By Michael Stelzner
As a writer, there is undoubtedly no better tool for researching than Google. What you may not realize is how much this apparently minimalist resource can accomplish. This article is going to focus on how to use Google to find analyst research, important data and other factoids that will round out the quality of your white papers.
Perhaps one of the not-so-obvious features of Google is that it is a dictionary. Enter almost any word or acronym and you will instantly find many definitions. For example, “define:RSS” returns more than a dozen meanings of the acronym “RSS” in microseconds. This is very handy when you come across an acronym that is not familiar.
Another favorite is Google’s ability to search a website for a specific article. For example, let’s say you recall seeing something in Network World magazine on RSS feeds, but you cannot locate it within the site’s search engine. Use Google and simply type “RSS site:networkworld.com” and up come all the articles from the site containing “RSS.” Interestingly, this exact search on networkworld.com returns 237 responses and Google returns more than 300,000! You can further restrict the findings by limiting listings to those that have “RSS” in their title or Web address. For restricting the search to titles, your search would be “intitle:RSS site:networkworld.com” and “inurl:RSS site:networkworld.com” for Web address searches. This is particularly useful because when a Web address or title includes your keyword, there is a higher likelihood that the page content is highly related to your search.
Another interesting feature is the ability to restrict searches by date. For example, a search for articles in June of 2005 would be “RSS date: June 2005 site:networkworld.com.” A space must exist after the colon that follows date and before your keyword, unlike the other Google commands. The date feature is also a bit tricky because Google simply searches for the presence of those dates anywhere on the page. Thus, 06/05, 06/2005 and June 2005 all produce different results.
One of the most useful features of Google is its cached version of results. This comes in very handy for a few key reasons when performing searches. First, Google delivers content much faster than most websites, and second, Google will highlight the keywords in your search, greatly speeding your research. To see Google’s cache of a search result, simply click on the word “Cached” next to the listing. You will note that Google keyword highlights are instantly presented on the screen.
A nifty trick is the ability to highlight additional keywords on a cached copy of a page. This is particularly handy on very long pages and lets you quickly scroll down to relevant sections of a page. To highlight an additional word on a cached page, simply go to the place in your Web browser where the URL is displayed and look for your keyword, such as “RSS.” When you find it, simply add a plus and any keyword (i.e.; “+feeds”) directly after the keyword and hit return. Now, your additional keyword will be instantly highlighted on the page, in a unique color from other keywords.
Finding Analyst Research
Big analyst firms such as IDC, Gartner and Forrester often charge thousands of dollars to access their research reports. However, the juiciest findings are often concentrated down to only a sentence or two. With Google, you can find valuable analyst research on many topics quickly and at no cost. If we stick with our existing RSS topic, searching for what analysts are saying about RSS is easy. Start with a search for “IDC RSS” and you will get some of IDC’s perspective on the technology. By adding the words “outlook,” “forecast,” “trends,” “statistics” or “growth,” you will get even more focused results. Placing the words “RSS” and “trends” in together quotations will look for those two words right next to each other, further narrowing your search. Now try repeating the same search with different analysts and you will quickly have good access to what the analysts think. You can also do a search on the analysts’ websites using Google, often producing press releases that summarize research findings.
Now that you have a better understanding of the power of Google, be sure to use it to enhance your research, strengthen your arguments and create better white papers.
About the author: Michael A. Stelzner is a Google addict and relies on the site when writing white papers. He is also the author of the popular paper entitled “How To Write a White Paper” and can be reached at mike@stelzner.com.
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