In a matter of a couple of short years, the Google.com search 
engine has become the world's favorite way to find what they're 
looking for online.

Now, most of you who are reading this are saying "Duh", but
let me ask you this: Do you REALLY know how to use Google and 
get the most out of this incredible search technology?

Hopefully, these tips will help you find EXACTLY what you want 
the next time you head on over to "Google Land" and start 
searching.

To start, unlike most search engines, Google does not care if 
your search term is in UPPER or lower case. In fact, it can 
even be MiXeD case and the search results will be identical 
no matter how you type in your term.

The Google GOLDEN Rule:  BE SPECIFIC!

When using the Google search engine, you must be specific in 
what you ask and HOW you ask it to get the results you desire.

How do you be specific?

Let's say you are interested in finding out more about the 
field of Direct Response Marketing.  To search for that exact 
phrase you put "quotes" around the phrase like this:  "direct 
response marketing".  This forces Google to cough up search 
results with those exact words in that specific order, only.

If you didn't use quotes and just typed in direct response 
marketing, you would get results that included the words: 
direct, response and marketing mixed in with the MORE SPECIFIC 
results of the precise phrase "direct response marketing". 

(BTW.......for those of you who are used to searching by 
putting the word "and" between all your search words, with 
Google, it's not necessary.  Google automatically "thinks" 
like that by default.)

You can use the "or" feature on Google.  For example:
"direct response marketing" or "direct response advertising" 
and you will get combined results for both exact phrases.  
The word "or" can be replaced with the "pipe" ( | ) symbol 
(the symbol above the "\" forward slash on your keyboard) to 
achieve the same results.

Now, let's say you want to search for articles written about the 
subject of Direct Response Marketing. You can use the Google 
"require" feature and have a specific word included in the 
search just by adding a "+" sign in front of the keyword you 
want included..  For example you would type:
"direct response marketing" +articles   and the results would 
give you articles about Direct Response Marketing.

You can also "exclude" a certain word from your searches by 
using the "-" (minus sign) like: "direct response marketing" 
-fees    which would give results about Direct Response 
Marketing excluding "fees".

Whenever you can, try to combine these three symbols (quotes, 
plus and minus signs) into a single search to give you even 
more targeted results.

Now, go practice on Google using these simple tips and meet us 
back here next time for Part Two when we offer tips about some 
of the more "advanced" and "juicy" features you can implement 
to get the most out of your searches on the world's most 
frequently used search engine: Google.com