Improve Your Search Experience
In
addition to providing easy access to billions of web pages, Google has many special
features to help you to find exactly what you're looking for. Some of our most
popular features are listed below.
Everyday
Essentials
Weather
To see the weather for many U.S. and worldwide cities, type "weather" followed
by the city and state, U.S. zip code, or city and country.
Stock Quotes
To
see current market data for a given company or fund, type the ticker symbol into
the search box. On the results page, you can click the link to see more data from
Google Finance.
Time
To
see the time in many cities around the world, type in "time" and the name of the
city.
Sports Scores
To
see scores and schedules for sports teams type the team name or league name into
the search box. This is enabled for many leagues including the National Basketball
Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, and Major League
Baseball.
All sports data provided by STATS, Inc.
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Reference
Tools
Calculator
To
use Google's built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you'd
like done into the search box.
Book Search
If you’re looking for results from Google Book Search, you can enter the name
of the author or book title into the search box and we’ll return any book content
we have as part of your normal web results. You can click through on the record
to view more detailed info about that author or title.
Earthquakes
To
see information about recent earthquakes in a specific area type "earthquake"
followed by the city and state or U.S. zip code. For recent earthquake activity
around the world simply type "earthquake" in the search box.
Unit Conversion
You
can use Google to convert between many different units of measurement of height,
weight, and volume among many others. Just enter your desired conversion into
the search box and we’ll do the rest.
Public Data
To
see trends for population and unemployment rates of U.S. states and counties,
type "population" or "unemployment rate" followed by a state or county. You can
click through to a page that lets you compare different locations.
People Profiles
If
you're looking for someone you just met or a long-lost friend, enter the name
of that person plus some identifying words about him or her to see a list of people
with that name.
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Choosing
Keywords
Synonym Search
If you want to search not only for your search term but also for its synonyms,
place the tilde sign (~) immediately in front of your search term.
Dictionary Definitions
To see a definition for a word or phrase, simply type the word "define" then a
space, then the word(s) you want defined. To see a list of different definitions
from various online sources, you can type "define:" followed by a word or phrase.
Note that the results will define the entire phrase.
Spell Checker
Google’s spell checking software automatically checks whether your query uses
the most common spelling of a given word. If it thinks you’re likely to generate
better results with an alternative spelling, it will ask “Did you mean: (more
common spelling)?â€. Click the suggested spelling to launch a Google search for
that term.
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Local
Search
Local Search
If you’re looking for a store, restaurant, or other local business you can search
for the category of business and the location and we’ll return results right
on the page, along with a map, reviews, and contact information.
Movie Showtimes
To find reviews and showtimes for movies playing near you, type "movies" or the
name of a current film into the Google search box. If you've already saved your
location on a previous search, the top search result will display showtimes for
nearby theaters for the movie you've chosen.
Real Estate and Housing
To see home listings in a given area type "housing", "home", or "real estate"
and the name of a city or a U.S. zip code into the Google search box and hit the
Enter key or click the Google Search button. Clicking the "Go" button on the results
page will display details of individual homes that Google has indexed.
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Trip Planning
Airline Travel Info
To see flight status for arriving and departing U.S. flights, type in the name
of the airline and the flight number into the search box. You can also see delays
at a specific airport by typing in the name of the city or three-letter airport
code followed by the word "airport".
Currency Conversion
To use our built-in currency converter, simply enter the conversion you’d like
done into the Google search box and we’ll provide your answer directly on the
results page.
Maps
Looking for a map? Type in the name or U.S. zip code of a location and the word
"map" and we’ll return a map of that location. Clicking on the map will take
you to a larger version on Google Maps.
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Query
Refinements
Plus (+) Operator
Google ignores common words and characters such as where, the, how, and other
digits and letters that slow down your search without improving the results. If
a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can make sure
we pay attention to it by putting a "+" sign in front of it.
Related Search
To search for web pages that have similar content to a given site, type "related:"
followed by the website address into the Google search box.
Fill in the Blank
Sometimes the best way to ask a question is to get Google to ‘fill in the blank’
by adding an asterisk (*) at the part of the sentence or question that you want
finished into the Google search box.
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Search
by Number
Package Tracking
You can track packages by typing the tracking number for your UPS, Fedex or USPS
package directly into the search box. We’ll return results that include quick
links to easily track the status of your shipment.
Patent Numbers
To search for U.S. patents, enter the word "patent" followed by the patent number
into the Google search box and hit the Enter key or click the Google Search button.
Area Code
To see the geographical location for any U.S. telephone area code, just type the
three-digit area code into the Google search box and hit the Enter key or click
the Google Search button.
