Google Hacks
Everyone knows that Google lets you search billions of web pages. But few people realize that Google also gives you hundreds of cool ways to organize and play with information.Since we released the last edition of this bestselling book, Google has added many new features and services to its expanding universe: Google Earth, Google Talk, Google Maps, Google Blog Search, Video Search, Music Search, Google Base, Google Reader, and Google Desktop among them. We’ve found ways to get these new services to do even more.The expanded third edition of Google Hacks is a brand-new and infinitely more useful book for this powerful search engine. You’ll not only find dozens of hacks for the new Google services, but plenty of updated tips, tricks and scripts for hacking the old ones. Now you can make a Google Earth movie, visualize your web site traffic with Google Analytics, post pictures to your blog with Picasa, or access Gmail in your favorite email client. Industrial strength and real-world tested, this new collection enables you to mine a ton of information within Google’s reach. And have a lot of fun while doing it:Search Google over IM with a Google Talk botBuild a customized Google Map and add it to your own web siteCover your searching tracks and take back your browsing privacyTurn any Google query into an RSS feed that you can monitor in Google Reader or the newsreader of your choiceKeep tabs on blogs in new, useful waysTurn Gmail into an external hard drive for Windows, Mac, or LinuxBeef up your web pages with search, ads, news feeds, and moreProgram Google with the Google API and language of your choiceFor those of you concerned about Google as an emerging Big Brother, this new edition also offers advice and concrete tips for protecting your privacy. Get into the world of Google and bend it to your will!Everyone loves Google, and it’s the first place many people turn to locate information on the Internet. There’s a big gap, though, between knowing that you can use Google to get advance information on your blind date and having a handle on the considerable roster of fact-finding tools that the site makes available. Google Hacks reveals–and documents in considerable detail–a large collection of Google capabilities that many readers won’t have even been aware of. Want to find the best price on a pair of leg warmers? Try the Froogle price-searcher that’s hidden within the Google site. Interested in finding weblog commentary about a particular subject? Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest call your attention to the special Google syntaxes for that purpose. This book makes it clear that there’s lots more to the Google site than typing in a few keywords and trusting the search engine to yield useful results.
If you’re a programmer–or even just familiar with a HTML or a scripting language–Google opens up even further. A large part of Google Hacks concerns itself with the Google API (the collection of capabilities that Google exposes for use by software) and other programmers’ resources. For example, the authors include a simple Perl application that queries the Google engine with terms specified by the user. They also document XooMLe, which delivers Google results in XML form. In brief, this is the best compendium of Google’s lesser-known capabilities available anywhere, including the Google site itself. –David Wall
Topics covered: How to get the most from the Google search engine by using its Web-accessible features (including product searches, image searches, news searches, and newsgroup searches) and the large collection of desktop-resident toolbars available, as well as its advanced search syntax. Other sections have to do with programming with the Google API and simple “scrapes” of results pages, while further coverage addresses how to get your Web page to feature prominently in Google keyword searches.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Nice toolkit
We got a used copy of Google Hacks, and my wife studied the searcher’s tips for a couple weeks before I got to study the webmaster’s guide. Like the Jack Sprats of the nursery rhyme, we licked that platter clean. It’s dated now, but that only means there is more on Google than got into the book, I have not found a script or search parameter that was discontinued.
This is not for light reading, it is intended for people who want to get the most out of the web, and are not content with Wizards and auto-pilot.
4 Stars Detailed Guide to Using Google
While Google is used by a large percentage of the population of internet users today, Google offers a host of additional services and features that may be accessed using the tips and tools found in “Google Hacks”.
This is primarily a book for intermediate- to advanced-users, but it offers some easy-to-use and useful tips and tools for all users. For those interested in extended the utility of the powerful Google service, this is a good resource.
5 Stars Explanation of the Google Api
1. Word order matters
2. repetition of words ignores the repeating words with no search results
3. inanchor, inurl, intitle, site
inanchor:oreilly -inurl: oreilly -site: edu
oreilly in anchor text
oreilly not in the url
site is not edu (limits to a certain domain)
intitle:OSTEOPOROSIS inurl:links
OSTEOPORSIS in the title
links in the url
OSTEOPOROSIS in the anchor text
intitle:biology inurl:help
Takes you to a manageable size of 602 for help in biology.
4. Google does not support stemming (moon, moonlight, moonshot)
Google does support wild card pattern *
Google does have a ten word limit
three * mice
returns
three Blind mice
three white mice
5. daterange:startdate-enddate
[...]
6. Phonebook searchs:
phonebook: searches the entire google phonebook
rphonebook: searches residental listings only
bphonebook: search business listings only
phonebook:nelson id
7: Finding articles
[...] “ADO” or “ODBC”
Searches the site www.listensoftware for all articles about ADO
“ODBC”
8. Searchable directorys
“what’s new” “what’s cool” directory SAUERKRAUT
“what’s new” categories sauerkraut (recipe)
“what’s new” listings sauerkraut (links to recipes)
9. GAPIS
[...]
Standalone application that takes advantage of the Google API search component.
5 Stars GOOGLE HACKS comes packed with usage tips not to be found elsewhere.
Almost anyone who uses a computer knows that Google is a superior search engine - but do you know it also offers ways to organize and manipulate that information? The updated third edition of GOOGLE HACKS: TIPS & TOOLS FOR FINDING AND USING THE WORLD’S INFORMATION tells how, with chapters covering not just search techniques or advanced search strategies, but what to do with the information once it’s found. From building a customized Google map for your web site to handling RSS feeds, news listings, blogs, and even using Gmail as an external hard drive, GOOGLE HACKS comes packed with usage tips not to be found elsewhere.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
4 Stars “Google Hacks” is highly technical
This book is an excellent reference for someone with special research needs. However, it is not for the average user as it requires above average technical knowledge. This should be pointed out more directly in the description.
Filed under: Search Engine Optimization Book Reviews