10 of the Best Google Search Tools

Google has penty of search tools available to find exactly what you want on the net. The majority of users typically only use the regular Google search functions, but many advanced search tools are available, such as the 10 below. These tools give you the power to find the results you want. Google has an Advanced Search feature, which Wiki-How shows you how to use. Here are 10 of my favorites.

1. Blog Search – Google Blog Search is a great tool to find other great blogs. You can search and find what other bloggers are saying about any subject you choose. The results include all blogs, including Blogger. You can also use the “Advanced Search” link to specify titles, authors, languages, etc.
If you have a blog with a site feed and you ping updates (i.e. Google Blog Search Pinging Service), Google will find it and list it. You can also manually submit your blog for inclusion.

2. Trends – You can use Google Trends to compare the world’s interest in the topic of your choice and track the most popular searches by city, region or country. It allows you to see how often topics have been searched on Google over time. Google Trends also features a “Today’s Hot Trends” section to find the most highly searched topics within the past hour.

3. Scholar – This tool gives you an easy way to search for scholarly literature. You can search peer-reviewed papers, books, theses, abstracts, articles, universities and much more. Google Scholar helps you find the most relevant research.

4. Book Search – This tool enables you to search or browse books online. They have many free to download PDF copies of books on the public domain. They have reference pages for every book, where you can find reviews, web references, maps, etc. If you find a book you like, you can click “Buy this Book” or “Borrow this Book.” You can also create your own library or if you are a publisher or author, you can promote your books on Google free.

5. Groups – You can use Google Groups to manage your existing Group Profile or to search for new groups based on interest. You can use this tool to discuss topics online or through e-mail, create web pages inside your group, build a knowledge base and customize the looks or your Group and the Graphics displayed.

6. Finance – Google Finance provides data from financial exchanges. You can search for specific corporations to find a graphical display of real-time quotes, news, etc. They also provide a “stock screener,” which you can customize by adding criteria to.

7. Video – Google Video provides a way to search for all Videos or just videos that display on Google. You can view by Most Blogged, Most Shared, Most Viewed, Movers and Shakers and Hot Videos. User Ratings are also provided.

8. Product Search – Google Product Search is a tool that allows you to find items to buy. You can also create your own Shopping List.

9. News – Google News is a tool that enables you to search through 4,500 news sources that are continually updated. You can view news in various categories. You can personalize the page and get news alerts.

10. Picasa – Google Image search is a tool where you can view your images, favorites and explore other images on the net through Picasa Web Albums.

Google has several other tools to use to get the results you want. Do you have any favorite tools you’d like to share? How do you think the Google Search Tools compare to some of the other search engine’s tools?