Found a great tutorial at www.googleguide.com for advanced Google boolean search operator functions, gives a bit more helpful info when it comes to Googling and narrowing your search. Below is a summary of a few of the Google operation codes that you can use. Enjoy!

Operator 1:  term1 term2 (law firm software)

The first one is pretty easy, it’s what most people do when they Google. You type a few terms and Google find those terms on web pages either together or separate.

 

Operator 2:  term1 OR term2 / term1|term2 (law|software)

If your searching for 2 words that you want to find either together on the same page or apart use the OR or | operator function. Remember when using it as an operator it must be capitalized. If you search the term bike or white, the “or” will be seen as a search term. This operator function is helpful when narrowing a search between two terms. Above we use, bike|white. With this search term we are more likely to find white bikes due to a callout withint he search for the words white and bike being present on as many webpages as possible.

 

Operator 3:  “term” (CLE “in” New Jersey)

Use this quotation method when you want Google to take notice of words otherwise ignored. Some words ignored would be i, it, the, to, words like that. To incorporate these words into your search, quote them. An example they give is when searching for online news source, The Onion. Google may only take Onion as it is the less common word. In order to specify the search term, use “The” Onion.

 

Operator 4:  -term (law firm software -Amicus)

The 4th is pretty easy to understand, put a minus sign right before a word to specify a search and negate that word from your search. For example say that you work with Clio, a practice management software, and Quickbooks for your accounting. Lets say that your unhappy with these products and want to research for new ones. Instead of searching for law firm software or legal billing software as your search terms, do the following…

law firm software -Clio

legal billing software -Quickbooks

Using these operator functions, you omit the search of anything related to Clio & Quickbooks, the two software pieces that you are trying to move away from.

 

Operator 5:  ~term (legal ~technology)

The 5th operator function lets you search for the search term plus all synonyms as well. This can be helpful when searching for applications or technology to help your firm. With a search of legal ~technology, you may have a wider search than simply just searching legal technology.

 

Operator 6:  number1..number2 (law firm software $1000..$4000)

The 6th operator function deals with numbers and ranges. If your looking for a range of numbers or dollar amount, separate the two numbers with two periods and the results will show the range between the amounts searched for.

 

Operator 7:  “term1 * terms2” (the restatement of *)

The 7th operator function helps you to find one or more words inside a phrase and is like a wildcard. An example would be when trying to remember a quote or a book title. You may know some of the phrase but forget it in it’s entirety. For every word you forget or want to search for in the phrase, use a *. For example, when looking for the book, but forgetting some words in the title, you may search, “men are from * women are from *”. The quotes keep the phrase together and the asterisk randomizes the search for those words between from & women, and after the second from & the end of the phrase. Chances are, you’ll find your book this way. You can even use this trick when remembering a case, but only remembering one party. Use the search terms “row v *” abortion. See how I added the search hook on the end to find the right info? Obviously when typing such popular search terms, the terms may come up in the Google auto complete as you type.

 

Operator 8:  “phrase” (“practice management software”)

The last operator function is something we’ve already gone over. If you want to search for a phrase with no other iteration or words within the phrase, but as is, use quotes around the search term.

 

Once you master the Google operators you can do combinations of them for the ultimate search experience, here’s a few

dictation software|device “for” lawyers|attorneys -Olympus

law firm ~accounting software|service reviews -quickbooks