Copywriting 911

With the development of search engines one shouldn’t be an Eton graduate to find the necessary data on the Web. However, like anything in the world, search can and undoubtedly has to be optimized. After all, Google develops constantly and expects users to take advantage of its advanced options, not to shelve them as if it were something quite useless. Using some of Google’s search techniques, a sophisticated surfer can spend considerably less time on search than a newbie, who simply tapes the keyword and has to comb out multiple web pages before she comes over the needed info.

So, paraphrasing a famous tongue-twister, how many search results would a searcher search out, if a searcher could search searchingly? You can check it by yourself applying the following simple search optimizing tactics.

1.To improve the results Google automatically excludes common words, like “what” or “instead”. If these words do matter for your search, you should enclose them in quotation marks or put “+”.

Example: [“how to increase traffic”] [traffic +increase]

You can also use both of them to specify what kind of information you need exactly.

Example: [“increase traffic” +tips from pros]

2. To narrow the search you may want to eliminate some irrelevant results from the SERPs. Supposing you want to know more about cancer treatment, but drop only on horoscope descriptions in a very frustrating way. Optimize your search with the help of the “-” sign.

Example: [cancer -zodiac]

Note: When you add “+” or “-” signs, make sure they are preceded by a space.

3. You can also resort to the “OR” search to get alternative results. The only thing is not to forget to write it in uppercase, otherwise Google treats it like a meaningless keyword.

Example: [hotels Bern OR Geneva]

4. According to Googlers, one of their best developments – the “tilde” search – is undeservedly ignored by most Web surfers. However, this operator can be quite useful while searching synonyms and alternatives rather than exact terms. Thus, looking for a cheap car, you will be directed not only to the websites containing this keyword, but also to those which also sell cars at low costs but use different keywords, for instance, “affordable cars” or “used cars”.

Example: [~cheap cars]

5.Another helpful Google search operator is the “*” search. Did you like the tasks like “fill in the blanks” at school? Today Google can do them for you. Most people use the asterisk instead of another Google’s option – Q&A. Thus, you can find what you need by entering the beginning of the sentence, followed by “*”.

Example: [radium was discovered by *]

This option can be used as well to keep the search within the standard 10 word limit in case you are looking for a long sentence.

Example: supposing you need a strophe from “La Marseillaise”: “Arise, children of the fatherland/The day of glory has arrived!/Against us, tyranny’s/Bloody banner is raised.”
To find this very sentence you can type [“Arise, children ***/***** arrived!/Against us, */Bloody ***”], and Google will give it in full.

Note: Don’t forget about the quotations marks.

6. If you want all keywords to figure in the title, start your query with [allintitle:]. In case you type [intitle:], the document will contain the first keyword in its title, and the rest will be mentioned anywhere in the text.

Example: [allintitle: ancient Roman poetry] [intitle: poetry of ancient Rome]

The same thing is with URLs. Entering [allinurl:] or [inurl:] you can find the domains which contain the searched keyword.

7. Some people on the Web enjoy using rather complicated words, like “prestidigitator” or “syncretism”, while the rest of the community are at a loss about their meaning and feel like being defective not to know such “common” expressions. The solution is to use Google’s glossary. Just tape [define:] and the search engine will provide you not only with the definition but also with useful links to the sites related to your keyword.

Example: [define:tiara]

The next time you enter the Google search page, recollect these useful tips to save your time for more important things.