Marketing Profs

Even if Google has been your market research secret weapon for a decade, you may not be using the search engine to its fullest advantage. Few of us do. If you think entering a keyword and hitting Return is the only way to google, you’ll be pleased to learn that a few tricks can optimize every search.

Here are some basics:

The more terms you use, the more refined your search. Entering [volvo] will return 70,000,000 links. But try [volvo repair shop], and the number drops to 1,400,000 links. And [volvo repair shop los angeles] reduces that number to just 600,000.

Put your terms in quotes to be even more specific. Add quotation marks to search for phrases, and you’ll have a more precise search. Type in ["volvo repair shop" and "los angeles"], and Google will look for sites that feature both of those phrases, as opposed to individual words like "repair," "shop," "los" or "angeles" that may appear anywhere in the Web page. In our example, using quotes reduces the number of results to 31,000.

It only took a few more keywords and some quote marks to transform an overwhelming 70,000,000 links into a more manageable 31,000. And now you know how to narrow the results even more.

The Po!nt: Learning how to make Google work for you can dramatically improve the accuracy of your searches and save you time.

For more information on making the most of Google, Premium Members can review the MarketingProfs Template here.