New Google Search Options

Early this month, Google added some useful options for refining a search. This is a handy feature everyone should know about. On a search page, just below the Google logo, is a “Show options…” link.  Click that and a wide variety of choices appear in the left margin. Now, if Google’s results are not quite to your liking, there’s an easy way to tweak the search. —

For example, I wanted to know more about using Chinese White in watercolor paintings (something frowned upon by most contemporary artists). In the past, a search for “chinese white watercolor” would return pages and pages of sites that only wanted to sell me tubes of paint.

Google already improved their standard search to return sites that actually talk about subject rather than just stores. Even better, the Google search options let “More shopping sites” or “Fewer shopping sites” be shown — depending on whether you’re trying to buy something or simply get more information.

Other handy options restrict searches to a period of time — you can choose to discard sites that too old for your needs.  In my case, I selected “Books” and discovered a Chinese White resist technique. Many of these features have been available from Google for a while, but the new options list now makes it easy explore the possibilities.