< Google Manual

Google is more than a web search engine. Much more. It will search web pages, news articles, images, phone directories, books, and on and on. Google’s mission is to search the world. But in this section, we will be exploring only the web page search function. We won’t be touching on phonebook searches, movie searches, or any of the special searches here.

Google web search will search the millions of web pages stored on all the accessible servers on earth to find pages that match your search criteria. Although a simple program to use, if you don’t know anything beyond keying a few words in the search field you’ll have difficulty finding just what you are looking for. But by using a few simple techniques you’ll learn in the pages ahead, you can narrow your search down to a manageable set of results that most likely be what you require.

The techniques you must learn to master Google are not difficult. But, you need to spend a little time to get to know them. You need to know which tools work for what task.

So, let’s start learning.

Why don’t you start out by starting up Google and keying a word in the search field, and then go to the next section, Understanding the Search Results Page to see what it all means.

Next: Understanding the Search Results Page >