The top search engine, Google, can be a powerful partner in your job search. You can use it to help you find find potential employers, research those employers (financial stability, competitors, etc.).

More About Using Google for Your Job Search: Google for Job Search Home Google Search Ground Rules Find Jobs Using Google Google-ize Your Job Search Set Up Google Alerts 5 Ways to Use Google to Avoid Layoffs 5 Ways to Use Google Alerts for Your Job Search Google Alerts to Monitor Your Reputation Find Jobs on Employer Websites Find Hidden Jobs on Dot-Jobs Websites

Note: Not every site is included in Google's database of Web sites. Some sites are not included because they are new or are designed in such a way that Google cannot catalog the site's contents. Google, like all search engines and directories, can only search through its own database of Web contents.

10 Tips to Improve Search Results:

1. Try different variations of your search terms
   Different versions will return different results, particularly when you are searching on long words or phrases that are typically reduced to acronyms, A T & T, for example. Search on AT&T and ATT as well to find the terms that return the best search results.
   
   Try searching with typical shortcuts and abbreviations as well as the complete words (e.g. telecom and telecommunications). Also test both plural and singular (job and jobs)
   
   
2. Enclose phrases inside quotation marks
   If you are looking for entry level jobs, enclose those words inside double quotation marks so that Google will look for that exact phrase. 
   
   If you want an entry level job with a bank, and you want Google to look for that specific phrase, your search would look like this:
   
   
   
   If you type a phrase without enclosing them inside quotation marks, Google would find all the pages which contain "entry" and "level" and "jobs" regardless of their proximity to each other.
   
   
   
   Notice the greater number of search results when quotation marks aren't used.
   
   
3. Change the order of the search terms
   Searching on "jobs california" (without the quotation marks) gives you different search results than "california jobs" (without the quotation marks).
   
   
4. EX-cluding some results
   If your Google search results have some entries mixed in that have nothing to do with what you are seeking, you can exclude many extraneous entries by excluding words used commonly on those pages you want to avoid.
   
   For example, if we want to find a Florida bank, our first search results contains not only the financial institutions that we want, but also entries for fishing banks and food banks that we don't want (this time).
   
   How do you exclude results that are not good fits for what you want? Expand your search terms by adding words from the kind of sites you want to exclude (e.g. fish, food) but attaching a minus sign (-) to the front of each word. So "fish" becomes "-fish" and so on for all the terms to be excluded.
   
   Thus, after a few tries, your Google search query looks like this -
   
   
   
   - and Google returns results that include pages that DO contain the phrase "florida bank" but do NOT contain the words "fish" or "food."
   
   Please note! Do NOT put a space between the "-" and the word to be excluded.
             "- fish" will NOT work; but "-fish" WILL work!
   
   
5. IN-cluding some results
   If your Google search results have some entries mixed in that have nothing to do with what you are seeking, you can exclude many extraneous entries by specifying the Google include words commonly used on those pages you want to see.
   
   For example, if you continue with the Florida bank search example, another way to exclude results you don't want is to require Google to find specific terms, appropriate for your desired search results, to be found.  So, think about the terms that would be found on a bank's website, and then add those terms to your query.  A bank would offer checking and savings accounts as well as mortgages.
   
   Thus, your Google search query looks like this -
   
   
   
   - and Google returns results that include pages that DO contain the phrase "florida bank," AND also contain the words "mortgage," "checking," AND "saving" as well.
   
   Please note! Again, as with the use of the "-" sign, do NOT put a space between the "+" and the word to be included.
             "+ checking" will NOT work; but "+checking" WILL work!
   
   
6. Including or Excluding Phrases
   When you want to include or exclude a phrase, rather than a single word, add a "dot" (or period) between the words in the phrase, in place of using quotation marks, and Google will select search results which include, or exclude, those words in a phrase.
   
   Continuing the Florida bank search example, combining the phrase plus inclusions and exclusions for your best search results, your Google search query looks like this -
   
   
   
   
7. Finding similar Web sites
   When you have identified a site that is providing the kind of information you want, Google provides you with a way to find similar sites:
   

   Similar: Many Google search results entries also contain a link labeled "Similar" in the bottom line of each entry. Clicking on that link usually provides you with - ta dah! - similar Web sites.
   
   

8. Google Site Search
   Limit Google's search to a specific Website, or even part of a specific website, using Google's Site Search capability.
   
   Type your query into Google's search box, type "site:" and then immediately following you type "site:" add the domain name of site you want searched. For example, to search through Capital One's Website for an administrative assistant position, you would use this search query -
   
   
   
   Please note! Again, as with the use of the "-" and the "+" signs, do NOT put a space between the "site:" and the domain name you want Google to search.
             "site: capitalone.com" will NOT work; but "site:capitalone.com" WILL work!.
   
   
9. The Google Map Lookup
   You have the address, but you don't know how to get there. Type the complete address, (street, city, and state) into the Google search bar, hit the "Enter" key, and Google's search results will contain a small map image. Click on the map to enlarge it. It can be adjusted to look very closely at each street or to look at the "big picture" of the whole area with only the major routes, like highways, identified.
   
   If Google has a photo image of the area available, a "Street View" option will be visible. See views of the buildings and streets by clicking on the "Street View" button
   
   
10. Google Time Check
    Not sure what time it is? Type "time" into your Google search bar, and Google will tell you. All you need to know is what time zone you are in.

BONUS TRICK:

If you want to include or exclude a phrase, combining quotation marks and the plus or minus sign won't work.

Instead, use dots (periods) between the words in the phrase. If the page MUST contain the phrase "entry level jobs," +entry.level.jobs will work just as well (maybe better):



Notice that the number of results is extremely close, a bit lower for version using dots rather than quotation marks.

Google is constantly changing.  So new tricks will be created, and old tricks will die.  Stay tuned...

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About the author...

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff "graduate" who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

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