CheatAd !

Those of us strolling in the web long enough will definitely come to times when we need to make our Google search a little more specific. If we understand how to use the Google search features, this Google cheat sheet comes real handy. But what if the cheat sheet makes us even more lost in the funny language and the short explanation it provides?

Here we will try to make the Google cheat sheet clear and easy to understand for the beginners of Google search short codes. For each of the Google short code (or operator), we will show example how to type in the query, what to expect in the search result, and the explanation.

8 Commonly Used Google Search Short Codes (With Explanations)

1. Operator: (none)
   Query: Google Cheat
   Search Result:
   
   Understanding the code: By typing two words (or more) into the query, Google search will return results which contain all the words from our query. In the example, Google search result returns webpages which contain both the word Google and Cheat.

2. Operator: OR
   Query: Adsense OR Adwords
   Search Result:
   
   Explanation: OR operator returns webpages that contain at least either one of the query words in the Google search results. Please note, as we can see from the search screen shot above, it doesn’t prevent Google Search from displaying web pages that contain both words.

3. Operator: “…” (double quotes right before and after the search phrase)
   Query: “Cheat Google Adsense” (with quotes)
   Search Result:
   
   Explanation:
   Putting opening and closing double quotes to our search query tells Google that we want search result that contain the query words exactly the way we type it, in the same order and without any other words in between.

4. Operator: – (dash or negative sign right before the keyword)
   Query: Cheat -Google
   Search Result:
   
   Explanation: Now, what if we want to find out more resources about cheat and fed up because every webpages found is about Google cheat. We can put a negative sign right before the word Google, so it looks like this -Google; that will filter out all pages that contain the word Google from the result. So searching Cheat -Google will returns pages with the word Cheat, but without any mention of Google at all.

5. Operator: + (a plus/addition/positive sign right before the search keyword)
   Query: +cheats
   Search Result:
   
   Explanation: By default, Google Search returns results that contain our search query in its singular or plural variation. For example if we search for cheat, Google will return result that contain either cheat or cheats. By including a positive sign right before the search keyword, we are telling Google that we don’t want the variation. In example above, +cheats only returns result that contain the word cheats (in plural), so no cheat (in singular).

6. Operator: ~ (equivalent sign right before search keyword)
   Query: ~advertisement
   Search Result:
   Explanation: Putting an equivalent sign ~ right before our search keyword tells Google that we want the search result to return webpages that contain our search keyword as well as webpages that contain the synonyms. In example above, the search result returns pages containing either advertisement, advertising, adverts, ad, or ads.

7. Operator: define: (word “define” followed by a colon sign, right before the keyword)
   Query: define:cheat
   Search Result:
   
   Explanation: In need of some definition real quick? Google search can become your dictionary. Just type define: followed by the word you are looking for, Google Search result will display dictionary definitions of the word.

8. Operator: filetype: (word “filetype” followed by a colon sign and the target file extension)
   Query: cheat filetype:pdf
   Search Result:
   
   Explanation: Google index not only web pages, but also some common document files such as PDF (portable document format), doc (Microsoft Word document) and ppt (Microsoft Powerpoint Presentation). You can use filetype search operator to find specific file type. In our example, we were looking for PDF files that contain the word Cheat

Do you use the Google cheat codes above? More cheat codes will be posted soon.