Using the advanced search

So far we've established that using search engines is a great way to search for information on the web but finding too many results is a common problem. This part of the tutorial will show you that if you use a search engine's advanced options you can start saving yourself time and effort immediately by refining your results.

For example, Google's advanced search screen allows you to:

• Combine your keywords in a variety of ways to help you have more control over the results that you see. This includes searching for an exact phrase or excluding specific words from a search  
• Refine your search in a number of ways including by:
• Language
• Site or domain: this means you can search within a specific website or domain. Eg search all UK government sites by entering gov.uk
• File type e.g. Find PowerPoints only.

To access Google advanced search you need to run an initial search, select the gear icon in the top right corner of the search results page then click Advanced search.