Amp Up Your Research Skills with Search Tags

Maybe it should be called “freelance researching” because sometimes that's what freelance writing feels like, especially when we are scoping the Internet for our information. A lot of useless sites find their way on page one of our search results. The Internet isn't necessarily powered by info-junkies. Much of what comes up is designed to sell. So, I've been collecting tips and learning how to research like a pro.

Learning how to use search tags is perhaps the easiest tips out there and, at the same time, the most productive. Search tags are basically the keywords in addition to any modifiers - and there are surprisingly quite a few – that make a combination designed to bring up reputable and useful sites. Add any of these modifiers to the end of your keyword to fine tune your search.

Filetype:pdf

This modifier attached to the end of your keyword will only bring up pdf files, those wonderfully detailed gems that are favored communications of university professors. Adjust the modifier for other file types, as well.

-.uk

Okay, maybe you don't have anything against the British, but their sites keep coming up when you are searching a certain legal term. If foreign sites are coming up in your results, yet you cannot use the information for the article you writing, filter international website out. Canadian sites are .ca, and Australian site are .au. Simply prefix the country's suffix with a minus sign.

Site:.edu

Universities, government websites, and nonprofits are wellsprings of information. Bring up their sites with this modifier. Government and nonprofit sites would be filtered in using site:.gov and site:.org, respectively.

Allintitle:

This modifier searches the titles of webpages and documents to only bring those which contain the words included in the modifier. For example, allintitle:mortgage securities would return results whose titles contain both mortgage and securities.

Intitle:

This modifier is similar to allintitle: except that only one word may search within the results. For example, intitle:mortgage.

Allinurl:

Yep, you guessed it. This one searches for multiple words within the url. But, note, that is won't search for punctuation, such as backslashes.

Inurl:

You're getting the hang of this. Search for one word within a url with this modifier.

Effectively researching the Internet for information rather than sales copy is increasingly difficult. The beauty of the Internet is that anyone's voice can be heard on it. Yet, you don't want just anyone's voice to mar your article with misinformation. The above modifiers will help you find what you are looking for more quickly. Writing those DS and Textbroker articles with greater speed is a surefire way to give yourself an instant hourly raise.