About this course
Asking the question is easy. But the results do not always provide the most relevant information. Sometimes the use of special syntax is required in order to refine the results.
In this tutorial I'll be covering the syntax of DuckDuckGo and StartPage, as these are my choice of engine because of their privacy policies. Feel free to do a search to learn the syntax of your chosen search engine.
Exact phrase: "an exact phrase"Less of this in results: -termMore of this in results: +termSearch for filetype: filetype:pdf (replace pdf with the type)Search specific website: term -site:example.com (this would search the website example.com for the word 'term')
Exact phrase: "exact phrase"Omit term from results: -termSearch for filetype: filetype:pdf (just replace pdf with the desired type) Search specific website: host:example.com +term
StartPage also allows the use of boolean operators for creating complex queries. For that I recommend checking out their documentation, linked below.
https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/syntax/
https://support.startpage.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/989/0/which-search-operators-are-supported-by-startpage
Learning stems from curiosity, and the internet houses vast troves of information. Learn how to combine your curiosity and the tools of the net to achieve self-mastery. It all starts with a question.
So many search engines to choose from! Figure out which ones works best for you.
Sometimes the results need to be tweaked using special syntax in order to find what you need.