaying music classes, lessons, coaching and, many words similar to classes.

Site:

This is a simple one. The word “site:” allows you to search for something within a specific website. To do so, you start by typing site: followed by the name of the website you want to search. After that, you add a space and then enter your search term or phrase. An example would be “site: bbc.com best sandwiches in London.”

These top Google hacks will get you to your desired results — and yummiest sandwiches — even faster. Source: Jeremy Selwyn/POOL/AFP

Filetype:

Similar to the Google hack above, this input allows you to filter out certain file types unrelated to your search. For instance, by typing “warren buffet filetype:pdf” you are filtering out all the clickbait buffer news articles you would not want to read. This search will only show any PDF documents related to warren buffet.

Command + F or Control + F keyboard shortcuts

If you are searching for something on your PC or laptop, Command + F and Control + F are keyboard shortcuts for Mac and Windows users, allowing you to find a particular term on a web page quickly. Imagine all the time you saved from endlessly scrolling through the massive line of texts — perhaps you can use that time to learn a new skill or language.

Asterisk *

For those who are unsure of their Google search, a neat hack is to place an asterisk mark at the end of your search. It allows Google to act as a wildcard search operator and fill in the blanks. However, this isn’t a foolproof method to cut yourself some slack and let Google do all the work. You would still have to filter through the suggestions given by Google until you find your desired results.