While many would complain about the internet “dying” - the information is still out there for anyone to find - you just need to know how to look for it.
Search engines still offer the ability to find that which you are seeking, but you cannot use them as 95% of people use them (ie. enter search term and pray). Using Google or any other mainstream search engine in this way will simply return noise: advertisements, AI generated slop, and SEO gamed results. Your actual search be damned and buried.
So, we are going to do the opposite (as we always do!) - We can use various tags and directives to pinpoint that which we are looking for. In order of most commonly used by me:
Site specific Search#
You can exclusively search a website for the search term you are looking for.
Want an answer exclusive to stackoverflow? use site:stackoverflow.com
Temporal Filtering#
Search for results before or after certain dates.
before:2020-01-01
after:2016
golang generics tutorial after:2022-03-01
I use this very often on youtube, to search for non-AI generated music and videos (before<2022> for example)
Exact phrase match:#
You would like an exact match of your search, you can then search for "sourdough starter recipe" and get that chained text rather than sites that are recipes and have sourdough references.
Exclusion#
Let’s say you don’t want a search result, ie. you’re searching for Go specific tooling, you can use
-python -java
to negate any searches including these terms
Wildcard#
You may not know the name of what you are searching, but you could return the results of a partial search with wildcard like so:
St. * Cathedral Montreal
And the search will return the names of the cathedrals in Montreal starting with a “St.”
Related#
Using emacs related:joshblais.com will return searches that include emacs and are related to my site for example.
Definitions#
define:theosis will return the definition of the word “Theosis”.
Filetype#
This is handy if you are looking for a specific file type (.pdf, .epub, .mp4 etc.)
filetype:pdf Catechism of the Catholic Church
Chaining#
site:github.com golang framework after:2024-01-01
this will return only results from github.com that are after January 1, 2024 and relate to golang framework
Boolean OR#
Default behavior is AND. Force alternatives with capitalized OR:
NixOS OR Guix declarative configuration
Proximity search#
Find terms within N words of each other:
"Catholic" AROUND(3) "subsidiarity"
Returns results where these terms appear within 3 words.
URL and Title targeting#
inurl:wiki golang returns only URLs containing “wiki”
intitle:"getting started" NixOS matches page titles specifically
Numeric ranges#
Search within ranges using ..
mechanical keyboard $100..$300
"Church fathers" 300..500 AD
Engine selection#
The thing about using these tags and clarifications is that they work on any engine - Google can actually be useable if you do this. Marginalia and Wiby are interesting if you would like smolweb results and personal sites.
Use multiple search engines, SearXNG will allow you to automate this as part of your configuration, giving multiple sources in one place.
References#
Fravia’s (RIP) Searchlores used to be the greatest resource on this phenomenon, but much no longer applies as Google and the like have neutered search capabilities. Regardless, there is a better way, and you should no longer be searching with simple queries unless you need an entry point to a rabbit hole to go down.
As always, God bless, and until next time.
If you enjoyed this post, consider Supporting my work, Checking out my book, Working with me, or sending me an Email to tell me what you think.